Frequently asked questions

Shopify’s default order list was built for standard e-commerce — where every order looks the same and the main job is shipping. Made-to-order merchants need to see what was customized, where an order is in production, and when it needs to ship.

Orderline solves this by showing:

• Product thumbnails and line items in the main list — no clicking into each order
• Customer customizations (engravings, sizes, colors, messages) right next to the product
• Custom production statuses that match your actual workflow — “Design Review,” “In Production,” “Quality Check,” etc.
• Ship-by dates with urgency indicators so deadlines are never missed
• Staff permissions by location, so your team only sees what they need

It is the order management screen Shopify should have built for custom product sellers.

Yes — that is the entire point. Orderline shows product thumbnails, line items, and customer customization options directly in the order list.

If a customer ordered a ring with a specific engraving, a t-shirt in a custom size, or a sticker with their own artwork, you will see all of that at a glance. No more opening ten tabs or clicking through every order to find the one detail you need.

Read the Orderline orders view guide for a full walkthrough, or watch the orders screen tour on YouTube. To add fields like delivery date to the table, see custom order table columns.

Yes. You can add internal production notes to any order for your team to see—separate from the customer’s Shopify note. Use them for special instructions, material requirements, reprint reminders, or anything else your production workflow demands.

Internal notes are visible to permitted staff and print on packing slips when needed. Full setup: Internal production notes.

Yes. Every row shows the line items with their product images and the customer’s choices — the line item properties captured at checkout — so nobody opens an order to read an engraving, a size, or a name. That is the main reason Orderline exists. See: the unified orders view.

Orderline only offers an order metafield if it has a metafield definition in Shopify. If a field is missing from Settings → Columns, check that the definition exists, and that its type is a simple scalar like text, number, or date. Complex types may show as text and are not recommended for filtering. More: custom order columns.

Yes. Add it in Settings → Columns — as an order custom attribute or a defined order metafield — then mark it filterable so you can sort and filter on it. A florist, for example, can put delivery date and delivery time on the list and work the day in date order. Setup: custom order columns.

Orderline’s custom columns are order-level, not per line item. If the shelf location is stored on the order as a custom attribute or a defined order metafield, you can add it as a column and the packer reads it on the list instead of opening the order. Setup: custom order columns.

Yes — save the filters as a view and reopen it from the views dropdown. A view stores your search, product, fulfilment, payment and label status, date range, sales channel, sort order, and column filters. New orders that match appear when the list refreshes under that view. Setup: custom order views.

Yes, and that is the intended split. Production stage lives on the status tabs and is not part of a view. A product family, a sales channel, or any other slice becomes a saved view built from the list filters — so a stage tab stays stable while a view can change. More: custom order views.

By default Orderline is a production queue — open work only — so a fulfilled order leaves the list. If closed orders are still showing, check Settings → General: the optional closed-order slices may be switched on. Those add Completed, Cancelled, Refunded, and All orders, and every order in them is read-only on the list.

Turn on the closed-order slices in Settings → General. You then get Completed, Cancelled, Refunded, and All orders next to your live queue, so today’s work stays clean and you can still answer “where did that order go?“. Closed orders are read-only there.

Yes. Switching on the closed-order slices in Settings → General can also import the last 60 days of Shopify history. Imported history does not count toward your monthly order limit.

The customer note is collected at checkout and the customer can see it. An internal production note is private to your shop floor — “use the leftover walnut for this one” — and stays in Orderline. Shopify sync never overwrites it, and it prints on the packing slip beside the customer note when both exist. Setup: internal production notes.

They come from the line item properties captured at checkout by whichever product-options app runs on your product pages. Orderline reads them from the order in Shopify. If a choice is missing on the list, it is missing on the line item — so check the product options app first. More: the unified orders view.

Search matches the product title, the SKU, the order name or ID, and the email address. An order appears if any open line item’s title or SKU matches, or if the order name, ID, or email matches. See: custom order views.

Yes. You can filter the list by product and combine that with fulfilment status, payment status, location, shipping label state, sales channel, date range, and any custom column you have marked filterable. If you use the same combination often, save it as a view. Setup: custom order views.

Custom production statuses let you build a workflow that matches how you actually make things. Instead of being stuck with Shopify’s “Unfulfilled” and “Fulfilled,” you can create statuses like:

• “Design Review”
• “Awaiting Materials”
• “In Production”
• “Quality Check”
• “Ready to Ship”

You define the statuses, you define the order, and you move orders through them in bulk with a few clicks. This makes it easy to see bottlenecks, track production stages, and know exactly what needs attention at any moment.

Read the custom production statuses guide for a step-by-step walkthrough, or watch the setup video on YouTube.

Ship-by dates let you set deadlines for every order based on rules you configure. For example, you might set all ring orders to ship within 5 business days and furniture orders within 14—either with Automatic by product, Automatic by shipping method, or dates you set yourself (manual / Flow).

Orders approaching their deadline show urgency indicators directly in the list, so your staff knows what to prioritize without checking a separate calendar or spreadsheet. This prevents missed deadlines, reduces customer follow-up emails, and keeps your production queue organized by actual priority.

Why the date belongs on the work list: Stop missing ship dates on made-to-order Shopify orders. Setup: ship-by overview, then by shipping method, by product, or manual.

No problem. You can group your statuses by simply dragging and dropping them into groups. Once grouped, they appear as dropdown menus instead of a flat tab list, keeping your screen clean and manageable even with 15 to 20 production steps.

You can also arrange statuses in any order you want, so your workflow displays exactly the way your team thinks about it.

See the custom production statuses guide for categories, nesting, and day-to-day use on the Orders screen.

Yes. On Orderline Pro or Pro+, you can invite staff and control what they can do inside Orderline. You can assign a location and limit them so they only see orders for that location. You can also set permissions for managing custom statuses, viewing draft orders, and viewing audit logs.

Order table columns are shared for the whole shop (not per staff member). Permissions are managed under Settings → Staff in Orderline and require a Shopify plan that supports staff accounts (Shopify plan and above).

See the staff access and location permissions guide or watch the setup video on YouTube.

Yes. Orderline keeps its own production statuses, separate from Shopify’s Unfulfilled and Fulfilled. Create as many as your workshop needs — Designing, Cutting, Polishing, Engraving — and move orders between them as the work happens. Parent statuses show as flat tabs and child statuses sit in a dropdown under them. Shopify’s own status is left alone, and Orderline marks the order fulfilled in Shopify when it ships. Setup: custom production statuses.

Yes. Orders — or single line items — can be put on hold and released again from the Orderline list, in bulk. A held order stays out of the way until you release it, and the change is written back to Shopify straight away. More: fulfillment sync with Shopify.

No, and that is deliberate. Orderline’s production statuses are internal, so your team can use real workshop words — Pattern cut, Dyeing, Second coat — without promising a customer a step you invented for the shop floor. What the customer sees is still Shopify’s own status. If you also want customers to follow progress, that is a customer-tracking tool’s job; Orderline is the board your staff work from.

Yes, on the Shopify plans that allow staff accounts. Invite staff into Orderline and give each person either all of your locations or a single one. Someone at warehouse B then sees only the orders assigned to location B, and can act only on those. Setup: staff location permissions.

Orderline’s access model is per-location staff — there is no separate outside-vendor role. So a supplier would need to be invited as a staff member restricted to one location, which only works if their orders are isolated to that location. If you need a vendor to see a few orders and nothing else, Orderline is not built for that yet.

Yes. Orderline currently integrates with Shippo, so you can buy shipping labels in one click without leaving your order management screen.

Select an order, choose your shipping service, print the label, and move on. No jumping between apps, no copy-pasting addresses, no context switching.

More shipping integrations are on the way. If you need a specific provider, request it and it will be integrated immediately.

Yes. Select orders on the Orderline list and print packing slips in bulk—up to 25 at a time. Customize extra fields (delivery date, phone, card message) under Settings → Packing slips; those fields come from columns you already added. On a phone or tablet, print opens the device print sheet instead of a PDF download. Full steps: packing slips.

Yes. If you operate multiple production or warehouse locations, you can split orders and assign them to specific locations. Each location’s staff sees only the orders assigned to them, keeping workflows clean and avoiding confusion about who is responsible for what.

Yes. Select the orders on the list and mark them fulfilled without leaving the screen. You can act on whole orders or on single line items, in bulk. Shopify is updated straight away. More: fulfillment sync with Shopify.

Yes. Orderline reads the orders from Shopify and writes the change back immediately — fulfil, hold, unhold, or cancel — so there is never a second system to update. More: fulfillment sync with Shopify.

Yes. Orderline has Shippo built in, so you can select orders on the list and buy their labels together rather than one at a time. More carriers are planned.

Orderline shows the reason it failed — no service for that address, not enough balance, and so on. You can filter to just the failed orders and retry them in one click, instead of hunting through the list for the ones that did not go through.

Yes. Select orders in bulk and download or print packing slip PDFs. You can add the fields your packer needs — the customer’s choices, product pictures, an internal note — so nobody reopens an order to check a name. Setup: packing slips. Free template: Shopify packing slip template.

Yes. Both start from the same selection on the orders list — buy the labels, print the packing slips — so the parcels and the paperwork stay in step and you do not re-select the same orders twice.

Yes. Orderline can assign a line item to a different location internally without touching the location in Shopify, so the customer sees no change. On one order of a dining table and six chairs, the table can be in one workshop and the chairs in another, and each line item can also be in a different production status at the same time. See: the unified orders view.

Yes. Orderline includes full draft order management. You can create a draft order to use as a quotation, send an invoice to your customer, and then convert it to a tracked production order when payment is received.

You can also apply custom statuses to draft orders — for example, moving them through “Quotation Sent” or “Invoice Sent” — so they flow through your internal workflow just like regular orders.

See the draft orders guide for the Drafts board, draft statuses, Send Invoice, and Create Order.

Yes. Create the draft order in Shopify with a custom line item, and it appears in Orderline’s Drafts board with its line items, where you can move it through your own draft statuses. You send the invoice from Shopify, then convert the draft to a production order once it is paid. Setup: draft orders.

Orderline manages the draft order and its statuses — Quotation Sent, Invoice Sent — next to your normal orders. The PDF itself comes from your Shopify draft order or an invoice and printer app; Orderline does not generate the document. Setup: draft orders.

Yes. Draft order statuses are separate from normal order statuses, so quotations and invoices get their own columns and never clutter the production board. Setup: draft orders.

Yes. Orderline was built partly because Etsy sellers kept telling us they missed Etsy’s order management screen.

This is not just for merchants migrating from Etsy to Shopify. Many sellers run both platforms in parallel. Some even sync their Etsy orders into Shopify for centralized processing. Etsy shows product images, customization details, and order notes in a clean, scannable list. Shopify’s default admin buries all of that behind individual order pages. Orderline brings that Etsy-like visibility back — product thumbnails, customizations, and line items right in the main view — while adding production-specific features like custom statuses and ship-by dates that Etsy never had.

Whether you are migrating from Etsy, selling on both platforms, or syncing Etsy orders into Shopify for processing, Orderline gives you the order screen you have been missing.

Yes, and many Orderline merchants do. Etsy orders reach Shopify through whichever integration app you use, and Orderline reads them from Shopify — so both channels land in one list. Orderline does not sync Etsy itself; it works from what is already in Shopify. See: order views.

Yes. Orders synced into Shopify from Etsy, Faire, Amazon, or eBay appear in Orderline the same as orders from your own store. Filter by sales channel and save it as a view — “Etsy work”, “Amazon only” — to run one channel at a time. Setup: custom order views.

Starter is $9 per month and includes up to 100 orders per billing period. It includes the full Orderline feature set for made-to-order workflows: unified orders view with line items, images, and customizations; custom production statuses; ship-by deadlines; custom columns, filters, and saved views; draft orders; packing slips; Shippo shipping labels; and fulfilment actions synced to Shopify. Email support is included. Staff access is not included on Starter.

Pro is $19 per month and includes up to 500 orders per billing period. It includes everything in Starter, plus staff access so you can invite staff and assign them by location (your Shopify plan must support staff accounts — Shopify plan and above). Priority email support is included.

Pro+ is $39 per month and includes unlimited orders. It includes everything in Starter and Pro, plus app customisations where agreed, onboarding support, and priority support via email and phone.

All plans include a 7-day free trial with full feature access. Upgrade or downgrade anytime based on order volume and whether you need staff.

See the pricing page for a full comparison.

An order counts toward your limit when it is synced into Orderline, in any state. Starter includes up to 100 orders per billing period; Pro up to 500; Pro+ is unlimited. Plans are billed every 30 days.

Orderline will notify you when you are approaching your plan’s order limit. If you exceed it, new orders from that day onward will not sync into Orderline until you upgrade.

Your existing orders and data remain fully accessible — nothing is deleted or hidden. Once you upgrade, the missed orders sync immediately so you do not lose anything.

No — this is a current limitation. Staff access in Orderline depends on Shopify’s own staff permission system, which is only available on the Shopify plan and above.

On the Basic plan, you can still use Orderline’s full order management features for yourself — custom statuses, ship-by dates, shipping labels, and everything else. We are actively working on mitigating this limitation so Basic plan merchants can also benefit from team access.

For team setup when your Shopify plan supports staff, see the staff access and location permissions guide.