Shopify Order Page Changes: How to Reclaim Your Item Count & Streamline Label Printing

Hey fellow store owners!

You know how it goes – just when you’ve got your workflow down pat, Shopify rolls out an update, and suddenly, things feel a little… different. We’ve seen a lot of chatter in the community lately, and one thread in particular caught my eye: “Changes to Order pages - please go back!” initiated by Darin_Van_Handel. It really resonated with many of you experiencing some friction with recent admin tweaks, especially around order management and printing.

Navigating Recent Shopify Order Page Updates

Darin, like many others, pointed out two specific pain points after a recent Shopify update:

• The disappearance of the item count next to the “UNFULFILLED” status on order pages. This might seem minor, but for those quickly processing orders, it was a crucial visual cue.
• Added steps to the shipping label printing process, making what used to be a quick task a bit more cumbersome.

It’s a classic scenario: a “fix” that wasn’t broken, right? We get it. Efficiency is key when you’re running a busy store, and any extra click or missing piece of info can slow you down.

Reclaiming Your Item Count on Packing Slips

Let's tackle that missing item count first. As Arslan_Shopify_Dev wisely pointed out in the thread, if you’re primarily printing packing slips, you actually have the power to put that item count right back in! The beauty of this solution is that it lives in your store’s Liquid template, meaning it’s pretty robust against future admin redesigns.

Here’s how to customize your packing slips to show the total item count:

1. Access Your Shipping Settings: From your Shopify admin, go to Settings.
2. Navigate to Shipping and Delivery: In the settings menu, click on Shipping and delivery.
3. Edit Packing Slip Template: Scroll down to the “Packing slips” section and click on Edit. This will open up the Liquid template editor for your packing slips.
4. Add the Item Count Code: You’ll need to add a bit of Liquid code to loop through your line items and sum their quantities. You can place this near where you want the count to appear, perhaps close to the order number or unfulfilled status. Here’s the conceptual logic you’d use (you’ll need to integrate it into your existing template structure):

   {% assign total_items = 0 %}
   {% for line_item in line_items_in_shipment %}
     {% assign total_items = total_items | plus: line_item.quantity %}
   {% endfor %}
   
   Total Items: {{ total_items }}

   A quick note on the code: The line_items_in_shipment variable is specifically for items within a particular shipment. If you want the total items for the entire order (regardless of fulfillment status), you might need to adjust the variable to order.line_items and loop through those instead. Experiment to see what best fits your packing slip layout and needs.

5. Save Your Changes: Once you’ve added and positioned the code, click Save.

Now, when you print your packing slips, that handy item count will be right there, just like you remember it!

Streamlining Your Shipping Label Printing

The second big complaint was the added steps for printing shipping labels. While Shopify’s updates sometimes aim for broader functionality, they can inadvertently add clicks for those with established routines. Arslan_Shopify_Dev offered a great tip here that many seasoned merchants already use: bulk printing labels.

Instead of going into each individual order page, generating a label, and then repeating the process, you can process multiple orders at once.

How to Bulk Print Shipping Labels:

1. Go to Your Orders List: From your Shopify admin, click on Orders.
2. Select Multiple Orders: Use the checkboxes next to each order to select all the orders you want to create labels for.
3. Create Shipping Labels: Once you’ve selected your orders, an “Actions” dropdown or a "Create shipping labels" button will usually appear at the top of the order list. Click on it and follow the prompts to generate labels for all selected orders in one go.

This method drastically cuts down on clicks per order, making your label generation process much more efficient, even with the recent admin design changes.

Your Voice Matters: Where to Share Feedback

Finally, frankybiz chimed in with a crucial piece of advice: if you’re encountering issues or have strong feelings about admin changes, make sure you’re posting on https://community.shopify.dev/. This is where Shopify staff are often most active and directly engage with developer and merchant feedback. While the regular Shopify community forums are fantastic for peer-to-peer support, the .dev community can sometimes offer a more direct channel to the teams building these features.

It’s always a bit of a dance when platforms evolve. Sometimes changes are for the better, opening up new possibilities, and other times they disrupt established workflows. The good news is that with a bit of community wisdom and the flexibility of Shopify’s platform (especially with Liquid customization), we can often tweak things back to a state that works for us. Keep sharing your experiences; it’s how we all learn and grow together!