Orderline Orderline Install

Order deadlines (ship-by date)

Ship-by dates show when each order should leave, with urgency on the Orders list. Choose by shipping method, by product, or set dates yourself.

What ship-by deadlines are

A ship-by date is the day an order should leave your shop. In Orderline it shows up as the Ship By column on your Orders list, with a color for how close you are (overdue, due soon, or fine).

That is useful when you promise customers a window—or when production has to leave by a certain day. Staff can sort and filter by ship-by instead of hunting notes, tags, or a separate spreadsheet.

Once a date is on an order, sorting, filtering, and urgency work the same way no matter how the date was set.

Turn on Order timelines

All three methods below need Order timelines on.

  1. Open Orderline → Settings → Shipping.
  2. Turn Order timelines on.

The Ship By column appears on Orders. Your choice under How ship-by dates are set controls how dates get written.

Three ways to set ship-by

Pick one option in Settings. You can switch later; unused settings stay saved.

By shipping methods

Orderline calculates ship-by from the order date, your operational days, and the lead time (in days) for that order’s shipping method. Methods without a rule use your store default.

Example: Default is 3 days. You set Express to 1 day. An Express order placed Monday ships by Tuesday; a Standard order (no custom rule) ships by Thursday.

Best when checkout rates map cleanly to how fast you ship.

→ Full setup: Ship-by dates by shipping method

By products

Orderline calculates ship-by from the order date and each product’s lead time (in days). Multi-product orders use the latest deadline. Products without a custom value use the store default.

Example: Sunglasses are 3 days; a custom snowboard is 7. An order with only sunglasses gets +3 days. An order with both gets +7 (the later date).

Best when the same shipping method covers products with very different prep times.

→ Full setup: Ship-by dates by product

Manual

You set the date yourself—one order, many at once, or via Shopify Flow writing the orderline.ship_by metafield. Orderline does not calculate lead times while this mode is on.

Example: A preorder wave all ships on 1 October. You select those orders and bulk-set ship-by to that date—or Flow writes it when the order is tagged preorder.

Best for preorders, batch arrivals, vendor ETAs, or dates that live in another system.

→ Full setup: Ship-by dates (manual)

On the Orders list

With timelines on, every mode shares the same Ship By experience:

  • Urgency badges (critical / warning / safe, or overdue / due today)
  • Sort by the Ship by column
  • Filter and prioritize open work by deadline

Completed or cancelled orders do not show urgency.