Shopify Admin: Everything you need to manage and process orders

1.1. All orders at a glance

Here you can see all the important information at a glance:

• Order number: Orders are sorted chronologically by order number, starting with the most recent.
• Order date: Right next to the order number you will find the date and time of the order.
• Customer: The first and last name of the person who placed the order is displayed here.
• Order total: This is the total amount the customer pays, including all product values and less any discounts.
• Payment status: The current payment status of the order is displayed here. Typical statuses are paid, pending, or refunded.
• Fulfillment status: Here you can see the current status of the order. Common statuses are Fulfilled, Not Fulfilled, and Partially Fulfilled.
• Quantity of products per order: This shows the number of products in the respective order.
• Additional information: There are additional columns with relevant order information that you can filter by.

1.2. Understanding order status

In Shopify, orders can have different statuses. You can view these at a glance and quickly track the current status of your order.

General status of an order

• Open: A customer has placed an order in your online store that you haven't yet processed or fulfilled. Therefore, the status is marked as open.
• Archived: You have already processed and completed a customer's order. No further action is required, so the order is archived. This can be done automatically or manually.
• Canceled: The order has been canceled in whole or in part. This status complements one of the two previous statuses, depending on whether any tasks are still pending.

Payment status at Shopify

• Paid: For activated payment methods such as PayPal or credit card, this status is often displayed immediately upon receipt of the order. The payment was immediately recorded and the money was transferred from the customer to the payment provider.
• Pending: If you use payment methods that require payment at a later date (such as prepayment), no payment is recorded at the beginning. The money hasn't been received yet, so the status is set to pending.
• Refunded: If you received the money but refunded the entire amount to the customer due to a return or another reason, this will be shown as refunded in the payment status.
• Partially refunded: If you have received the money but are refunding a portion of the order total due to a return or another reason, this will be shown as partially refunded in the payment status.
• Cancelled: If you cancel an order before the money has been received, the status will be set to cancelled.

Execution status

In addition to the general order and payment status, there's another status that helps you keep track of your operational business: the fulfillment status. This shows you which orders have already been shipped and which are still pending.

Here are the most common execution statuses in your Shopify account:

• Unfulfilled: When an order is received, the fulfillment status is initially set to "unfulfilled" because you have not yet packed or shipped the order.
• Fulfilled: Once you've packed and shipped the order and marked it in Shopify, the status will change to "fulfilled." You don't need to do anything else.
• Partially Fulfilled: If you have multiple products in an order and ship them separately rather than all at once, the status will be "partially fulfilled." This happens when you ship part of the order immediately due to supply constraints and ship the rest later. This status remains until the entire order is shipped.
• Planned: This status occurs with subscription products. The order is marked as "planned" and only changes to "not fulfilled" on the due date, so you can fulfill it then.

1.3. Filter orders

To provide you with an even better overview of your orders, various functions are available. To do so, click the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner of the list. This will open a search bar that allows you to search for and filter specific orders.

To search for specific terms, simply enter the desired terms. All relevant orders will be displayed in real time.

You can also add special filters to better manage the multitude of orders. To do so, click the "Add Filter +" button. A list of possible filters will appear, which you can use as needed.

Filtering orders helps you quickly create a list of all orders that haven't been fulfilled yet, for example, or that have issues in the warehouse. Using the filters, you can quickly and automatically identify these orders. You can then export the list so your customer service or warehouse can address them directly.

1.4. Export orders

Shopify offers you the option to export orders as a CSV file, either all or just a selection. This is useful if your warehouse staff specifically requests specific orders that are still pending, or if you want to further process the data outside of Shopify. To export orders, click the "Export" button above.

While it's easy to export orders from Shopify, importing them this way isn't as straightforward. If you want to transfer existing orders from another system to Shopify due to a store change, you'll need to use the API interface. This requires technical expertise.

In this case, we recommend hiring a specialized Shopify agency. There are also tools that allow this, such as Matrixify, Litextension, or Cart2Cart. These have existing interfaces and options for migrating orders in the event of a system change.

3.1. Order received:

The order has been received in your online store. Now you need to process the payment.

Depending on the payment provider, payments are captured either manually or automatically. For example, if you have one of the following payment providers enabled in your online store, payment capture is automatic and you don't need to do anything else:

• Shopify Payments
• PayPal
• Amazon Pay
• Other payment providers with a native interface to Shopify

If you have added manual payment methods, you must manually enter the payment and note it in the order. This is the case, for example, if you offer prepayment as a payment method. In this case, you must check the receipt of the payment in your bank account yourself and then mark the receipt in the order.

To capture the payment, go to the relevant order in your Shopify account and click the "Capture Payment" button. You can change the payment status by clicking "Mark as Paid."

3.2. Order paid:

The payment has been processed. Now you need to pack and ship the order.

While payment capture is usually automated, order processing typically requires more manual intervention. To process an order, go to the order you want to fulfill under Orders in your Shopify account. There, you'll see the fulfillment status set to "Unfulfilled."

Process unfulfilled orders

Click the "Fulfill Item" button. A new window will open with various settings options. Here you can specify which products you are shipping and enter the tracking number of the shipping provider. Check this box to automatically notify the customer and provide the tracking number so they know the package is on its way.

To complete the order, click "Fulfill Item." The fulfillment status will then change to "Fulfilled." You can adjust automatic notifications in the "Notifications" settings.

Processing with third parties

With high order volumes, manual processing becomes very time-consuming. In this case, it's worth considering Shopify apps that can help you fulfill and process orders more quickly.

3.3. Order executed:

The order has been shipped. You can now archive it. You have two options: automatically or manually.

To manually archive an order, go to the respective order and archive it manually there.

However, our tip is to automatically archive orders after they've been processed. You can do this in the settings under "Checkout" by checking the box next to "Automatically archive orders."