Managing Orders

Podifai saves customer selections, upload links, and final preview data with Shopify orders. Review the information in Podifai or Shopify Admin, and use Shopify Flow when fulfillment teams need automated routing or production instructions.

How Customized Orders Work

When a shopper adds a customized product to cart, Podifai's storefront script attaches their selections to the Shopify cart line item as line item properties (prefixed with _podifai_), including text inputs, color choices, uploaded image URLs, and the IDs of every applied option layout.

A Shopify Cart Transform function — installed automatically when you install Podifai — applies any add-on charges from dynamic pricing options at checkout. The shopper completes checkout through Shopify's standard flow, and the final order is created in Shopify Admin → Orders.

After payment, Shopify notifies Podifai via webhook. Podifai stores the order, exposes the customer's selections in the Podifai Orders tab, and adjusts inventory for any tracked customization options.

Viewing Orders

View order details in the Podifai dashboard

Open the Orders tab in the Podifai sidebar, then click an order to expand the customization data. Each customization option appears with the customer's selection — text entries, color names, uploaded image URLs, and dropdown values.

View order details in the Shopify admin

Open the order from your Shopify admin. The same customer inputs appear as line item properties on the order — visible to anyone reviewing or fulfilling the order in Shopify.

Customer Uploads and Final Preview Images

Customer uploads and final Live Preview images are stored as cloud links with the customization data. Open the order in Podifai Orders or Shopify Admin Orders, then open the relevant link to view or save the file for production.

• Uploaded image links contain the original file supplied by the shopper.
• The Live Preview Image link contains the generated final preview when one is available.

Printing Order Details

Customization data is attached to the order as line item properties prefixed with _podifai_. Because these keys start with an underscore, Shopify hides them from the customer-facing cart and checkout, but merchants and order printer apps can still access them.

The customer's actual selections (text, colors, dropdown choices, uploaded image URLs) are packed into a single JSON property called _podifai_all_attributes. Most order printer apps print this as a raw JSON string by default. To get human-readable output on packing slips, either:

• Configure your order printer template to parse _podifai_all_attributes as JSON (via Liquid) and render each key/value on its own line, or
• Use the Podifai Orders tab, which already displays the parsed selections in a readable format alongside any uploaded image previews.

To show customer-facing selections, upload links, and the final preview directly in the customer's Shopify email, follow Show Customizations in Order Confirmation Emails.

Identify Podifai Orders with Shopify Flow

An order line item containing the following property indicates that the product was customized with Podifai:

Property Name: _Podifai Embedded
Property Value: Yes

In Shopify Flow, inspect the order's line item properties for _Podifai Embedded with the value Yes. You can then:

• Add an order tag or order note.
• Send production or fulfillment notifications.
• Route Podifai orders to a specific team.
• Send order data to Google Sheets or another connected system.
• Start another manufacturing or fulfillment workflow.

The complete customization payload is stored in _podifai_all_attributes.

Compound or Dynamic SKUs

Podifai does not currently generate a compound SKU or rewrite the Shopify variant SKU based on personalization selections. Podifai keeps the selected components in the order's line item properties instead.

If production needs a code such as 45005-GM-1-BL-1, use Shopify Flow or another automation to translate the selected properties into a production code, then save it in an order note, order tag, notification, purchase order, spreadsheet, ERP, or fulfillment system.

Show the Final Preview Image in the Cart

The final preview image does not appear in the Shopify cart by default because the cart drawer and cart page are controlled by the store's Shopify theme. Displaying the preview as an image usually requires a small Liquid or theme code modification.

Shopify controls checkout rendering. With Podifai's current integration, checkout shows the selected Shopify variant image when one exists, or the default product image otherwise. The Podifai preview is customization data attached to the cart line rather than a native Shopify variant image, so it does not replace the checkout thumbnail. The customization data and preview link remain available with the order.

Shopify Plus

Shopify Plus does not change this automatically. Shopify provides Plus stores with a separate Cart Transform lineUpdate operation that can override a cart line image in checkout. That requires an additional app implementation, the image must use an allowed public URL, and the replacement image is visible in checkout only—it is not persisted to the order. Podifai does not currently apply this image override.

Shopify reference: Cart Transform Function API.

Third-Party Checkout Apps

A third-party checkout or cart app must preserve Shopify line item properties and Podifai's configured price. Before launch, place a complete test order and verify the selected options, text, uploaded files, final preview link, add-on total, and paid order. Contact the checkout app provider if its flow removes or rewrites line item properties.

Test Orders

You can place test orders while checking the customizer and fulfillment workflow. Test orders cannot currently be deleted from the Podifai Orders interface and remain in the Podifai order history.