What do on hold, in progress and scheduled mean on a Shopify order?
They are fulfillment statuses meaning the work is not finished. On hold means you or an app blocked fulfillment until the hold is released, In progress means the order is being picked and packed, and Scheduled means a prepaid subscription order is waiting for its date. Held and scheduled orders are excluded from bulk status changes.
The statuses side by side
| Status | Shopify's meaning | Can you fulfill it now |
|---|---|---|
| Unfulfilled | The status an order has when it is placed | Yes |
| In progress | You marked the order as in progress, such as while picking and packing | Yes |
| On hold | You or an app marked the order as on hold | No, release the hold first |
| Scheduled | A prepaid subscription order waiting for its fulfillment date | Change the date on the order |
| Partially fulfilled | Part of the items in the order are fulfilled | Yes, for the remainder |
| Fulfilled | All items are fulfilled and shipped | Nothing left to do |
On hold, and why it exists
A hold blocks fulfillment deliberately. Shopify's own examples are an order flagged for fraud risk, insufficient inventory, and orders over a cost or quantity threshold. When a hold is placed, the fulfillment status changes to On hold and the hold details are displayed on the order, and the order is excluded from the Unfulfilled list until it is released.
Open the order and find the On hold section.
Read the hold details to see why it was placed and by what.
Click Release hold.
If several holds exist, select which ones to release.
Fulfill the order once no holds remain.
Apps place holds too, and each app can place up to 10 active holds on one fulfillment order.
In progress is yours to set
It is a working state, not something Shopify decides. Marking an order in progress says the items are being picked and packed, which is useful when two people share a bench and need to know what is already claimed. The Mark as fulfilled button sits in the Unfulfilled or In progress section, so nothing about fulfilling changes.
Scheduled orders
Prepaid subscription orders carry a Scheduled status until the fulfillment date is reached, at which point they behave like any other order in the queue. They cannot be pushed through a bulk action while scheduled. To ship one early, open the order page and change the fulfillment date, then fulfill it normally.
Why your queue count keeps changing
A held order is not in the Unfulfilled list, a scheduled order will not respond to a bulk action, and an order someone marked in progress can read as already handled. If the number of orders you expected to ship does not match the number you can select, look for these three states before you suspect a sync problem.
Key takeaways
- On hold blocks fulfillment until every hold on the order is released.
- In progress is a working state you set yourself while picking and packing.
- Scheduled applies to prepaid subscription orders until the fulfillment date.
- Neither held nor scheduled orders can be changed by a bulk action.
The states come across with the order
The Shopify connection is in early access. Orders sync through webhooks and a 10 to 15 minute poll, and each one arrives in The Workbench with its fulfillment order state and its assigned location, so a held order is not sitting in your buy list pretending to be shippable.
Release the hold in Shopify and the next sync brings it through. Order tags come across too, so your own rules can act on them.
Related questions
No. Fulfillment is blocked until the hold is released, and the order stays out of the Unfulfilled list in the meantime. Open the order, read why the hold was placed, and release it if the reason no longer applies. If an app placed the hold, releasing it in the admin without fixing the underlying cause usually means it comes back.
Shopify states that orders or fulfillments that are on hold cannot have their status changed using bulk actions, and that you have to release all holds first. The same applies to orders scheduled for future fulfillment. Clear those two states first, then reselect, or your bulk action silently covers fewer orders than you counted.
Inventory can remain reserved while the order is on hold, which is the point: the items are spoken for but must not go out yet. What you cannot do is fulfill. If the hold is going to stand for a long time, decide whether the order should be cancelled instead so the stock returns to the shelf for other customers.
Work from the Unfulfilled list, which already excludes orders with an active hold, and check separately for scheduled orders with a date that has arrived. In progress orders belong in the queue as well, since they are mid pick rather than blocked. Anything left is waiting on you, not on Shopify.