The Product Catalog for SharePoint 2013 is a helpful template that allows you to create a site where data can easily be published, using Search, to other sites. The Product Catalog can be applied to both intranet as well as extranet sites and is easily managed through admin pages.

In our new four-part series, we introduce you to the Product Catalog for SharePoint 2013 and show you how to set up and utilize some of its key features. Here in part one, we’ll walk you through the steps needed to create your Product Catalog.

1. To begin, log into SharePoint 2013 and go to Central Administration

2. Select Create site collections:

3. Enter the information applicable to your new site collection including Title, Description, Username, and URL. Under Select a template, click the Publishing tab and choose Product Catalog:

4. After you have entered all of the necessary information, click OK to create the site collection:

5. When you return to Central Administration, you will see the new top-level site that you created:

6. To verify that you successfully created your Product Catalog, click the blue link:

Check out the rest of the series:

• Part 1: How to Create a Product Catalog Site
• Part 2: How to Create Items for a Product List
• Part 3: How to Use a List as a Catalog and Start a Full Crawl in Central Administration
• Part 4: How to Connect a Publishing Site to a Catalog