Order Statuses Explained

What each order status means, how orders move between them and the extra labels you may see.

How Order Statuses Work

Every order in Helm has one status that shows where it is in your workflow, from the moment it arrives to the moment it leaves the warehouse. Helm moves orders from one status to the next as you allocate stock, pick, pack and despatch, so most of the time you never change a status by hand.

You see the status as a coloured label in the Status column of the orders list and at the top of each order. You can filter by it, build Order Rules around it and change it in bulk when you need to.

Example: an order comes in from Shopify as a New Order. One item is out of stock, so it becomes a Backorder. When the stock arrives it moves on, is picked (Picking, then Picked), packed and finally Despatched.

The Order Statuses

Status	What it means
Draft	The order is still being put together and is not part of your workflow yet. Manually created orders start here. Drafts are the only orders you can delete.
New Order	The order has arrived from a channel or been saved manually and is ready to be worked on.
Backorder	There is not enough stock for one or more items. See Allocation, Stock Reservation & Backorders.
Processing	The order is being worked on and is on its way to picking.
Picking	The order is in a pick and items are being collected from their locations.
Partially Picked	Some items have been picked and some have not. You can split the picked items into their own order with Split Picked.
Picked	Every item has been picked and the order is ready to pack.
Sorting	Items picked together for several orders are being sorted into their individual orders.
Sorted	Sorting is finished and the order is ready to pack.
Packing	The order is being packed.
Despatched	The order has left the warehouse. Despatched orders are archived automatically after 30 days.
Cancelled	The order has been cancelled and will not be fulfilled. See Cancelling, Archiving & Deleting Orders.

Note: not every warehouse uses every status. If you do not sort or pack as separate steps, those statuses are simply skipped.

Other Labels You May See

Some things happen alongside the status rather than replacing it. These are shown as extra labels on the order:

On Hold: the order is paused and cannot be picked or despatched. See Putting Orders On Hold.
Resent: a replacement has been sent for this order.
Partially Returned and Returned: some or all of the items have come back.
Partially Refunded and Refunded: some or all of the order value has been refunded.

Returns, refunds and resends are covered in Returns, Refunds & Resends.

Changing an Order's Status

Helm changes statuses for you as work happens, but you can move orders yourself when you need to, for example to send a batch back to New Order.

In Orders, tick the orders you want to change.
In the bar at the bottom, choose Set > Bulk Change Status.
Check the Selected orders, grouped by their current status.
Pick the New status and confirm.

Bulk Change Status window with the New status list

Only valid moves are offered. If a status is not in the list, the selected orders cannot go there from where they are now.

Tip: to change statuses automatically, use the Set Order Status action in Order Rules. The same rule applies: Helm only makes valid moves and skips the rest.

Best Practices

Let Helm move orders for you. Changing statuses by hand can skip steps such as picking, so stock and reports may not match what happened on the floor.
Filter by status every day. Saved views for Backorder, Partially Picked and On Hold help you spot orders that are stuck. See Search, Filters & Saved Views.
Use rules for repeat moves rather than bulk changes, so the same orders are handled the same way every time.

FAQ

Why can I not move an order to a certain status?

Helm only offers valid moves from the order's current status. For example, an order cannot jump from Draft to Despatched. Move it through the steps in between, or despatch it as normal.

Is On Hold a status?

No. On Hold is a label that sits on top of the status. A Backorder that is put on hold is still a Backorder.

Where have my despatched orders gone?

Despatched orders are archived 30 days after despatch. Open the archive view next to Filters in the orders list to find them.

Can I undo a cancelled order?

Yes. Open the order and use Undo Cancellation. See Cancelling, Archiving & Deleting Orders.

Once you know what each status means, the orders list tells you at a glance what needs doing next.

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