Orders | Drafts

Drafts in Orbit allow you to create, manage, and prepare orders before they are completed. This is useful when an order has been started manually, shared with a customer for payment, or needs further review before being marked as paid or processed.

Draft orders can be used for manual sales, custom orders, customer payment requests, and orders that are not ready to be completed immediately.

Accessing Drafts

To access draft orders:

• From the left-hand menu, go to Orders.

• Select Drafts.

The Drafts page displays a list of existing draft orders.

Drafts overview

On the Drafts page, you can view and manage all draft orders from one place.

The list includes key information such as:

• Draft number

• Date

• Customer

• Status

• Total

• Number of items

You can use the tabs at the top to switch between:

• All

• Open

• Completed

This helps you quickly separate draft orders that are still active from those that have already been completed.

Searching and sorting drafts

You can use the search box to find a draft order more quickly.

Drafts can also be sorted by:

• Draft number

• Date

• Customer name

• Status

• Total

You can sort the list in either Ascending or Descending order.

Filtering drafts

The Add Filter button allows you to narrow down the draft list based on specific criteria. This is useful when you are dealing with a larger number of draft orders and need to quickly find a certain type of draft.

Creating a draft order

To create a new draft order:

• Go to Orders.

• Select Drafts.

• Click Create order.

This opens the create order screen.

From here, you can:

• Search for and add products

• Browse products

• Add a custom item

• Add a discount

• Add shipping or delivery

• Assign or create a customer

• Add notes

• Add tags

The Create order button will become available once the required order details have been added.

Adding products to a draft

In the Products section, you can search for products by using the search field.

You can also click Browse to look through available products, or use Add custom item if the item is not already saved as a product in Orbit.

Once products are added, Orbit calculates the order total based on the product price, discounts, shipping, tax, and other payment details.

Payment section

The payment section shows the current value of the draft order.

This includes:

• Subtotal

• Discount

• Shipping or delivery

• Estimated tax

• Total

Customer, notes, and tags

On the right-hand side of the create order page, you can add supporting information for the draft.

1. Notes

Use notes to record internal or customer-related information about the order.

2. Customer

You can search for an existing customer or create a new customer directly from the draft order.

3. Tags

Tags can be used to help organise and categorise draft orders.

Opening an individual draft

Clicking on a draft number opens the individual draft order page.

This gives you a full overview of the draft before it is completed.

Order items

The Order Items section shows the products included in the draft.

For each item, you can see:

• Product name

• SKU

• Quantity

• Price

• Discounted price

• Subtotal

From this section, you can also use Copy Payment Link or Mark as Paid.

Copying a payment link

Use Copy Payment Link when you want to send the customer a payment link for the draft order.

This is useful when the order has been created manually and the customer needs to complete payment online.

Marking a draft as paid

Use Mark as Paid when payment has already been received outside of Orbit or when you need to manually confirm payment for the draft order.

Once marked as paid, the draft can move forward as a completed order.

Order summary

The Order Summary section shows the financial breakdown of the draft.

This includes:

• Subtotal

• Shipping

• Discount

• Tax

• Total

This allows you to quickly confirm the final order value before taking payment or completing the draft.

Customer details

The customer panel shows the customer linked to the draft order.

This can include:

• Customer name

• Email address

• Shipping address

• Billing address

You can also select View customer to open the customer record, or View map to check the address location.

Notes and tags

The individual draft page also includes dedicated sections for notes and tags.

Notes can be edited using the pencil icon. Tags will appear in the tags section if any have been assigned to the draft.

Custom fields

The Custom Fields tab shows any custom fields associated with draft orders.

If no custom fields have been created, Orbit will show a message stating that no custom fields are defined.

Custom fields are managed from Settings, and can be used to capture additional information that is not included in the standard draft order fields.

Timeline

The Timeline section records activity related to the draft order.

For example, it may show when the draft was created. You can also leave comments on the draft to keep a record of updates or internal notes.

More actions

From an individual draft order, the More actions menu allows you to:

• Duplicate the draft

• Delete the draft

• Archive the draft

Bulk actions

From the main Drafts list, you can select multiple draft orders using the checkboxes.

Once drafts are selected, bulk action options become available, including:

• Duplicate

• Archive

• Delete draft

Why Drafts are important

Drafts give you more control over orders before they become completed sales. They allow you to build an order, add products, apply discounts, add shipping, assign a customer, and share a payment link when needed.

This is especially useful for businesses that take orders manually, offer custom pricing, or need to confirm details with the customer before finalising the order.

If you have any questions, please contact us at support@orbitcommerce.net