> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.plastics.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Welcome to plastics.com

> A materials marketplace for engineers and buyers, and a storefront for the suppliers who serve them.

Search a technical catalog of plastics grades, compare them on real property data, and send a
request without leaving the site. Suppliers publish into that same catalog, price it, and work the
requests that come back.

> **[Quickstart](https://docs.plastics.com/quickstart.md)**
>
> Sign in, find your first material, and send your first request.

> **[Integrations](https://docs.plastics.com/integrations/overview.md)**
>
> The Outlook Add-in, Microsoft 365 Mail, and Herman on your own website.

> **[Support](https://docs.plastics.com/faq.md)**
>
> Common questions, and what the platform does and does not do.

> [!NOTE]
>
> The site you sign in to may carry a supplier's own branding instead of the plastics.com name. It is
> the same product with a different brand applied, and everything in these docs applies either way.

## What you can do depends on your organization

Every account belongs to an organization, and that organization is either **buying** or
**selling (merchant)**.

Everyone gets the catalog, projects, quotes, and the assistant. The merchant workspace and the
Integrations page are role-gated, so a user without a merchant role who opens either one is
redirected away.

**Buyers**

* **Explore Materials.** Filter by polymer family, manufacturer, application, process method,
  certification, flame rating, color, and property ranges. Branded storefronts call this
  **Product Catalog**.
* **Compare and find alternatives.** Put grades side by side on their property values, units,
  and test conditions, or ask for substitutes for a grade you already use.
* **Projects.** A shared workspace where you collect materials for a job and invite teammates,
  each with their own level of access to that project.
* **Request a quote.** Submit an RFQ with supporting files attached, then accept it, reject it,
  message the supplier about it, or reorder from it later. **Orders** lists them all.

**Sellers (merchants)**

Merchant accounts add a dedicated workspace on top of the catalog and the assistant:

* **Products, Brands, and Pending Approvals.** Get your catalog in and keep it current, with an
  approval step before changes go live, and hide any material from your own storefront.
* **Pricing.** Maintain prices per material, or upload a price list and review it before it commits.
* **Warehouses and Customers.** Stocking locations, inventory records, and your buying accounts.
* **Orders.** Work incoming requests and advance an order's fulfillment status.
* **Dashboard and Analytics.** Your brands and products at a glance, plus performance reporting
  on how buyers find your materials: catalog completeness, search, and discovery.
* **Knowledge Base.** Upload your own documents, or point the platform at pages on your website,
  so the assistant can answer from them.
* **Integrations.** Set up the Outlook Add-in, Microsoft 365 Mail, and the Website Embed.
* **Agents** and the **RFQ Workspace** are enabled per account, and Agents is admin-only.

> [!NOTE]
>
> Roles are `member` and `advisor-admin` in a buying organization, `merchant-member` and `merchant-admin`
> in a selling organization; some merchant actions are admin-only. See [Account Setup](https://docs.plastics.com/account-setup.md).

## Herman, the assistant

**Herman AI**, or just Herman, is the assistant built into plastics.com. Describe what you need in
plain language, and Herman searches the catalog, explains properties, suggests alternatives, reads
datasheets, and shows you what it drew on.

Typing `/` offers five shortcuts: **find**, **datasheet**, **alternatives**, **compare**, and
**spec**. Answers arrive with actions attached, so you can add a grade to a project or a comparison,
or start a quote request, straight from the reply.

| Where Herman appears | Who uses it |
| - | - |
| **Chat**, and the search bar on the home page | Anyone on the site |
| Your **storefront**, through the Website Embed | Your website visitors, no account needed |
| The **Outlook Add-in** task pane, beside the email you are reading | Your sales team |
| **Agents** settings, for tuning Herman's storefront behaviour | Merchant admins |

Merchants control two things that genuinely change Herman's answers: which discovery tools buyers get
(comparison, alternatives, datasheet analysis, image upload), and whether Herman answers only from
your organization's own uploaded knowledge instead of the wider platform knowledge base.


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.