Operational guide for the graphics team. Covers creating, updating, and versioning marketing documents in WordPress. Keep this open in a tab while you work.

30-second orientation

  • Where you live: Marketing Docs in the WP admin sidebar.
  • What you publish to: the public archive at quickfreeze.com/docs/ and the internal sales view on qfreeze.com.
  • Golden rule: the URL is the contract. Replacing a file never changes the URL. So when you update MKT-213, every email, PDF link, and partner page that ever pointed there silently gets the new version.
  • What you should never do: create a new MKT post for an updated version of an existing doc. Edit the existing post and replace the file.

1. Creating a new document

Marketing Docs → Add New. Fill in this exact order:

1.1 Title and MKT Number

  • Title — what customers see (e.g. “QFM Spec Sheet”). Don’t include the MKT number in the title.
  • MKT Number — the canonical ID, e.g. MKT-213. Format is always MKT-NNN (uppercase, dash, number). This becomes the URL slug, so don’t change it later if you can avoid it. If you have to (rare), the old URL will 404 unless you set up a redirect.

1.2 Document Details

  • Version — your internal revision number (e.g. 26.6 or v3). See the version conventions section below.
  • Version Date — the date you approved this version. Not the date the file was created internally. Defaults to today if you leave it blank when you publish.

1.3 File / Download

Pick one source:

  • Upload to WordPress for files we host: PDF, ZIP, DWG, MP4, JPG, PNG, SVG, EPS.
  • External URL for YouTube videos, Drive folders we don’t want to mirror, or pages on other Tippmann sites.

Click Choose / Replace File and use the media picker. Save the post to attach.

Upload size limit: the WP admin upload caps at 2 MB. Most existing big files were sideloaded server-side during the initial migration. If you need to upload >2 MB through the browser, ping Bob to either bump the PHP limit or sideload via SFTP.

1.4 Visibility (sidebar)

  • Public — customers find it in the archive and can download. Default. Use this for sell sheets, manuals, spec sheets, brochures, logos, instructions, public-facing forms.
  • Sales Only — hidden from the public archive and the public direct-download URL. Visible to authenticated staff via qfreeze.com’s sales view. Use for internal references, draft material, anything we’d hand to a customer one-off but don’t want findable.

1.5 Product Lines and Document Types (sidebar)

Pick exactly one Product Line and exactly one Document Type. These drive the filter chips on the public archive.

If a doc spans multiple products (e.g. construction safety), use Cross-Product. Don’t apply multiple product terms to one doc — the UI assumes one and will look weird.

Need a new product line or doc type? Create it under Marketing Docs → Product Lines / Document Types. Use proper case (“Spartan”, not “spartan”).

1.6 Description (Excerpt, bottom of edit screen)

One sentence (max ~22 words), customer-facing, tells the reader what they’ll find inside. Don’t restate the title. Don’t say “This document.”

Examples:

  • ✓ “Complete installation, operation, and maintenance procedures for the QFM unit.”
  • ✓ “Side-by-side comparison of T2 Spacer models for selecting the right configuration.”
  • × “This is the QFM Manual.” (Restates the title.)
  • × “Download the latest version of the manual to learn more.” (Says nothing.)

1.7 Featured Image (sidebar)

Optional but encouraged. Shows on the archive cards. For PDFs, the system auto-generates a first-page thumbnail on the initial import, but new PDFs you upload won’t get one automatically — set one manually if you want a thumbnail. For logos, just use the logo itself.

1.8 Publish

If you have approval permission, click Publish. Otherwise click Submit for Review and ping an approver.

2. Updating an existing document

This is the most common operation. Always update in place. Never create a new MKT post for a new version.

  1. Marketing Docs list → click the doc title (or use Quick Edit for fast metadata changes)
  2. If replacing the file: Choose / Replace File → upload new file
  3. Bump Version field
  4. Update Version Date
  5. Optionally update Description if the doc’s contents materially changed
  6. Update

That’s it. The URL stays the same. Every link that ever pointed at /docs/mkt-213/ now serves the new file.

What does not need a version bump:

  • Typo fix in the description
  • Adding a thumbnail
  • Re-tagging product line or doc type
  • Changing audience from Public to Sales Only (or vice versa)

What does need a version bump:

  • Any replacement of the file itself, no matter how small
  • Any change to the file’s internal content (even if you’ve already done it in Drive and now you’re syncing)

3. Version conventions

The Version field is plain text — we don’t enforce a format. But for consistency, use one of:

  • Major.Minor (recommended): 26.6, 26.7, 27.0
  • The internal revision number you already use (e.g. MKT-213.12 → just use 12 or v12)

Rules of thumb for bumping:

Change Bump
Typo, layout polish, branding refresh Minor — 26.6 → 26.7
New spec, added section, updated procedure Minor — 26.7 → 26.8
Substantial rewrite, structural change, new product covered Major — 26.8 → 27.0
Description / categorization only No bump

Version Date should reflect your approval date, not the file’s internal date. If you finalize on the 14th and publish on the 15th, use the 15th.

Old versions: we don’t keep a public archive of old versions. The post revisions feature in WP keeps the post-content history, but each file upload replaces the previous attachment. If you need to keep an old PDF reachable, attach it as a separate Sales Only doc with a different MKT number (rare; only do if Bob asks).

4. Approval workflow

If your user account has the “Can approve marketing documents” checkbox set (Users → Your Profile, near the bottom), you can publish directly.

If not: save as Pending Review. Then Slack / email an approver. WordPress doesn’t auto-notify them — you have to do the manual ping. Bob is the default approver; he can grant approval cap to other team members via their user profile.

When a doc is published, the system stamps the approver’s name and date into the post (visible in the Approval metabox on the right sidebar). This is the auditable record of who approved what.

5. Common scenarios

5.1 Annual revision of a sell sheet

Edit the existing doc → replace file → bump version (typically major bump for yearly) → update Version Date → Publish. URL unchanged.

5.2 New product, no existing MKT number

Add New → assign next MKT number (coordinate with whoever owns the MKT register internally) → fill in normally → Publish.

5.3 Doc is being discontinued

Two options depending on intent:

  • Discontinue, but keep accessible for staff → change Audience to Sales Only. Customers can’t find it; staff still can.
  • Discontinue entirely → change Status to Draft (top right of edit screen). The doc disappears from all views but the data is preserved. Don’t delete — it loses the URL forever.

5.4 Customer sends an old PDF and asks “is this current?”

Find the MKT number on the PDF or in the filename. Look up the doc in the admin list. Compare the Version field to whatever’s printed on the PDF. If they don’t match, point the customer at the public URL (/docs/mkt-NNN/) and they’ll get current automatically. Less email tennis.

5.5 New logo variant arrives from design

Add New → Title = descriptive (“Coil Boss Logo White Vertical”) → leave MKT Number blank (logos don’t use MKT IDs) → Doc Type = Logo → Product Line as appropriate → upload → Publish.

5.6 Bundle of files (e.g. all electrical specs for a product)

One doc, one ZIP. Don’t try to upload multiple files to a single post. If individual files are needed independently, give each its own MKT post.

5.7 Adding a video

Two paths: (a) host on YouTube and use External URL with the watch link, or (b) upload MP4 directly. YouTube is usually better — lower bandwidth on our server, better playback on customer side, native sharing.

6. File naming conventions

The filename you upload becomes part of the public download URL (e.g. quickfreeze.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/MKT-213_QFM-Operations-Manual.pdf). Keep it sensible.

Recommended pattern: MKT-NNN_Descriptive-Name-v##.ext

  • ✓ MKT-213_QFM-Operations-Manual-v26.6.pdf
  • ✓ Coil-Boss-Logo-Vertical-Black.png
  • × final FINAL v3 USE THIS.pdf
  • × Untitled.pdf

WordPress will sanitize spaces and special characters automatically. Dashes are preferred over underscores.

7. Audit page (your weekly check)

Marketing Docs → Audit. Shows four queues:

  • Stale — nothing touched in 365+ days. Review and either re-confirm (just open and re-save the post) or update.
  • Broken files — file_id set but the attachment is gone. Should never happen — if it does, re-upload.
  • Missing description — add a one-liner.
  • Missing thumbnail — add a featured image. Optional, but the cards look better with one.

An automated email digest goes to admins every Monday 6 AM UTC if there’s anything in any of the four queues. Silent otherwise.

Bonus: External link check button at the bottom of the audit page. Crawls every external URL (YouTube, Drive, etc.) and flags any that 404. Run quarterly.

8. Troubleshooting

  • “My upload failed” → check file size. WP admin caps at 2 MB. For bigger files, ping Bob.
  • “The file type isn’t allowed” → we accept PDF, ZIP, DWG, MP4, JPG, PNG, SVG, EPS, PSD, AI, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX. If you need something else, ping Bob to whitelist.
  • “The customer says the link is broken” → check the URL. If it’s a /docs/mkt-NNN/ form, open the corresponding post and verify status = Published, audience = Public, file attached.
  • “I accidentally published a draft” → change status back to Draft. The URL will 404 to customers but the data is preserved.
  • “Two graphics people edited the same post” → WordPress shows a lock warning; the second editor needs to take over manually. Use Slack to coordinate.
  • “The MKT number is wrong on a published doc” → fixing it changes the URL. Tell Bob before doing it — he can set up a redirect.

9. Cheat sheet

Action Where
List all docs Marketing Docs
Add new doc Add New
Run audit Marketing Docs → Audit
Manage product lines Product Lines
Manage doc types Document Types
View customer-facing archive /docs/
Grant approval cap to someone Users → their profile → check “Can approve marketing documents”

Questions or edge cases? Ping Bob ([email protected]). This page is editable in WP Admin → Pages.