What draft orders are for

Many made-to-order shops take work before a normal paid order exists:

Phone or email quotes
Wholesale / B2B invoices
In-person or trade-show jobs that start as a draft in Shopify

Shopify’s path is a draft order: you build the cart offline, optionally send an invoice, then complete the draft when the customer pays so it becomes a regular order. That native flow still matters. Orderline adds a production-style Drafts board so those drafts are not stuck only in Shopify’s draft list.

On Drafts you can:

See draft orders with line items (name, image when available, SKU, quantity, price)
Run a separate status workflow for drafts (for example Quotation Sent → Invoice Sent → Ready to convert)—not the same status list as open Orders
Send Invoice and Create Order (complete the draft) in bulk from Orderline
Change Status in bulk as quotes move through your internal stages

Orderline does not replace Shopify’s draft editor. You still create and edit draft line items, prices, and notes in Shopify Admin. Orderline is the queue and workflow surface next to it.

For a broader custom-order stack (options apps, tags, packing slips), see How to manage custom orders on Shopify.

Video: Draft orders workflow in Orderline

Draft statuses vs order statuses

List	Where you manage it	Where you use it
Order Statuses	Statuses → Order Statuses	Main Orders production board
Draft Statuses	Statuses → Draft Statuses	Drafts board only

These lists are separate. A stage you create under Draft Statuses does not appear as a production tab on Orders, and the reverse is true. That is intentional: quote and invoice stages should not clutter paid-order production tabs.

Full status setup (names, colors, categories, nest/reorder): Custom production statuses.

Default statuses after install apply to orders (for example New Order, In Progress, Ready). Draft statuses are yours to define—there is no separate draft default set in the same way. Add the quote/invoice stages you need under Draft Statuses.

Example draft workflow names

You choose the names. Common patterns:

Quotation Sent
Awaiting Approval
Invoice Sent
Deposit Paid / Ready to Convert

Create a draft (Shopify Admin)

Orderline manages drafts that already exist in Shopify. To create one:

In Shopify Admin go to Orders → Drafts (or Create order from Drafts, depending on your Admin UI).
Add customer, products/line items, prices, and any notes you treat as the quote of record.
Save the draft.

Shopify’s own help covers creating drafts and sending invoices from Admin. After the draft exists, open Orderline → Drafts to run your internal workflow.

Tip: For offline jobs, put final approved customizations in a place your team will re-read before production (draft note and/or line details). Once you complete the draft into an order, production tracking continues on Orderline Orders.

Open the Drafts screen

Open Orderline from your Shopify admin.
In the app navigation, open Drafts.

Page heading: Drafts.

Staff need permission Can view draft orders. Without it, drafts stay hidden. Admins have full access. Details: Staff access and location permissions.

What you see on the board

Status tabs

Above the table:

Control	Meaning
Drafts	Inbox: drafts with no Orderline draft status yet
Your draft status tabs	Custom stages (ungrouped as tabs; categories as dropdown groups)
+ (if allowed)	Add a new custom draft status without leaving the list

Click a tab to filter the list to that stage. Horizontal scroll appears when you have many statuses.

Table columns

Column	What it shows
Draft	Draft name (link into Shopify Admin draft when available) + selection checkbox
Date	Created date (shop timezone formatting)
Customer	Shipping name, else billing name, else “No customer”
Total	Draft total
Status	Your Orderline custom draft status, or Inbox if none
Invoice Status	Shopify draft status: Open, Invoice Sent, or Completed
Email	Customer email on the draft

Line items under each draft

Each draft shows line items: product image (when available), name, variant title, SKU, quantity, and unit price. Use this to review what was quoted without opening every draft in Admin for a basic check.

Search and filters

When no rows are selected, the filter bar supports:

Search — by title, customer, or ID (placeholder: “Search draft orders by title, customer or ID”)
Date range — All time, Today, Past 7 / 30 / 90 days, Past 12 months, or custom from/to dates

Active filters show as removable chips; clear them from the bar when you are done.

Day-to-day: move drafts through quote stages

Change Status (bulk)

Select one or more drafts with the checkboxes.
Click Change Status.
Pick a draft status, or Drafts (Inbox) to clear the Orderline stage back to the inbox.

Orderline updates the draft’s custom status for your internal workflow. Progress appears in the bulk action modal.

Statuses screen: add, rename, color, nest, or disable draft stages under Statuses → Draft Statuses. Managing the status list requires Can create custom statuses (or admin). See custom production statuses.

Send Invoice

Select the draft(s).
Click Send Invoice.

Orderline calls Shopify’s send-invoice action for each selected draft. Failures (if any) show in the bulk results so you can fix and retry. Shopify may set invoice state such that the Invoice Status column shows Invoice Sent.

Use this when the quote is ready for the customer to pay via Shopify’s invoice email flow.

Create Order (complete the draft)

Select the draft(s) that should become real orders (typically after payment or when you mark them ready to complete in your process).
Click Create Order.

Orderline completes the draft through Shopify (draft order complete). Successful drafts become regular orders and leave the pure draft state (Shopify Completed / no longer an open draft). You then track production on the main Orders board with order statuses—not draft statuses.

If Shopify returns an error (for example the draft cannot be completed yet), the bulk modal shows the error for that draft name.

Worked example: B2B quote to production

Sales builds a Shopify draft for a wholesale jewelry order (customer, SKUs, custom note for engraving proof).
In Orderline Drafts, the row sits under the Drafts inbox tab.
You Change Status → Quotation Sent.
Customer accepts; you Send Invoice from Orderline. Invoice Status moves to Invoice Sent.
After payment, Create Order from Orderline. The job becomes a normal Shopify order.
On Orders, move line items through your order production statuses (Design Review → In Production → Ready) as usual.

Same physical shop, two status systems: draft stages for commercial pre-production, order stages for making and shipping.

Gotchas and permissions

Topic	What to know
Create vs manage	Create/edit draft contents in Shopify Admin. Orderline is the workflow board + bulk invoice/complete.
Separate statuses	Draft Statuses ≠ Order Statuses. Do not expect quote stages on the Orders tabs.
Staff visibility	Can view draft orders required to see Drafts.
Status list management	Can create custom statuses (or admin) to define stages on Statuses.
Inbox	No custom status yet → Drafts inbox tab.
Invoice Status vs custom Status	Invoice Status is Shopify’s draft/invoice state. Status is your Orderline workflow stage. They can both matter; they are not the same column.
After Create Order	Production work continues on Orders, not under Drafts.
Line customizations	Drafts show line basics (image, name, SKU, qty, price). Deep production detail for paid work still lives on the Orders unified view.

Custom production statuses — Order vs Draft status tabs, categories, bulk Change Status patterns
The Orderline orders view — paid orders after Create Order
Staff access and location permissions — Can view draft orders
Getting Started
Pricing
FAQ: Can I send quotations and invoices?
Blog: Draft orders, tags, and packing slips stack

Install: Orderline on the Shopify App Store