How do I change a tracking number on a fulfilled Shopify order?
Open the order, go to the Fulfilled section, choose Add tracking, correct the number and carrier, and save. Shopify sends a shipping update rather than a second shipping confirmation, and you can clear Send a notification to the customer if you do not want that email. The corrected number is what the order carries from then on.
Editing the number on an order that is already fulfilled
Go to Orders in the Shopify admin and open the order.
In the Fulfilled section, select Add tracking.
Replace the tracking number with the correct one.
Check the carrier Shopify selected and change it if the detection was wrong.
Leave Send a notification to the customer selected to email the corrected number, or clear it to save quietly.
Save.
Shopify also lets an order carry more than one tracking number, so a second box added later is an addition rather than a correction.
Which email the edit triggers
| What you did | Email Shopify sends |
|---|---|
| Fulfilled with tracking | Shipping confirmation |
| Tracking added afterwards | Shipping update |
| Tracking number corrected | Shipping update |
| Notification cleared | None |
Shopify sends the shipping confirmation when an order is fulfilled and the shipping update when tracking information is updated, which is why a correction never repeats the first email.
The carrier is half the fix
A tracking number with no carrier on the fulfillment shows the customer plain text instead of a link. Shopify recognises hundreds of carriers and will often detect one from the number format, and it can detect the wrong one. If your carrier is not on the list, choose Other and supply the full tracking URL so the link resolves.
When a correction is not the right move
Edit when the same package is moving under a different number. If the first label was never used and a different package went out, the honest record is the number on the label that is actually in the carrier's hands, put on the order with the matching carrier so the customer's link tracks the box they are waiting for.
Correct it before the customer contacts you rather than after, because a shipping update that arrives first reads as service and one that arrives second reads as an excuse.
Key takeaways
- Editing tracking happens in the Fulfilled section of the order.
- Saving sends a shipping update, not a shipping confirmation.
- The notification checkbox is your control over whether the buyer is emailed.
- Fixing the carrier matters as much as fixing the digits.
The number on the order comes from the label
The Shopify connection is in early access. When you buy a label from The Workbench, the fulfillment is created against the fulfillment order with that tracking number and carrier, so the value on the order is the one the carrier issued rather than something typed twice. Shopify sends its own notification on that fulfillment. Failed write backs retry for up to 7 days.
Related questions
The workable move is to replace it with the correct number rather than leave the fulfillment bare, because a fulfillment without tracking gives the customer nothing to follow and no shipping update to receive. If the fulfillment itself was a mistake, deal with the fulfillment rather than the number field.
They see a shipping update email with the current tracking number, unless you cleared the notification checkbox before saving. They do not get a diff of what changed. The order status page shows the tracking the order carries now, so that page and the newest email agree.
Almost always the carrier, not the number. Shopify builds the link from the carrier on the fulfillment, so a fulfillment with no carrier renders the number as text. Set the carrier, or choose Other and paste the full tracking URL from the carrier's own site.
Shopify's bulk action marks orders fulfilled and its own help says tracking numbers are added to orders manually afterwards, so bulk editing of tracking is not part of it. The way out of the typing is to have the tracking written to each order as its label is bought.