Open Orders: How to Create, View, Edit

This guide explains how to create open orders manually, view orders information, and edit orders if necessary.

Note! When you create open orders in the system manually, these orders are saved with the source DIRECT.  

See detailed guides on how to create, view, and edit open orders below:

• How to create open orders
• How to view open order details
• How to edit open order details

How to create open orders

Once the selling channel is integrated, channel orders will start being downloaded to Linnworks automatically based on your channel settings. In some cases, you may need to create orders manually (for example, when you had a sale on spot) which you are enabled to do in the Open Orders screen. See below for the exact steps.

Step 1: access the screen

Go to Orders > Open Orders to access the screen.

Step 2: create a new order

In the top right-hand corner of the screen, click the New Order button which opens the Order screen. 

Make sure the setting that allows creating direct orders is enabled in the User Permissions screen. Otherwise, this button will be grayed out.

Step 3: add order information

Fill in the sections below with the required order information.

• Customer
• Details
• Items
• Shipping & packaging
• Notes
• Properties
• Payment

Note! For visibility purposes, the selected section you are currently working in is highlighted in blue.

Customer

In the Customer section, you can add or change the following shipping and billing information of the buyer:

Shipping Address

• Name
• Company
• Email
• Phone
• Address 1
• Address 2
• Address 3
• Town
• County/Region
• Postcode
• Country

Once you start typing, the system suggests a list of already existing customers with their details which you can select from the drop-down menu:

Billing Address 

In the Billing Address section, there is a checkbox Same as Shipping. Note that it is checked by default when you are creating a new open order. 

Uncheck the box and click Edit existing or Enter new when the billing address differs from the shipping address.

In the Customer section, you can also use the View on the map button to double-check the correctness of the address by viewing it on Google maps.

Click  when you need to close the Customer section in the Order screen.

Details

In the Details section, you can work with the following order information:

• Source: for manually created orders, the source is DIRECT. Otherwise, the source filed displays the channel the order is downloaded from, e.g. AMAZON, EBAY. If you are editing an imported order, the source displayed is DATAIMPORTEXPORT.

• Subsource: use the subsource field to identify orders from different channels that have the same source. For example, the source could be AMAZON and the subsource - AmazonUK, AmazonUSA, etc.
• Reference number: the primary reference number used by the sales channel to identify the order.
• Secondary reference: an additional reference number for the order.
• External reference: an additional reference number for the order.

Items

Use this section, to add items that were purchased by your buyer to the open order. You can add:

• Products: these are the inventory items you sold. The items are taken from the My Inventory screen.
• Services: it is an item that does not have a Linnworks SKU associated with it. For example, gift wrapping.

To add an item to the order:

1. Click the Add Product  button.
2. Search for a product by SKU or title.
3. Select the product from the list.

To add a service to the order:

1. Click the Add Service  button.
2. Type in the name of the service.
3. Add its cost.
4. Click Save.

Quantity and cost

• Use the quantity  box to increase or decrease the quantity of sold items. 
• Use the cost  box to change the price of an item that was sold. 

Composite items, discounts, and additional info

Click  to access Subitems, Costs, and Additional Info tabs.

Subitems

The Subitems tab is displayed when an item that was sold is a composite item. In this tab, you can view all child items from the composition.

Costs

In the Costs tab, you can apply the discount or the tax rate on the order if needed. 

Additional info

In the Additional Info tab, you can add extra information about the sold item if needed. 

To add information: 

1. Click the Add Info  button.
2. Type in Property.
3. Type in Value.
4. Click Save.

Click  when you need to remove an item from the order.

Shipping & packaging

Use this section to update shipping and packaging information for the order:

Packaging

• Packaging group: the packaging group that fits the order.
• Packaging type: the packaging type that fits the order.
• Dimensions: the dimensions of purchased items. These can be entered manually as well.
• Items weight: the weight of purchased items.
• Packaging weight: the weight of the packaging.
• Total weight: the total weight of the order. You can update the total weight manually. The weight will be divided between items and packaging weight.
• Recalculate: click the Recalculate button to revert any manual changes. The order packaging will be recalculated again according to the packaging method selected.

Shipping

• Courier/Vendor: provider of the shipping service. For example, Royal Mail.
• Service: the name of the shipping service. For example, Royal Mail 1st and 2nd Class.
• Tracking number: the tracking number assigned to the order when the shipping label is printed. 
  • Note: it is not recommended to change the tracking number manually.
• Cancel shipping label: use this button to cancel the shipping label that was printed for the order. Once canceled, you can print a new shipping label if needed.

Notes

Use the Notes section to add any vital information to the order. Once you open the section, you can view:

• The text of the note.
• The date when the note was added.
• The user this note was added by. 
• If it is an external or a processing note:
  • External: add the note as an external one if you need it to be visible on the invoice when it is printed for the order.
  • Processing: the note will appear in the Process screen when processing the order.

To add a note to an order:

1. Click the Add Note button.
2. Add the text of the note.
3. Select if the note is external, processing, or both.
4. Click Save.

Click  when you need to remove the note from the order.

Properties

In the Properties section, you can add, change, or view:

• Identifiers
• Folders
• Extended properties
• Order XML

Identifiers

Identifiers must be first set up in Settings > General Settings > Order Settings > Identifiers.

To add an identifier to an order:

1. Click the Add Identifier  button.
2. Search for the required identifier.
3. Select the identifier from the list.

Click  when you need to remove the identifier from the order.

Folders

Folders must be first set up in Settings > General Settings > Order Settings > Folders > Folder Manager.

To add an order to a folder:

1. Click the Add to Folder  button.
2. Select the folder from the list.

Click  when you need to remove the order from the folder.

Extended properties

Order extended properties are unique features that allow you to add and store any important order information that is not saved as order information.

For the most part, these are added to orders by automation such as scripts, macros, rules engine, applications or downloaded from selling channels. 

To add an extended property to an order manually:

1. Click the Add Extended Property  button. 
2. Specify type, name, and value.
3. Click Save.

Payment

Use the Payment section in the Order screen to update:

• Currency: the currency of the order.
• Payment status: the status of the order: unpaid, paid, pending, or resend.
• Payment method: the payment method used to pay for the order: PayPal, Stripe, bank transfer, etc.
• Shipping cost: the cost paid for the shipping.

How to view open order details

Select the order in the Open Orders screen and click Actions > View Order. Alternatively, you can right-click the order to access the Actions menu and click View Order.

Order XML

When Linnworks saves an order, it downloads the information in the XML format. You can see this raw data in the Properties > Order XML section or by right-clicking the order > Other Actions > View Order XML. For more information on the order XML see here.

History

In the History tab, you can see all actions that have been done on the order after it's creation in Linnworks. In the top right-hand corner, use the Search field to look for a specific action.

The History tab displays:

• The date when the action took place.
• The type of the action.
• The note of the action.
• The user who did the action.
  • Note! If the action was done automatically by any Linnworks feature (for example, by the Rules Engine) then SYSTEM will be displayed in the user column.
    

Totals

In the Totals section of the Order screen you can view:

• Subtotals
  • Items: the price for the items sold with the applied discount plus shipping cost.
  • Discounts: the sum of the discount if there was any applied.
  • Shipping: the shipping cost.
• Taxes 
  • Items: the sum of the tax paid on items.
  • Shipping: the sum of the tax paid on shipping.
• Totals 
  • Items: the subtotal paid plus tax paid on items. 
  • Shipping: the shipping cost paid plus tax paid on shipping.
• Total: the subtotal paid plus tax paid on items plus shipping tax.

How to edit open order details

The steps below explain how to modify an open order in the Open Orders screen if there is a requirement to update some of the order details.

Step 1

Select the order in the Open Orders screen and click Actions > View Order. Alternatively, double-click the order.

Step 2

In the top right-hand corner of the screen, click the Edit  button:

Step 3

Update the required information and click  to save the changes. Once the changes are saved, the Save button will be greyed out.

Step 4

Click the Close  button when you are finished updating the order.

Further reading

• Merging and splitting open orders
• Splitting packaging for open orders
• How to print open orders
• How to process open orders
• How to cancel open orders