How to edit Shopify’s draft order invoice email for phone orders

Where do I edit the Shopify draft order invoice email?

Shopify’s draft order invoice email is the Draft order invoice template in Settings > Notifications; open it and click Edit code. It’s also where the message you type in Send invoice appears. Before your first edit, copy the whole email body into a text file as a backup.

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Notifications.
2. Open Draft order invoice.
3. Click Edit code.
4. Edit the Email subject and Email body (HTML).
5. Click Preview to check your unsaved changes, then click Save.

In the Shopify app’s settings, tap Notifications in the Store settings section, open the notification, tap </>, make your edit, then tap Save or ✓.

You set logo and colors for every customer email under Settings > Notifications > Customer notifications > Customize email template, not in this code.

Should I edit the template or type a custom message when I send the invoice?

Use both. The template holds what every phone order needs: a name, a number to call and how pickup works. The message box in Send invoice holds what’s true for this customer only, such as the day their order is ready. That message only appears if the template still contains {{ custom_message }}.

Which variable is the pay link in the draft order invoice?

It’s {{ invoice_url }}. Shopify describes it as “a link the customer can follow to pay for the invoice using Shopify’s secure checkout.” Make sure the pay button links to it. You can change the button’s wording or color, but if the link changes, the button may no longer open checkout.

Merchants have asked whether checkout_payment_collection_url works instead. It isn’t in Shopify’s documented notification variables, so don’t use it.

Don’t mark a real draft Paid before the customer pays: Shopify says “the link in the invoice won’t work, and the customer won’t be able to complete the checkout process.”

How do I show which staff member took the phone order?

In the Draft order invoice template, add {{ user.name }}, which prints the name of the last staff member who edited the draft. If a colleague edits the draft later, the colleague’s name shows instead, so on shared drafts have whoever took the call add their name in the message box.

The name in the email doesn’t change who is credited in reports; see Shopify POS staff attribution.

Add {{ shop.phone }}, your store’s phone number, so the customer can call back. Example:

{% if user.name != blank %}<p>You spoke to {{ user.name }}.</p>{% endif %}
{% if shop.phone != blank %}<p>Questions about this order? Call us at {{ shop.phone }}.</p>{% endif %}

How do I add pickup instructions to a Shopify invoice?

Write pickup instructions into the draft order invoice yourself. The pickup instructions in Shopify’s pickup settings go out in the Ready for pickup email, which is sent when you mark the order ready for pickup. They aren’t in the draft order invoice, so a customer reading it sees nothing about pickup unless your template or message says so.

Put the standing details (address, hours, where to come in) into the template as plain text. Type the pickup day in the Send invoice message box when you send.

If you’d rather save the pickup day on the draft, staff can type it in the draft’s note (Add tags or a note). Add this line to the template so the note shows in the email. Example:

{% if note != blank %}<p>{{ note }}</p>{% endif %}

Every draft note then goes to the customer, so keep internal remarks out of it.

If you already keep the pickup date in a draft order metafield, print it with metafields.NAMESPACE.KEY. Example. Replace custom.pickup_date with your own metafield, then test it on a draft sent to your own address:

{% if metafields.custom.pickup_date != blank %}
<p>Pickup: {{ metafields.custom.pickup_date }}</p>
{% endif %}

The pickup processing time you set under Settings > Shipping and delivery > Pickup in store (in Additional delivery methods), then your location, shows at checkout, so match your wording to it. For delivery options, see shipping and local pickup on a Shopify payment link.

How do I tell customers shipping may be added at checkout?

Add a line to the Draft order invoice template that shows only when the draft has no shipping method. If you didn’t add a shipping rate, local delivery or pickup to the draft, the customer chooses a shipping method, and any shipping cost, at checkout.

Example (test it with three drafts sent to your own address: one with no shipping, one set to Pickup in store, one with a shipping rate):

{% if requires_shipping and shipping_method.title == blank %}
<p>You'll choose a shipping method at checkout. Picking up from us? Choose pickup.</p>
{% endif %}

Keep the pickup sentence only if you offer pickup in store.

How do I test the invoice email before a customer sees it?

Click Preview, then Send test email. The test goes to the account you log in to the Shopify admin with, not to an address you choose. The fuller check is a real test draft sent to another email address you own.

1. In Edit code, click Preview, then Send test email, then Save.
2. Create a draft order with your own second address as the customer. Add a note, and pickup if you offer it.
3. In Payments, click Send invoice, type a message, click Review invoice, then Send invoice.
4. On your phone, check the name, number, note, message and shipping line, then tap the pay button and confirm checkout shows the right items.
5. Delete the test draft with Delete draft order.

If the test never arrives, work through what to do when a Shopify invoice email isn’t received.

How do I revert the Shopify draft order invoice template to default?

Open Draft order invoice, click Revert to, choose Default (or Previous for your last version) from the drop-down, and click Save. Only the template’s content changes, so your logo and colors stay as they are. Then re-add your edits from your backup one at a time, previewing after each.

What can’t the draft order invoice template fix for phone orders?

The template changes what the email says, not what checkout charges. If you use Shopify’s international sales tools, the invoice currency follows the market of the customer’s shipping address. Since October 31, 2025, product prices can also change at checkout when the customer changes the delivery address, depending on your Markets settings.

If a customer says the price moved, see why a Shopify payment link price changed.

How can staff make a payment link straight from the Shopify POS cart?

In Shopify POS Pro, you can save the cart as a draft and send it with Email to customer. Pay Link, from Countermade, turns an order in Shopify POS into a payment link on Shopify’s own secure checkout, so staff never see or type card details. Staff see the total up front, with a note when checkout will add shipping.

If staff tap twice, Pay Link still makes one link, not two, and staff can see whether it’s been paid. Pay Link needs Shopify POS Pro; turn on pickup in store so customers picking up can choose it at checkout. For the whole phone-order routine, see taking Shopify phone orders without card details.

Next step

Open Draft order invoice, make one edit, and send yourself a test draft at a second address you own.

Pay Link, from Countermade (the Shopify POS apps from Invenire Studios), isn’t on the Shopify App Store yet; get early access and we’ll email you when it’s ready to try.