Shopify Order Tags

Timesact automatically tags pre-order orders in Shopify. Those tags let you filter your Orders list down to just pre-orders and save that as a permanent view, so you can find and work them in one place instead of hunting through every order. This is all done in Shopify.

The tags Timesact adds

When a pre-order is placed, Timesact tags the Shopify order automatically, you do not add these by hand:

• Pre-order — added to every order that contains at least one pre-order item.
• Partial Pre-order — added on top of Pre-order when the order is a mixed cart, meaning it contains at least one pre-order item and at least one item that was in stock. It describes what is in the order, not how it was paid, so an order can carry Partial Pre-order and still be paid in full, and a deposit order containing only pre-order items carries Pre-order on its own. To find orders with a balance still to collect, filter your Shopify Orders by payment status instead.
• Mixed cart checkout (in the Pre-orderarticle) can warn shoppers about a mixed cart before checkout, and Block checkout can stop the order entirely. It still cannot split the order or force a single shipping date — see Pre-order → Cart page.

These are standard Shopify order tags. They show up on the order, and you can use them in filters, saved views, Shopify Flow, and order exports.

Does Timesact replace my existing order tags?

No. Timesact reads whatever tags are already on the order and adds its own on top — your existing tags stay exactly as they are. So if you already tag orders yourself (with Shopify Flow, a fulfillment or 3PL app, or by hand), those tags are safe, Timesact only ever appends Pre-order (and Partial Pre-order on a mixed order).

If one of your own tags occasionally looks missing on a pre-order order, it is almost always a timing overlap, not Timesact removing it. When a shopper places an order, Shopify notifies Timesact so it can add its tag and runs any Shopify Flow you have built at the same moment. If your Flow takes a little longer, Timesact may finish adding its tag before your Flow adds yours — both tags still end up on the order, just a moment apart. If a tag you rely on is intermittently missing, check the Flow or app that sets it in Shopify admin → Settings → Notifications → Workflows to confirm it runs reliably on every order.

Filter your orders by the tag

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Orders.
2. Click Add filter.
3. Choose Tagged with, then select the tag, for example Pre-order.
4. The list now shows only orders with that tag. You can stack filters, for example add Unfulfilled to see pre-orders still to ship, or filter on Partial Pre-order to see the orders that also contain in-stock items.

Save it as a view

So you do not have to rebuild the filter each time:

1. With the filter applied, click Save as at the top of the Orders list.
2. Give the view a name, for example "Pre-orders" or "Partial pre-orders".
3. Save. It now appears as its own tab at the top of the Orders page, one click to open anytime.

What you can do with this

• Keep a "Pre-orders" view to pull up everything waiting on stock, then fulfill them together once the stock lands.
• Keep a "Mixed orders" view of everything tagged Partial Pre-order, so you can see which pre-orders have in-stock items alongside them and decide how to ship each one.
• Because these are real tags, you can also trigger Shopify Flow automations on them (for example, act on every order tagged Pre-order) and filter by them when exporting orders.

Good to know

• The tags are added by Timesact the moment the order is created. If you remove a tag by hand, it is gone from that order, so leave them in place if you rely on the views.
• Timesact also tags orders for its other functionality (for example an In-stock tag), so for a pre-order-only view, filter specifically on Pre-order rather than a broader tag.
• Timesact adds its tags on top of any tags already on the order — it never replaces your existing tags.

Updated on: 08/12/2026