OrderFlow Documentation

Requirements

OrderFlow runs on any standard WooCommerce store. Before you install it, check that your site has:

Installation

From your WordPress dashboard

1. Go to Plugins → Add New Plugin.
2. Search for “OrderFlow for WooCommerce”.
3. Click Install Now, then Activate.

By uploading the zip file

1. Download the plugin zip from WordPress.org.
2. Go to Plugins → Add New Plugin → Upload Plugin.
3. Choose the zip file, click Install Now, then Activate.

After activation a new OrderFlow item appears in your WordPress admin menu.

The OrderFlow dashboard

Go to OrderFlow → Dashboard. This is your home base for the whole plugin.

• Stats at the top: orders in custom statuses, orders awaiting approval, open refund requests and shipments in transit.
• All modules: one card per module with its main features.
• On / Off switch: turns a module on or off.
• Settings: opens that module’s settings.
• Guide: help for that module (this documentation covers every module below).

Order Approval

Order Approval holds new orders until you approve or reject them. Use it for custom work, wholesale orders, high-value orders or anything you want to check before it ships.

Choose when the customer pays

Create an approval rule

1. Open Order Approval settings from the dashboard and add a new rule.
2. Choose where it applies: all products, or selected products, categories or product tags.
3. Choose user roles, or leave it empty to apply to everyone.
4. Pick the payment method above and set a priority if you have more than one rule.
5. Save. Matching orders now wait for approval.

Approve or reject orders

Open WooCommerce → Orders. Orders waiting for you show the pending-approval status. Change the status to Approved or Rejected (one order at a time or with the bulk actions). The customer is emailed automatically.

What the customer sees

• A message on the checkout page before the Place Order button (use {products} to list the product names).
• A custom message at the top of the thank-you page.
• Their approval status on My Account → View Order, with your own text and colours for pending, approved and rejected.
• A Pay button (for “Wait for approval & pay”) and an optional Cancel button.
• An optional visual timeline and the time the order was placed.

If you switch the module off

Under Deactivation Settings you can choose the order status that waiting orders return to, so no order is left stuck.

Order Statuses

Order Statuses lets you add your own steps to the WooCommerce order flow, such as “In production”, “Quality check” or “Ready for pickup”.

Create a custom status

1. Open Order Statuses and click Add New.
2. Enter the status name and slug, and an optional description.
3. Pick its look: text colour, background colour and an icon.
4. Set the payment status: paid, requires payment, or not paid.
5. Save. The status is now available on every order.

Status options

• Show the status in the Orders page bulk actions.
• Allow customers to cancel orders that have this status.
• Include orders with this status in reports.
• Hide the status from customers.

Emails for each status

Add an email for any status and choose who receives it: the customer, the admin or both. Write your own subject, heading and message. You can use placeholders such as {order_status}, {order_billing_full_name}, {order_date} and {site_title}. Basic order details are added below your message automatically.

Automation rules

Automation rules move orders from one status to another after a set time, so routine steps happen on their own.

1. Open Automation Rules and add a new rule.
2. Choose the From status and the To status (they must be different).
3. Set how long to wait before the change.
4. Optionally limit the rule by order amount, item quantity, products, product categories, billing or shipping countries, or order date.
5. Set the rule priority and save.

Deleting a status

If orders still use a status you want to delete, OrderFlow asks you to move them to another status first, so nothing is lost.

Import and export

Export your statuses to a file and import them on another store to copy the same setup.

Order Tracking

Order Tracking adds shipment tracking to your orders, so customers can follow their parcel without emailing you.

Set up

1. Open Order Tracking settings and enable the module.
2. Choose your default carrier. The built-in list covers hundreds of carriers worldwide (DHL, DPD, GLS, Aramex, Australia Post, Canada Post and many more), and you can search it.
3. Choose where tracking info appears on the customer’s order page: before or after the order details, or before or after the customer details.
4. Optionally show tracking info in its own column on the Orders list.

Add tracking to an order

Open the order, choose the carrier, enter the tracking number and save. The tracking details appear on the customer’s My Account page, and they can be emailed to the customer.

Import tracking codes from CSV

Shipping lots of orders? Upload a CSV file with the order numbers, carriers and tracking codes to add them all at once. The settings page shows the exact CSV format.

Delivery timeline

• Show a progress timeline on the order page.
• Turn each timeline stage on or off.
• Show the date and time of each status update.
• Customise the tracking button label, icon and colours.

Order Refund

Order Refund lets customers request a refund from their account and gives you one place to review, reply and refund.

General settings

• Show a Refund Whole Order button, a Refund Single Item button, or both.
• Refund window: how many days after purchase a customer can request a refund (30 days if left empty).
• Minimum order amount for a refund.
• Refund taxes, and restock refunded items automatically.
• Let customers upload a file (for example a photo), make it required and choose the allowed file types.
• Accept requests automatically, or approve each one yourself.
• Custom messages: a confirmation after a request is sent, and a message for non-refundable products.

Refund rules

Rules let different orders follow different refund policies.

1. Add a new rule and switch it on.
2. Choose the products (or all products).
3. Limit it by user role, country, payment method or order status, or leave these empty to apply to all.
4. Set a custom refund window and choose whether matching requests are approved automatically.
5. Set the priority. A lower number runs first.

Refund as a coupon

Turn on coupon refunds to offer store credit instead of money back. Choose the coupon code pattern (for example using {request_id}), how many days the coupon lasts, and whether the code is emailed to the customer.

Handle requests

1. Open Order Refund → Requests to see every request and its status.
2. Open a request to see the items, amount, reason and any uploaded file.
3. Reply in the message thread. The customer is emailed when you send a message.
4. Approve and refund, offer a coupon, reject, or close the request. Every change is saved in the request history.

Emails

OrderFlow adds its emails to WooCommerce, so you manage them in WooCommerce → Settings → Emails like any other store email: turn each one on or off, change the recipients, subject, heading and email type.

Approval emails support the placeholders {order_no} and {full_name}.

Help & support

Can’t find what you need here? Ask in the OrderFlow support forum on WordPress.org and we’ll help you out.

If OrderFlow saves you time, please leave a rating on WordPress.org. It really helps other store owners find it.