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Manual Merge

The Manual Merge feature allows you to immediately consolidate orders without waiting for automated processing. Use it for urgent requests, orders that don't meet automatic merge criteria, or on-demand consolidation based on your business needs.

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Written by Tom
Updated this week

When to Use Manual Merge

  • Urgent customer requests - When a customer asks to combine their orders right away

  • Orders not meeting automatic criteria - When orders don't qualify for automatic merge but you still want to combine them

  • One-time exceptions - Special cases where you need custom merge settings

  • Testing - Before setting up automatic merge, to see how the merge process works

How to Access Manual Merge

Method 1: From the Manual Merge Page

  1. Navigate to the Manual Merge page in the app

  2. Search for orders by entering order IDs or order names

  3. Select at least 2 orders to merge

  4. Configure your merge settings (or use defaults from your automatic merge settings)

  5. Click Merge Orders

Method 2: From Shopify Orders List

You can also start a manual merge directly from your Shopify admin:

Merge Orders Button

  • Select orders in Shopify admin

  • Click "More actions" β†’ "Merge Orders"

  • You'll be redirected to the Manual Merge page with the orders pre-selected

  • Review and customize settings before merging

Quick Merge Button

Manual merge using "Quick Merge"

Approve the merge

  • Select orders in Shopify admin

  • Click "More actions" β†’ "Quick Merge"

  • Orders are instantly merged using your saved automatic merge settings

  • No additional configuration needed

Requirements

  • You must select at least 2 orders to perform a merge

  • Selected orders appear as removable tags in the search field

  • Click the "Γ—" on any tag to remove an order from the selection

Address Conflict Resolution

When the selected orders have different shipping addresses or different customers, OrderMerger will show a conflict resolution dialog before proceeding.

What You'll See

  • A list of unique customer/address combinations from your selected orders

  • Each option shows the customer name and formatted shipping address

How to Resolve

  1. Review the address options presented

  2. Select the address you want to use for the merged order

  3. The merge will proceed with your selected address

Note: The merged order will use the shipping address you select. Make sure to choose the correct delivery destination.

Conflict Handling

When merging orders, conflicts can arise if the original orders have different values. These settings let you decide how to resolve them.

Tip: By default, Manual Merge uses your saved Automatic Merge settings. You can customize these settings for each individual merge if needed.

Shipping Rate Selection

Choose which shipping rate to keep when orders have different shipping costs:

Option

Description

Keep oldest shipping rate

Use the shipping cost from the earliest order

Keep most recent order shipping rate

Use the shipping cost from the latest order

Keep cheapest shipping rate

Use the lowest shipping cost among the orders

Keep most expensive shipping rate

Use the highest shipping cost among the orders

Combine shipping rates

Add all shipping costs together

Set shipping rate to zero

Set the merged order shipping to $0 (is automatically set when "Set new order value to 0" is enabled).

Shipping Refund Options

Refund unused shipping rates

When enabled, customers receive refunds for shipping rates that are not used in the merged order. For example, if you keep the shipping rate from Order A, the shipping from Order B will be refunded.

Note: Refunds are only issued for orders that were paid. This creates automatic refund transactions in your store. The customer will see these refunds on their payment method.

Refund all shipping rates when order total exceeds threshold

Automatically refund all shipping costs when the combined order value meets or exceeds your specified amount. This is useful for offering free shipping on larger orders.

Enter the minimum order value (subtotal before tax) to trigger a full shipping refund.

Shipping Method Name

Control which shipping method name appears on the merged order:

Option

Description

Keep oldest shipping name

Use the method name from the earliest order

Keep most recent order shipping name

Use the method name from the latest order

Keep cheapest shipping name

Use the method name from the order with lowest shipping cost

Keep most expensive shipping name

Use the method name from the order with highest shipping cost

Combine shipping names

Combine all shipping method names together

Order Tags Handling

Decide how to handle tags from the original orders:

Option

Description

Discard all tags

Remove all original order tags

Keep oldest order tags

Use tags from the earliest order only

Keep most recent order tags

Use tags from the latest order only

Keep all order tags

Combine all unique tags from all orders

Refunded Items Handling

Control how items that were refunded in the original orders appear in the merged order:

Option

Description

Discard refunded items

Remove refunded items completely from the merged order

Keep items as unfulfilled

Include refunded items but mark them as unfulfilled

Keep items as unfulfilled and take off refunded sum

Include refunded items as unfulfilled and apply a discount for the refunded amount

Keep items as fulfilled and take off refunded sum

Include refunded items as fulfilled and apply a discount for the refunded amount

Order Name Control

Define how the merged order will be named:

Option

Description

Example

Keep order in ascending order

Use the name of the earliest order

Let Shopify automatically assign the next available order number (e.g., #1004 if last order was #1003)

Combine merged orders name

Combine original order names

Combines original order names with "_OM" suffix for easy identification.

Custom order name

Create your own naming pattern

Create your own naming pattern using dynamic variables

Dynamic tags for custom order names:

  • {oldest-order-name} - Name of the earliest order

  • {most-recent-order-name} - Name of the latest order

  • {ascending-order-names} - All order names in ascending order

  • {descending-order-names} - All order names in descending order

Examples:

  • "MERGED_{oldest-order-name}" β†’ "MERGED_#1001"

  • "COMBINED_{ascending-order-names}" β†’ "COMBINED_#1001_#1003"

Custom Tax Name

Customize the tax line name on merged orders. By default, it's "OrderMergerTax".

Dynamic tags available:

  • {original-orders-names} - Names of all merged orders (#1001_#1003)

  • {original-tax-names} - Original tax names (duplicates are automatically removed)

  • {original-tax-values} - Tax amounts from original orders (formatted with currency)

Examples:

  • "Tax from {original-orders-names}" β†’ "Tax from #1001_#1003"

  • "Combined Tax: {original-tax-values}" β†’ "Combined Tax: $2.50_$3.75"

Custom Discount Name

Customize the discount line name on merged orders. By default, it's "OrderMergerDiscount".

Dynamic tags available:

  • {original-discount-names} - All original discount names

  • {original-discount-values} - All original discount amounts

  • {highest-value-discount-name} - Name of the largest discount

  • {lowest-value-discount-name} - Name of the smallest discount

  • {most-recent-order-discount-name} - Discount name from the latest order

  • {oldest-order-discount-name} - Discount name from the earliest order

Examples:

  • "Discounts: {original-discount-names}" β†’ "Discounts: SAVE10_WELCOME20"

  • "Best Deal: {highest-value-discount-name}" β†’ "Best Deal: WELCOME20"

Processed Date Control

Choose which date to use as the "processed at" date for the merged order:

Option

Description

Take from oldest order

Use the creation date of the earliest order

Take from most recent order

Use the creation date of the latest order

Set to current date and time

Use the date and time when the merge occurs


Order Actions

Configure what happens to both the new merged order and the original orders after a merge.

New (Merged) Orders

Order Tagging

Add tags to the merged order to help identify and organize merged orders. Tags can be used for filtering and reporting in Shopify.

Order Notes

Add notes to the merged order. Use dynamic tags to include information about the original orders.

Note: Due to Shopify limitations, order tags are limited to 40 characters. Tags longer than this will automatically be added to order notes instead.

Dynamic tags for tags and notes:

  • {new-order-id} - ID of the merged order

  • {new-order-name} - Name of the merged order

  • {tracking-numbers} - Tracking numbers from fulfillments

  • {original-orders-names} - Names of the merged orders

  • {original-orders-ids} - IDs of the merged orders

  • {merge-date} - Date when the merge occurred

Set new order value to zero

When enabled, the merged order will have a $0 value. This prevents double-counting revenue in your analytics reports since the original orders retain their values.

Important: When this option is enabled, any items that were refunded in the original orders will be automatically discarded from the merged order.

Original Orders

Order Tagging

Add tags to the original orders being merged. This helps identify which orders were part of a merge operation for tracking and auditing purposes.

Order Notes

Add notes to the original orders being merged. This creates an audit trail and helps track which orders were combined together.

The same dynamic tags available for new orders can be used here.

Archive Original Orders

Archive the original orders after merging. Archived orders are hidden from your main orders list but can still be accessed for reference and reporting.

Fulfill Original Orders

Choose how to handle fulfillment of the original orders:

Option

Description

Do not fulfill original orders

Leave original orders as-is

Fulfill immediately after merge

Mark original orders as fulfilled right after merging

Fulfill after merged order is fulfilled

Only fulfill original orders when the merged order is fulfilled. Tracking info will be synced as well.

Fulfilling original orders is useful for multi-channel platforms to prevent auto-cancellation of unfulfilled orders.

Note: This option cannot be used together with "Cancel original orders".

Cancel Original Orders

Cancel the original orders after merging.

Warning: Canceling orders is irreversible and cannot be undone.

Important Limitations:

  1. Canceling orders is permanent - no way to reverse

  2. For fulfilled orders: Order Merger will try to unfulfill first (required by Shopify). Unfulfillment process will only succeed if the fulfillment order has not been accepted by a fulfillment Service - This is possible if the fulfillment order is still in an open or unsubmitted state and hasn't been accepted by a third-party fulfillment service.

  3. No refunds are automatically given to customers

  4. Conflicts: Cannot be used together with "Fulfill Original Orders"

Restock Items

When canceling original orders, you can choose to restock the items. This returns the items to your available inventory.

Note: This option is only available when "Cancel original orders" is enabled.

Order Notes Preservation

Order notes from the original orders are automatically preserved and combined in the merged order. Each original order's notes are included in the following format:

#1001: [Original note from order #1001]  
#1003: [Original note from order #1003]

This ensures no customer notes or special instructions are lost during the merge process.

Tips for Manual Merge

  1. Use Quick Merge for speed - If you've already configured your automatic merge settings, Quick Merge lets you merge orders instantly without any extra steps.

  2. Check addresses first - If orders have different shipping addresses, make sure to select the correct delivery destination in the conflict resolution dialog.

  3. Review before merging - Take a moment to review your selected orders and settings before clicking Merge Orders.

  4. Use tags for tracking - Enable order tagging to easily identify merged orders and their originals later.

  5. Consider archiving originals - Archive original orders to keep your orders list clean while maintaining access to historical data.

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