Creating Orders Manually

When to Create an Order Manually

Most orders reach Helm from your connected sales channels. Create an order by hand when a sale happens somewhere else, such as a phone or email order, a trade customer, a free replacement, or a test order for training.

Example: a trade customer phones to order 20 jumpers and 10 denim jackets for their shop. You create the order in Helm, pick the customer from your customer list, add the two products, choose the courier service and save it as a New Order. From there it is picked and despatched like any channel order.

Before You Start

• The products must already exist in Helm. See Getting Started with Inventory if you need to add them.

• Have the customer's name, email address and delivery address ready, or check whether they are already in your customer list. See Creating & Managing Customers.

• Know which store or channel the order belongs to. Manual orders use the store's Manual Channel by default.

How to Create an Order

1. Go to Orders and click Create Order in the bottom-right corner. Helm opens a new order straight away with the status Draft.

2. Under Order Details, check the store and channel, and click the pencil to add a Reference if you want one.

3. Under Address Details, click the plus. Start typing the customer's email or name to choose an existing customer, or fill in the details for a new one, then click Continue. Check the shipping address and click Save Changes. Leave Use Shipping Address for Invoice Address ticked unless the invoice goes somewhere else.

4. Under Order Items, click the plus. Search by product name or item code, select each product, and set the quantity, any discount and the price. Click Add.

5. Under Shipping Options, click the pencil next to Shipping Service and choose a service. Add a shipment reference or collection date if needed.

6. Add any Additional Notes, Custom Fields, folder, tags or attached files (see the table below).

7. Click Save as and choose Save as New Order to send it into your normal workflow, or Save as Draft to finish it later.

Everything You Can Add to an Order

Best Practices

• Choose existing customers from the search rather than typing them again, so their order history stays in one place.

• Add a reference that your team will recognise, such as the phone order number or the trade customer's PO.

• Lock the shipping service when you have agreed a specific delivery option with the customer.

• Use Save as Draft when you are waiting for details, so the order is not picked too early.

FAQ

Once saved as a New Order, a manual order follows exactly the same picking, packing and despatch steps as an order from your channels.