Custom Size Printing WooCommerce: Price It Live

Applies to Cmsmart Product Designer (NBDesigner) 2.17.0 · Updated October 2026. Verified against the 2.17.0 changelog and live captures of the Printing Options editor, the storefront custom-dimension field and the order-side Create PDF screen on nbdesigner.cmsmart.net.

In short

  • Shoppers enter their own width and height on banners, labels, signage and stationery; the price recalculates live from a size-based matrix instead of a staff member emailing a quote back.
  • A Custom dimension field on the product's Printing Options drives that matrix (material x weight, with min/max limits), and Create PDF and the automatic export both read the same custom size — so the print file matches the order.
  • Adding the field, setting min/max and building the price matrix takes about 30–45 minutes per product; the print-ready PDF is generated automatically after that.

That last part used to be the catch: a buyer could already ask for a custom size, but the automatic print file was still built from the template, so what went to press didn't match what the customer paid for. 2.17.0 closes that gap. More than 4 million stores run on WooCommerce (WooCommerce, 2026), and if yours still shows one size per product, or your team re-quotes every odd-size request by hand, this is the feature that removes both problems at once.

What's the cost of not offering custom size printing WooCommerce shoppers expect?

A single stock size forces buyers who need something larger, smaller or non-standard to email you instead of checking out. Cmsmart's Custom dimension field keeps them on the product page: they type a width and height inside your min/max limits and the price updates before they add to cart.

  • Fixed-size product pages. A banner, label or sign that only ships at 24x36 in turns away the buyer who needs 30x40.
  • Manual quote emails. Odd sizes get routed to a contact form or a request-a-quote email, and every one of those costs staff minutes to measure, price and reply.
  • Re-pricing by hand. Without a size-based matrix, someone has to work out material cost per square inch or foot on every custom order, which does not scale past a handful of orders a day.
  • Print files that don't match the order. Before 2.17.0, a buyer's custom size could still render against the product template's default size at export time, so the shop's own automatic PDF didn't match what was ordered.
  • Abandoned carts. Checkout friction of any kind is expensive: the average documented online cart abandonment rate across 50 studies is 70.22% (Baymard Institute, 2026). A size you can't get, or a price you can't see until someone emails you back, is exactly the kind of friction that stat is measuring. The custom printing market itself is growing fast enough that this will only matter more: global custom printing revenue is on track to go from $38.1 billion in 2024 to $68.5 billion by 2030 (Grand View Research, 2024).

Cmsmart insight: the most common mistake we see on custom-size products is setting the width/height limits too wide "to be safe." A min/max that matches what your press or material roll can actually produce keeps every custom order sellable — a size outside the range should never reach checkout in the first place.

What does it look like when shoppers set their own size?

Cmsmart turns a custom-size request into a self-serve step on the product page instead of a back-and-forth. The shopper drags their own width and height, the price and the price table update immediately, and the order arrives with the exact dimensions already attached to the design.

Example scenario. A print shop sells business cards at a fixed 3.5x2 in today. A regional customer needs a slightly larger 3.75x2.25 in card to match an existing box of sleeves. On a Cmsmart product page, they open the Custom dimension panel, nudge the width and height inside the allowed range, watch the price recalculate against the material/weight matrix, add a logo in the online designer, and check out — no email, no manual quote, no reprint because the PDF came out at the template's size instead of theirs.

Talk to an ecommerce expert about custom-size pricing if your current product pages can't do this yet.

Custom size printing WooCommerce product page with a Custom dimension panel showing width and height inputs and min/max limits
The product page's Custom dimension panel: the shopper's width and height stay inside the limits the shop set.

What's the Cmsmart solution behind custom dimensions and size-based pricing?

Cmsmart Product Designer builds custom-size pricing from a Printing Options field called Custom dimension, which feeds a price matrix by material and weight; Create PDF and the automatic export both read that same size, so the render always matches what the buyer chose.

Four building blocks, all live in the plugin today (2.17.0):

  • Custom dimension field. Added to a product's Printing Options alongside Size, Orientation, Area design shape and Padding, with its own width/height min and max.
  • Price matrix. Material rows x weight columns (for example Silk paper at 100/130/170/300gsm), each cell a price; quantity breaks apply a table discount on top.
  • Online designer. The buyer's design canvas opens at the chosen size once they move past the options panel, so the artwork is built against the real dimensions, not a placeholder.
  • Print-ready output. Create PDF's default As product size setting and the automatic export on order status both read the design's stored custom size (ticket #37389, 2.17.0) instead of the product template's default — the fix that makes Cmsmart's print-ready PDF actually match the order on custom-size products.

Area pricing is also built in: the same Custom dimension field can be priced per unit of area or by area breaks instead of a fixed material/weight matrix, for products sold by width x height. What's not in the box: pulling that per-area cost from a live ERP or supplier price feed, and sheet-yield or imposition calculators for stock sheets and rolls. Those are custom development Cmsmart builds for stores that outgrow a fixed matrix — see the Cmsmart price calculator product page and "Going further" below.

Cmsmart Printing Options editor field palette with the Custom dimension field among the online design fields
The Printing Options field palette: Custom dimension sits next to Size, Area design shape and Orientation.
Storefront custom dimension width and height fields above a material and weight price matrix table
On the storefront, the same field drives a material x weight price matrix — here Silk paper at four weights.
Order screen Create PDF tab showing product size read as 55.88 by 127 millimeters, matching the buyer's custom dimension
Create PDF reads the order's actual custom size (2.2x5 in here) — the same figure the automatic export now uses.

What's the business value of custom-size pricing?

Cmsmart turns custom sizing from a cost center (staff time on quotes, reprints from mismatched files) into a sellable product option with a traceable KPI for each benefit, so you can see the payoff instead of guessing at it.

BenefitHow it shows up in your businessKPI to track
Fewer manual quotesOdd-size requests check out themselves instead of landing in a contact formCustom-size quote emails per week
Fewer reprintsThe print-ready PDF matches the ordered size, not the template defaultReprint rate on custom-size orders
Faster productionCreate PDF and the cloud renderer already have the right geometry when the order landsTime from order to print-ready status
Wider catalog reachOne product page serves every size inside your min/max instead of a SKU per sizeOrders outside the default size

ROI worksheet (use your own numbers): custom-size quote emails per month x minutes your team spends measuring, pricing and replying x your fully-loaded hourly rate = monthly cost of the status quo. Compare that to the ~30–45 minutes it takes to add the Custom dimension field, set limits and build the price matrix once per product.

How do you set up custom dimensions and area pricing in Cmsmart?

You configure custom dimensions once per product (or per category) in Cmsmart's Printing Options editor: add the field, set its limits, build the price matrix, then apply it — after that, every size inside the range prices and renders itself.

  1. In wp-admin, go to Cmsmart → Printing Options and open an existing option set, or Add new.
  2. Under Online design fields, add the Custom dimension field to the option set.
  3. Set the width and height minimum and maximum to match what your material or press can actually produce.
  4. Add the materials and weights (or equivalent variables) you price by, as rows and columns of the price matrix.
  5. Fill in a price per cell; add quantity-break discounts under Printing options → Quantity if you offer volume pricing.
  6. Add an Orientation field if the product can be ordered portrait or landscape.
  7. Under Apply for, select the products (or categories) this option set applies to and publish.
  8. Open the product on the storefront and confirm the Custom dimension panel appears with your limits and the price updates as width and height change.
  9. Place a test order, open it in Cmsmart → Orders, and check the Create PDF tab — Product size should show the buyer's custom width and height, not the product template's default.
  10. Confirm the Print-ready PDF status reads Ready after Process or Create PDF; use Regenerate print-ready PDF if you change the design after ordering.
Cmsmart Printing Options list showing published option sets applied to specific products
Printing Options list: each option set (including its Custom dimension field) applies to specific products or categories.
Order screen showing Print-ready PDF status as Ready, rendered by the cloud renderer
Print-ready PDF status on the order: Ready, with a Regenerate button if the design changes after checkout.
Mobile WooCommerce product page with the design and custom dimension entry points above the add to cart button
The same custom-size entry point on a phone-width product page.
Video thumbnail: how to create different sizes for your online design in NBDesigner
Video: How to Create Different Sizes For Your Online Design (Cmsmart on YouTube)

Going further with custom development

When a fixed price matrix stops covering how you price custom sizes, Cmsmart builds the rest: continuous area-based formulas, ERP-synced material costs, and approval flows for large-format or B2B orders, delivered as a scoped project rather than a plugin setting.

  • Sheet-yield and imposition calculators. Work out how many custom-size pieces fit a stock sheet or roll and price the job on material yield instead of a flat matrix or area-break cell — useful for wide-format and packaging shops cutting from fixed stock.
  • ERP/MIS-synced material costs. Pull material and press-time costs from your MIS so the price matrix or area pricing updates itself instead of being re-typed by hand. Cmsmart builds for merchants as custom development here; this is not something the plugin does on its own today.
  • AI preflight on custom sizes. A check that flags artwork resolution or bleed problems specific to the size the buyer just chose, before the order reaches the press.
  • B2B approval for large-format custom orders. A company-account workflow where an oversized or high-value custom-size order routes to a manager for sign-off before it's queued for print.
  • 3D or mockup preview at the chosen size. A rendered preview that updates its proportions as the buyer changes width and height, for products where scale is hard to picture from numbers alone.

Cmsmart's delivery model for all of these is the same: discovery call, solution design, build in sprints, QA, launch and support — see real examples on Cmsmart's project case studies.

Get a custom size-pricing quote

Why work with Cmsmart

Cmsmart has built WooCommerce product-designer and web-to-print projects since 2012 as a Netbase JSC division, with the Printing Options and custom-dimension pricing you just read about shipping in the same plugin Cmsmart maintains and customizes for clients.

Cmsmart has delivered 6,300+ client projects and 4,600+ projects since 2012, with 1,800+ live stores running today across 80+ countries, and carries a 4.2 Trustpilot rating from 404 reviews (Trustpilot). A recent five-star review summed up the custom work behind the plugin: "the level of support is outstanding... we create the exact customisations required to perfectly fit our products and our business model" (Web Developer, UK, Trustpilot, Sep 2026).

See related work on the Cmsmart web-to-print solutions hub, the Cmsmart Product Designer (NBDesigner) product page, and two related tutorials: configuring a design area and print pricing options in NBDesigner.

Frequently asked questions

Does Custom dimension work with WooCommerce's normal variations?

Custom dimension is a Printing Options field, separate from WooCommerce product variations — it adds a numeric width/height range with its own price matrix on top of whatever variations (color, material) the product already has.

Will the automatic print PDF really match a buyer's custom size?

Yes, from 2.17.0: automatic export, Create PDF's default setting and the cloud renderer all read the same stored page geometry, including a custom width and height, instead of the product template's default size.

Can I price custom sizes by area instead of a fixed matrix?

Yes — Printing Options' area pricing prices the Custom dimension field per unit of area or by area breaks, as a built-in alternative to a fixed material/weight price matrix. Pulling that per-area cost from a live ERP or supplier price feed, instead of the rate you set in wp-admin, is something Cmsmart builds as custom development.

What stops a buyer from ordering a size you can't produce?

The width and height minimum/maximum you set on the Custom dimension field. A value outside that range is rejected on the product page before the item reaches the cart.

Where do I check a custom-size order's print file before it goes to press?

Open the order in Cmsmart → Orders, then the design's Create PDF tab: Product size shows the exact width and height the buyer ordered, and Print-ready PDF shows Ready, Rendering or Failed with a Regenerate option.

How long does adding custom dimensions to an existing product take?

Adding the field, setting min/max and building a basic price matrix typically takes about 30–45 minutes per product once you know your pricing tiers; applying the same option set to more products is faster.