Single Order Page and Manually Adding an Order

The single order page in WooCommerce gives you a detailed view of any order placed in your store. From this page, you can review order information, edit order details, add notes, and manually create new orders.

This document covers the following topics:

• The information found on the single order page
• How to edit an order
• The different kinds of order notes and how to add them
• How to manually add an order
• How customer payment link access works for manual orders

View and edit a single order

↑ Back to top

To open the single order page, go to WooCommerce > Orders and select an order. From this page, you can view, edit, and update order data. Available actions include:

• Change the order status.
• Edit order items, including products, quantity, prices, and taxes.
• Perform order actions, such as emailing order details to the customer or regenerating download permissions.
• Modify product Meta to edit product variations by removing and adding meta.
• Apply coupons. Keep the following in mind when applying coupons:
  • You need to know the coupon code to apply to the order.
  • Coupon usage counts are tracked, and coupons can also be removed from orders.
  • The order must be unpaid for coupons to have an effect.
• Add a fee. You can enter an amount or percentage to add a fee to an order.
  • Negative fees apportion taxes between all other items and do not reduce the cart total below zero.

Order details

↑ Back to top

The Order Details panel displays the core information for each order. It contains the following fields:

• Order number
• Payment details
• Order date and time
• Order status
• Customer details:
  • Username and email, together with a link to view the customer’s profile and past purchases
  • Billing details
  • Shipping details

Edit order details

↑ Back to top

You can update most of the details in the Order Details panel. To make changes:

1. To change the date and time, use the dropdown date selector and the quantity selectors for the time.
2. To change the status, choose the appropriate status from the dropdown.
3. To change the customer, select the current customer and search for the new customer.

To edit billing or shipping information, select the pencil icon next to Billing or Shipping.

Under Billing, you can change the following fields:

• Billing address — you can also load this from the customer’s profile by selecting Load billing address
• Email
• Phone number
• Payment method and details

Under Shipping, you can change the following fields:

• Shipping address — you can also load this from the customer’s profile or copy it from the billing address
• Customer provided note

After you make changes, click the Update button in the Order actions metabox to save the order.

Order items and totals

↑ Back to top

The Order Items panel displays the product items, shipping details, and order cost summary. This section is divided into three parts:

• Each product item row lists:
  • Product image
  • Product name
  • Single product cost
  • Quantity
  • Total (cost multiplied by quantity, with discounts applied)
  • Taxes
• Below the product items, the shipping details include:
  • Shipping method
  • Boxed items
  • Total cost
  • Taxes
• The last section provides an overview of the order costs. This section changes if an order is refunded. By default, it includes:
  • Items subtotal: the cost excluding tax
  • Coupon(s): the amount deducted based on coupon usage; the coupons used appear on the left side of this section
  • Shipping: the shipping cost for the order
  • Taxes: the total tax amount for the order, replaced by the specific tax code applied
  • Order total: the sum of all the above costs
  • An overview of what has been paid and the fees charged by the payment gateway

Edit or add order items

↑ Back to top

Apart from refunding, you can only edit order items when the order status is Pending payment or On hold.

To edit a product item, select the pencil icon next to the product line you want to change.

You can edit the following product item fields:

• Add Meta: Add and remove meta to change product variable options.
• Quantity: The number of items the customer is purchasing.
• Total: The line price and line tax before pre-tax discounts.
• Tax: The tax cost. For example, if a customer is tax-exempt, you may want to remove the taxes.

At the bottom of the order items section, four additional action buttons are available:

The Add item(s) button reveals the following options:

• Add product(s): Add additional products to the order.
• Add fee: Add an additional fee, such as gift wrapping.
• Add shipping: Add a shipping cost. After adding it, select the pencil icon to update the name, method, cost, and tax.
• Add tax: Add an additional tax code to every section in the order.
• Cancel: Cancel without making changes.
• Save: Save the changes.

The remaining action buttons perform the following functions:

• Apply coupon: Opens a modal where you can enter a coupon code to apply to the order. Use this if your customer forgot to add a coupon or if you want to reward the customer before they pay.
• Refund: Processes a refund for the customer. For more information about manual and automatic refunds, see WooCommerce refunds.
• Recalculate: Automatically recalculates taxes based on your store settings after you make changes to order items. This is useful when you add or remove products, coupons, or shipping methods. Note that any manual tax changes you made are overwritten, because the tax settings in your store apply based on the customer address.

Custom fields

↑ Back to top

To add custom meta fields to an order, use the Custom Fields metabox. This is a core WordPress feature that allows you to include additional data with your orders.

Order notes

↑ Back to top

The Order Notes panel displays notes attached to the order. You can use order notes to store event details (such as payment results or stock level changes), communicate with customers, or record internal information. Some payment gateways also add notes for debugging purposes.

WooCommerce uses three types of order notes, each identified by color:

• System notes (purple): Automatically added by WooCommerce or extensions, such as payment success or failure details. If an order status changes as a result of a system process (for example, during checkout), the note appears in purple. System notes are not visible to the customer. However, some order status changes trigger a notification to the store admin or customer.
• General notes (gray): Added by store admins or extensions for internal reference. These include manual order status changes and private notes. Customers do not see these notes, but may receive a notification as a result (for example, when a shop manager changes the order status from Processing to Completed, an email may be sent depending on your email settings).
• Customer notes (blue): Notes added manually to an order for the customer to see. Customers receive these notes via email, and the notes are visible when viewing order details in the My account area. You can disable email notifications for customer notes in the email settings.

Notes are a useful tool for communicating with customers or other store managers. For example, you can add a customer note with a shipping tracking number or a stock delay update, and the customer receives an automatic notification.

To add a note to an order:

1. Type the content of the note in the text area. Some HTML is accepted, including <a> tags for hyperlinking.
2. Select Private note or Note to customer from the dropdown.
3. Click the Add button.

Manually add an order

↑ Back to top

You can create orders manually from the WordPress admin. This is useful for phone orders, custom invoices, or other situations where a customer does not complete checkout on your site.

To add an order manually:

1. Go to WooCommerce > Orders.
2. Click Add order at the top of the page. The single order page opens.
3. Enter customer details, add line items, apply coupons, apply fees, and calculate totals. These options work the same as described in Edit or add order items.
4. Set a status for the new order. For example, if the order needs to be paid, select Pending payment.
5. Click Save.

To send the customer payment instructions, select the appropriate option from the Order actions dropdown and click Update. This emails the order details to the customer with a link to pay. The payment link included in this email is subject to access restrictions based on whether the order is assigned to a customer account or created as a guest order. See Customer payment link access below for details.

Customer payment link access

↑ Back to top

When you create a manual order and send the customer an invoice email, the email includes a payment link that directs the customer to a page where they can complete payment. WooCommerce controls who can access this payment link based on whether the order is assigned to a registered customer account or created as a guest order.

Orders linked to a customer account

If you assign the order to a specific customer account, only that customer can use the payment link, and they must be logged in to their account to access it. This is expected WooCommerce behavior tied to order ownership and authentication.

If anyone else opens the same payment link — including store admins, shop managers, or other customers — WooCommerce displays the following message:

“This order cannot be paid for. Please contact us if you need assistance.”

This error does not indicate a problem with your payment gateway or a plugin conflict. It means the person accessing the link is not the customer account assigned to the order, or they are not logged in.

Guest orders

If you create the order without assigning it to a customer account (a guest order), WooCommerce does not require the customer to log in to open the payment link.

However, guest payment links are not always open to anyone. Depending on the shopper’s session and how long it has been since the order was created, WooCommerce may ask the person opening the link to verify the order’s billing email address before showing the payment form. This is expected behavior and prevents unauthorized access to order details.

If the customer is prompted to verify their email, have them enter the same email address used for the order’s billing details. After verification, they can continue to payment.

Choose between guest and customer-linked orders

When deciding whether to assign a manual order to a customer account or create it as a guest order, consider the following:

• Use a customer-linked order when the customer has an existing account and you want the order to appear in their order history. The customer must log in to pay.
• Use a guest order when the customer does not have an account, when you want to simplify the payment process, or when you need someone other than the account holder to complete the payment.

Questions and support

↑ Back to top

Do you still have questions and need assistance? 

• If you’re looking to extend the core functionality shown here, we recommend reviewing available extensions in the WooCommerce Marketplace.
• Need ongoing advanced support or a customization built for WooCommerce? Hire a Woo Agency Partner.
• Are you a developer building your own WooCommerce integration or extension? Check our Developer Resources.

If you weren’t able to find the information you need, please use the feedback thumbs below to let us know.