Customer controls

Let customers move, resize, and rotate a layer themselves — and how to do it without breaking your production.

Allow customers to controls which adjustments the customer can make to a layer directly on the product image.

These permissions let the customer arrange the design themselves. They can also produce designs you cannot produce, so always use them together with a crop area.

Applies to: all twelve option types that support the Personalizer.

The three permissions

Permission	What the customer can do
Change position	Drag the layer around the image
Resize	Make the layer larger or smaller
Rotate	Turn the layer

All three are off by default, and you can enable any combination. With none enabled, the layer stays where you placed it, and the customer changes its content only.

Three permissions, all off by default.

Always pair them with a crop area

If you enable any of these permissions, set a crop area as well.

Without one, a customer can drag their photo onto the handle of a mug, resize their text to cover the whole product, or rotate a design to an angle you cannot print. The preview displays the result, and the order is placed with it.

A crop area limits their adjustments to the area you can produce on.

When customers can drag a layer, leave the crop area outline visible and do not enable Hide the outline. The outline shows them the area they can work in.

When to enable them

Situation	Enable	Why
A customer photo in a frame	Change position, Resize	Only they know which part of their photo matters
A logo on a garment	Change position, Resize	Placement is part of what they are buying
An engraved name on a plate	Nothing	You know where the plate is. Let them type, not position
A design chosen from your own list	Nothing	You positioned it correctly already
A free-form collage or sticker layout	All three	The arrangement is the product
Text on a curved surface	Nothing	Curve handles it better than a customer can

Enable these permissions when placement is the customer's decision. Leave them off when placement is a production constraint.

Rotation

Rotation causes the most problems. A rotated engraving is often not producible, and a slightly rotated photo in a frame looks like an error.

Enable it only where an angled result is a valid product, such as a free-form collage, a scattered sticker layout, or a hand-arranged design.

What the customer sees

With any permission enabled, selecting the layer on the product image displays handles. The app also displays short instructions telling the customer to drag to move the layer, and to use the handles to resize or rotate it.

This wording is part of the widget text and can be edited for each language under Settings > Translations. See Translate widget text.

Where their adjustments go

The customer's final arrangement is included in the design stored with the order, so you produce what they arranged.

Your position, size, and rotation settings are the starting point the customer adjusts from, so set them correctly. A layer that starts in the right place requires fewer adjustments.

See Designs in cart and orders.

Example configuration

A photo frame where the customer positions their own photo:

Setting	Value
Option	File upload, required, image editor on
Image shape	Matching the frame aperture
Background mode	Cover
Position and size	Filling the aperture — a sensible starting point
Crop area	On, matching the aperture, outline visible
Allow customers to	Change position, Resize
Rotate	Off
Help text	Drag your photo to position it. Anything outside the frame will not be printed.

Notes

• Permissions are per layer, so one layer can be adjustable while another is fixed.

• They affect the preview and the recorded design only. They do not affect other layers.

• Both touch and mouse input are supported, but a small layer is difficult to position on a phone. Do not rely on precise dragging on mobile.

• State in the help text what happens to any part of the design outside the printable area.