Order Hub

What this is

Order Hub is the panel you see on every WooCommerce order edit screen when Tracksies HQ is active. It replaces WooCommerce’s default Order Data and Order Items metaboxes with one unified, tabbed interface — Summary, Packing, Tracking, and Returns — so everything you need to do with an order lives in one place.

It’s the “close the tabs, stop the hunting” feature. The stuff that used to be scattered across two WooCommerce metaboxes, a shipping plugin’s metabox, the returns page, and wherever you noted the customer flag — all in one panel, organised by the job you’re actually doing.

Why it matters

WooCommerce’s default order edit screen works, but it wasn’t designed for the way a shop owner actually thinks about an order. You look at an order thinking about who sent it, what’s in it, how it’s being fulfilled, and what happens next — not “data over here, items over there, tracking somewhere else.” Order Hub reorganises the screen around those four questions.

Without Order Hub, you’re:

• Scrolling past the Order Data metabox to find Order Items
• Opening a separate returns page to check if there’s a return on this order
• Hunting for the tracking field in whatever shipping plugin added it
• Missing customer context (their flag, their lifetime value) because it’s on a different page entirely

With Order Hub, one glance at the order tells you everything.

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What’s in each tab

Summary tab (always available)

The default landing tab. Shows:

• Customer intelligence — Intel Panel lives here: the customer’s lifetime value, status (VIP, Caution, Do Not Serve), tags earned, recent orders. The quick read on who you’re shipping to.
• Order summary — totals, addresses, payment method, customer-facing order notes
• Payment card — refund controls live inside this card, so you can issue a refund without leaving the order screen (and without sending anything back, if that’s what the situation calls for)

This tab has no feature toggle — it’s always on because it’s the one thing every Tracksies shop should see.

Packing tab

Shows when the Custom Order Statuses feature (hq.order_statuses) is enabled.

The packing workflow: tick line items as you pack, mark quantities unavailable, split the order across multiple parcels, attach packing notes that print on the slip. Each item shows its status — Pending, Packed, Unavailable, Shipped — so you know at a glance what’s still outstanding.

If an item can’t be fulfilled, mark it unavailable and Tracksies auto-refunds that line (if Auto-Refund on Unavailable is enabled in Features), emails the customer, and closes the loop. No manual refund, no manual email.

For full details on how the packing workflow handles split orders and multi-parcel shipments, see the Operations Dashboard doc.

Tracking tab

Shows when Shipment Tracking (hq.tracking) is enabled.

Add tracking numbers here — one per parcel, with carrier, tracking number, optional per-parcel notes. For multi-parcel shipments, each parcel gets its own tracking record so customers see what’s in each package.

Adding a tracking number does two things automatically (both optional, both on by default):

1. Auto-Shipped Status — the order moves to Shipped the moment tracking is added, so you don’t have to update the status manually
2. Shipped email — the customer gets the shipped notification with their tracking info right away

For the full tracking system — carrier URL patterns, per-parcel item assignments, how tracking flows into emails — see Shipping & Tracking.

Returns tab

Shows when Returns (hq.returns) is enabled and there’s an existing return for this order (or you want to start one).

Lists every return lodged against this order with its current status, lets you approve, reject, process refund, or mark replacement sent directly from the panel — no navigating to a separate returns page.

For the full returns workflow, see the Returns doc.

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Enabling Order Hub

Order Hub is on by default when Tracksies HQ is active. It registers a metabox on the order edit screen and hides the standard WooCommerce Order Data and Order Items metaboxes (which it replaces).

If you want to disable Order Hub and go back to WooCommerce’s default layout:

1. Go to Tracksies > Settings > Features
2. Find Replace WooCommerce order panels (feature key: hq.hide_woo_metaboxes)
3. Turn it off

With that off, Order Hub still shows — but the original WooCommerce metaboxes appear alongside it. You’ll have both, which is useful if another plugin adds controls to the original metaboxes that you need access to.

If you want to remove Order Hub entirely, you’d need to turn off the underlying features it tabs into (Packing, Tracking, Returns) — at which point most of what Order Hub does goes away anyway. For most shops, leaving it on is the best call.

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Restoring the standard WooCommerce panels temporarily

Sometimes you need to see WooCommerce’s original Order Data or Order Items metabox — for example, if a shipping plugin added a button inside the Order Items metabox that you need to click.

Rather than turning off the feature toggle globally, click the Show WooCommerce panels link at the bottom of Order Hub on any individual order. The hidden metaboxes appear on that one order only. Refresh the page and they’re hidden again.

This is useful for one-off access without changing the default experience for every order.

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Feature toggles that affect Order Hub

Each tab only appears if its underlying feature is enabled. Turn Returns off and the Returns tab disappears; turn Tracking off and the Tracking tab disappears. The Summary tab is always there.

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What about third-party metaboxes?

Order Hub only hides two specific WooCommerce metaboxes — Order Data (#woocommerce-order-data) and Order Items (#woocommerce-order-items). Every other metabox on the order screen is left alone:

• Your shipping plugin’s metabox — still visible
• Accounting plugin buttons — still visible
• Custom field plugins — still visible
• Anything you’ve added yourself — still visible

This means Order Hub plays well with the rest of your plugin setup. It’s not trying to take over the whole screen; it’s replacing the two Woo panels that most shops find cluttered and hunting-heavy, and leaving everything else exactly where it was.

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HPOS compatibility

Order Hub is fully compatible with WooCommerce’s High Performance Order Storage (HPOS). The metabox registers on both the classic post-based order screen and the new HPOS orders admin page, and uses WooCommerce’s data access APIs throughout — so data reads and writes work identically in both storage modes.

If your store is running HPOS (WooCommerce > Settings > Advanced > Features > Custom Order Tables), Order Hub just works. If it isn’t, Order Hub also just works. You don’t need to configure anything either way.

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If something goes wrong

I can’t see Order Hub on the order screen
Check that Tracksies HQ is active and that you’re on an order edit screen (not the orders list). Also check the Screen Options panel at the top-right of the order edit screen — a metabox might be hidden inadvertently. Scroll all the way down; metaboxes can stack below others.

The WooCommerce Order Data metabox is still showing
That’s normal when hq.hide_woo_metaboxes is off. Either turn on the feature in Tracksies > Settings > Features, or leave both visible if that’s the setup you prefer.

A shipping plugin’s button disappeared
Third-party metaboxes aren’t hidden, but third-party buttons inside WooCommerce’s Order Data or Order Items metaboxes are. Click Show WooCommerce panels at the bottom of Order Hub to reveal them temporarily, or turn off hq.hide_woo_metaboxes in Features if you need the original layout permanently.

The Packing tab isn’t showing on some orders
The Packing tab depends on the Custom Order Statuses feature being enabled. It also skips orders that are already in a terminal status (Completed with no packable items, or Cancelled). Check the order status — if it’s Completed and all items are digital, there’s nothing to pack.

Need more help? Check our FAQ & Troubleshooting guide or contact support.