Recent cart or draft order: which to use in Shopify POS
Updated · 6 min read
By Invenire Studios, makers of Countermade
The short answer
Recent carts are in-progress sales that Shopify POS Pro saves under Cart and shares with devices in the same store. They hold no stock and are deleted after 24 hours by default. Draft orders last until they go a year without edits, open at any location or in the admin, hold stock once you reserve the items, and can be sent for payment. Use a cart for today, a draft for longer.
What is a recent cart in Shopify POS?
Shopify POS saves a recent cart in the background once you add an item or a customer. It needs POS Pro, and staff need the Manage recent carts permission to see them. Other devices in the same store can open one; other locations can’t. It’s deleted once the sale is checked out.
Shopify’s own example is a handoff. An associate builds a cart with a customer on a mobile device, and another staff member closes the sale at the register.
Should I use a recent cart or a draft order?
Use a recent cart when the customer will be back today and the sale finishes in the same store. Make a draft order when the sale must last overnight, move to another location, keep stock aside, or be paid from home. If they pay now and collect later, make it a pickup order instead.
| Compared | Recent cart | Draft order |
|---|---|---|
| How it’s saved | Automatically, once the cart has an item or customer | Tap Create draft order from the cart |
| Where staff find it | Cart > staff dropdown > a name or All staff | Order icon > Drafts |
| Who can open it | Other POS devices in the same store | Any location and the Shopify admin; visible in other Shopify channels |
| How long it lasts | 24 hours by default, adjustable | Until it goes a year with no edits; any edit resets the timer (drafts created since April 1, 2025) |
| Holds stock | No | Only once you reserve the items |
| Customer pays from home | Only by sending it: Send cart emails a checkout link and saves the order as a draft | Email it, or share its checkout link |
| Plan | POS Pro (what POS Pro adds for counter orders) | POS Pro (drafts in POS) |
For example, a customer choosing between two sofas who’ll be back after lunch can stay a recent cart. A cake ordered today for Saturday pickup should be a draft, with the items reserved if they might sell out. Drafts expire too, after a year without edits; see why drafts are deleted after a year.
Where are recent carts in Shopify POS, and how do I open a colleague’s?
Tap Cart, open the staff dropdown and choose your colleague’s name or All staff. By default the list shows only your own carts, so a colleague’s can look missing. To open a recent cart, your device must be online and in the same store.
To start a new sale and keep the current one, clear the cart. It moves to the recent cart list under the Cart header, where other devices can open it. Carts are named after the customer by default; to rename one, press and hold it and tap Rename.
At checkout, the final staff member and location get the sale, and earlier line-item staff credit is kept. For the detail, see who gets credit for a sale.
How long do recent carts last in Shopify POS, and can I change it?
By default, Shopify POS deletes a recent cart automatically after 24 hours. You can change that in the Shopify admin with the Delete after setting, as long as you have the Manage recent carts expiration permission. For an order that must outlast it, make a draft order.
- From your Shopify admin, go to Point of Sale > Settings.
- In the Register section, click Recent carts.
- Click the Delete after dropdown and choose how long recent carts stay before they’re deleted.
Why did my recent cart disappear from Shopify POS?
A recent cart leaves the list when it’s checked out, deleted or saved as a draft order on another device, or when it passes the Delete after time (24 hours by default). An offline device can’t open it; reconnect, then tap Cart again. If the whole list is gone, the staff member lacks the Manage recent carts permission.
Shopify’s own wording for why a cart can’t be viewed:
- “The cart was checked out on another device.”
- “The cart was deleted on another device.”
- “The cart was saved as a draft order on another device.”
- “The POS device is offline.”
“The cart was saved as a draft order on another device”
If a colleague saved it as a draft, it’s under the Order icon > Drafts. If it isn’t there either, see when a draft doesn’t show in POS.
Why does a recent cart say “Opened by”, and why can’t I delete it?
Opened by plus a staff member’s name means that colleague has the cart open on their device. You can open a copy, but you can’t rename or delete it. Changes made on a second device create a separate copy, since Shopify doesn’t support live co-editing.
Agree who finishes the sale. Once the other device has closed it, delete any leftover copy: swipe it left, or press and hold it and tap Delete.
Do recent carts or draft orders hold stock in Shopify POS?
Recent carts never hold stock. Shopify says “Only draft orders reserve inventory”, and a draft does so only once you reserve the items on it. Until then, its quantities stay Available and another customer can buy them. Reserved units go to Committed, and other customers can’t buy them.
Reserve stock from the draft in the Shopify admin (Reserve inventory) or in the Shopify mobile app (Reserve items). Pick the date and time the reserve expires. The product must have inventory tracking turned on.
For other ways to keep stock aside, see holding an item for a customer.
How do I turn a recent cart into a draft order?
Open the cart, tap the ⋯ (More actions) icon and tap Create draft order. If you load a draft while another cart has items, POS saves that cart to the recent list, so you can switch to the draft and come back to the cart later.
To reopen a draft, tap ⋯ > Load draft order > Load to cart. After changes, tap Update draft order so the draft keeps them. For the other draft actions, see every draft action in Shopify POS, step by step.
How do I print a prep ticket or make a payment link from Shopify POS?
From POS, Send cart emails a cart’s checkout link, and a draft’s Email to customer emails its own. To share a draft’s link any other way, such as to send a payment link by text, copy it in the Shopify admin under Share > Copy link. For Shopify’s own print options, see every way to print a draft order from POS. Countermade, the Shopify POS apps from Invenire Studios, adds a workroom ticket and a payment link at the counter.
Prep Ticket, from Countermade: from a draft order in Shopify POS (for a cart, tap Create draft order first), it prints a prep ticket with item names, quantities, customer and notes, and no prices. It prints through the iPad’s print dialog to a printer the iPad can reach (AirPrint), and works on drafts made in POS or the Shopify admin. See Prep Ticket.
Pay Link, from Countermade, makes the payment link straight from the Shopify POS cart, and staff can see whether it has been paid. Before anything is sent, staff see the total up front, with a note when checkout will add shipping. Checkout asks for a delivery address, so turn on local pickup at the store to let the customer choose pickup instead.
A double tap makes one link, not two. The customer pays in full on Shopify’s own secure checkout, so staff never see or type card details. See Pay Link.
Both need Shopify POS Pro, the same plan recent carts and POS drafts need.
Next step
Next time a customer steps away, ask when they’ll be back. If they’re back today at this store, clear the cart and it waits under Cart. If they’ll be back another day, at another location, or will pay from home, tap Create draft order.
Neither app is on the Shopify App Store yet. Sign up for early access and we’ll email you when Prep Ticket and Pay Link are ready to try.
Pick one app or both
Thanks. You’re on the list, and we’ll email you when each app is ready to try.
Common questions
Can I see a recent cart from another location?
Can I save a cart when the POS device is offline?
Are saved carts now draft orders in Shopify POS?
Do recent carts work on Shopify POS Lite?
Can I save a return or exchange as a recent cart?
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