Shopify questions

Why does the panel list fewer orders than the Orders count?#

The side panel lists a customer's eight most recent orders. Orders is Shopify's count of everything they have bought, so a regular customer often has more. Select All 16 orders in Shopify (with their own number) under the list to see the rest in your Shopify admin.

Age matters too. Shopify gives apps the last 60 days of orders unless the app holds its read_all_orders permission, and the Growth Dept Helpdesk app does not ask for it. A customer whose last order is older than that can show a count with few or no orders listed. Their full history is always in Shopify.

Is there an import to wait for after connecting?#

No. The helpdesk reads a customer's orders from Shopify the first time someone opens one of their tickets, and keeps a copy on the customer from then on. Orders show straight away, for old customers and new ones alike.

I changed an order in Shopify. Why does the panel still show the old details?#

The helpdesk reuses its copy of a customer's orders for two minutes, so a change made in Shopify a moment ago may not be there yet. Select the round arrow next to the store's name (Read again from Shopify) to read it now.

After two minutes, opening the ticket reads Shopify again on its own. A store connected with the app, or with a custom app and its API secret key, also sends the helpdesk a notification when orders are created or updated, which refreshes the copy in the background. A store Growth Dept linked is checked for changes every few minutes instead. Connect your Shopify store shows which kind you have.

Can we connect more than one store?#

Yes. Each store gets its own card in Settings > Store with its own order action switches, and its own section in every ticket's side panel. A store can belong to one helpdesk only, so disconnect it from any other helpdesk first.

When a customer has bought from more than one of your stores, a macro's order variables use the store the helpdesk read for them most recently. Variables in macros has the details. Rule conditions do not read Shopify data.

Can the helpdesk find a customer by phone number?#

Yes. It looks for a Shopify customer with the same email address first, then the same phone number. The phone number on the helpdesk customer must be in international form, such as +15551234567, to match. The panel says Matched by phone number. when that is how it found them.

Can we see Shopify metafields?#

No. The side panel shows Shopify's standard order and customer details, and macros and rules cannot use metafields. Select Open in Shopify on the order, or the Shopify link next to the customer's name, to see them in your Shopify admin.

Can agents create discount codes from a ticket?#

No, the helpdesk has no discount code generator. Create the code in Shopify's Discounts page and paste it into your reply. For a code your team hands out often, keep it in a macro so agents insert it with the rest of the reply.

Does the helpdesk change customer notes or tags in Shopify?#

No. The helpdesk only reads customer details from Shopify. It writes to Shopify only when someone runs one of the order actions: a refund, a cancellation, an address change, a resent order email, or a draft order for a duplicate or replacement.

We use Hydrogen or another headless storefront. Does the connection still work?#

Yes. The helpdesk reads orders and customers through Shopify's admin, whatever your storefront is built with, so you connect the store the usual way. To put chat on a custom storefront, paste the chat script into its pages as you would on any website; see Put chat on your store.

What happens to Shopify data when a customer asks to be forgotten?#

For a store connected with the Growth Dept Helpdesk app, Shopify passes privacy requests to the helpdesk. A request to erase a customer removes the order details the helpdesk keeps for them, and a request to erase the whole store does the same for every customer. A request for a customer's data is recorded for your admins, who answer it from Shopify. Customer data and privacy covers the rest.

Can we connect a store that is not on Shopify?#

Not yet. Shopify is the only store platform the helpdesk connects to. See Stores other than Shopify.