Setting Up Staff Permissions for Order Management
Order permissions control whether a staff account can view or act on your store's order and abandoned checkout information, including sensitive fields like customer contact details and shipping addresses.
You can grant staff only the functions their role needs. For example, customer service, finance, or warehouse staff, so people who don't need customer information don't have access to it.
This guide explains how to set up order permissions and what each permission under Orders and Abandoned checkouts controls.
Setting Up Order Permissions
To set order permissions for a staff account:
- In your SHOPLINE admin, click Settings > Staff and permissions.
- Click Add staff, or click the edit icon next to an existing staff account, to open the permissions page.
- Find Orders or Abandoned checkouts in the permission list, check the specific permissions you want to grant this account, then click Save.
Notes:
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Permissions Under Orders
You can grant the following permissions individually under Orders:
| Permission | What it allows |
| View orders | Lets staff view the order list and the basic information on the order details page |
| Create order | Lets staff manually create an order on a customer's behalf in the admin — the same flow as creating a draft order |
| Edit orders list columns | Lets staff customize which columns display on the order list. Staff without this permission won't see the Edit columns button, and will see whichever columns the store owner or store default has set |
| Edit products | Lets staff modify the products or quantities on an order: they can reduce or remove products before the order ships (issuing a refund if the customer already paid), or add new products before the order fully ships (charging the customer the price difference) |
| Cancel order | Lets staff cancel an order. Once canceled, the order can no longer be updated (except for refunds); staff can choose to refund the customer and restock inventory at the same time |
| Edit order details | Lets staff edit an order's basic information |
| Edit shipping address | Lets staff change an order's shipping address |
| Export orders | Lets staff export order list data |
| Return Approval | Lets staff approve return requests submitted by customers |
| Order returned | Lets staff process a return for an order once a post-sale agreement has been reached with the customer |
| Order shipped | Lets staff update an order's shipping status and tracking information once the products have actually shipped |
| Refund orders | Lets staff process a refund for an order; if the refund is issued back to the original payment method, the payment processing fee can't be refunded |
| Create shipping label | Lets staff generate a shipping label |
| Create return label | Lets staff generate a return label |
| View Payment Details (Sensitive permissions) | Lets staff view an order's detailed payment information |
| Cancel Return | Lets staff cancel a return that was already initiated |
| View customer info and activity logs | Lets staff view the Customer panel on the order details page (name, contact info, shipping/billing address, etc.) and the order timeline. The shipping address inside the tracking pop-up is also shown |
| Access 'More' actions in order details pages | Lets staff use the options under the Actions menu in the top-right corner of the order details page |
FAQs About Order Management Permissions
Q1: What can staff still do on the order details page if View customer info and activity logs are off?
They can still perform order actions, like arranging shipment, processing a refund, or editing products. But the Customer panel (contact info, shipping/billing address) and the order timeline are hidden, and so is the shipping address inside the tracking pop-up.
Q2: What's still visible on the abandoned checkout details page if Copy checkout links and send recovery emails are off?
Product and pricing details stay visible. The checkout link and the Send a recovery email action are hidden. If View customer info and activity logs are also off, the Customer panel is hidden too.
Q3: Can staff still see the order list without the Edit orders list columns permission?
Yes — they can still view the order list, but the Edit columns button isn't available, so they can't customize which columns show. If that staff account hasn't set up its own columns either, it displays whichever columns the store owner (the primary account) currently has set, or the store's default columns if the owner hasn't customized theirs. The same rule applies to the new owner's account after a store transfer.