What this is
The Orders tab is the default view in the unified staff dashboard. It’s where your warehouse staff claim orders, pack items, add tracking numbers, and mark orders as shipped. Think of it as a streamlined checklist — claim, pack, track, done, next order.
Staff never need to touch the WordPress admin. Everything happens on a single page that you can bookmark on warehouse devices. The dashboard header shows who’s currently logged in and includes a Logout button, so staff can sign out at the end of a shift without hunting for a link.
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Setting it up
The Orders tab is the default tab in the unified staff dashboard. There’s nothing extra to configure for it — when a staff member visits the dashboard page, the Orders tab is what they see first.
For full installation and setup instructions — creating the dashboard page, entering your licence, configuring staff accounts — see Installation & Setup.
Backward compatibility note: If you were using the [tracksies_packing_dashboard] shortcode from an earlier version of Packsie, it still works. It renders the same unified dashboard with the Orders tab selected. You don’t need to change anything on existing pages, but for new setups, [tracksies_staff_dashboard] is the recommended shortcode because it gives your staff access to all available tabs (Orders, Returns, Customers) from one page.
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The packing workflow
Here’s how a typical packing session looks:
1. See the queue
When staff visit the dashboard, the Orders tab shows all orders that are ready to pack. The queue shows the most important information at a glance — order number, customer name, item count, and priority level (if you’re using priority rules).
2. Claim an order
Clicking Claim locks that order to the staff member. No one else can pack it at the same time. It’s like putting your name on a task in a shared to-do list — it’s yours until you’re done with it. This prevents double-packing and wasted effort.
3. Review order details
The right panel shows everything the packer needs — each item with its image and quantity, customer shipping address, shipping method, any typed notes, and customer history. More on the detail panel in the What’s on screen section below.
4. Pack items
As each item goes into the box, the packer selects it in the interface. For orders with multiple items, they check off each one as it’s packed.
5. Add tracking
Enter the tracking number from the courier. The dashboard includes a carrier dropdown with common carriers (AusPost, StarTrack, TNT, Toll, Sendle, Aramex, and more). If your carrier isn’t listed, you can enter the tracking number manually.
6. Complete the order
What happens next depends on the shipping method:
- Standard shipping — The normal tracking form appears. Enter the tracking number and carrier, and the order transitions to Shipped. The customer gets their shipped email with tracking info.
- Local pickup — The system detects the pickup method and shows a prompt: “This order is local pickup — mark as Ready for Pickup?” with the pickup location address. Click Ready for Pickup to update the status and send the customer a pickup notification email. If the customer changed plans, click Ship Instead to get the normal tracking form.
Either way, the customer gets notified automatically. On to the next order.
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What’s on screen
Stats bar
Four cards across the top showing real-time counts:
- To Pack — orders waiting to be packed
- Packed Today — orders packed so far today
- Shipped Today — orders shipped so far today
- My Packs — orders packed by the current user today
Filter tabs
Three tabs to switch between different views of the queue:
- To Pack — orders that need packing (the main queue)
- Packed (Awaiting Ship) — orders that are packed but haven’t shipped yet
- Shipped Today — orders that went out today
Order queue
The left side of the screen shows a list of orders in a 50/50 split layout with the detail panel. Each order card shows the order number, customer name, item count, time in queue, and priority level. Orders are sorted by priority (urgent first) then by age (oldest first).
Each card also displays a shipping method badge — a small coloured label showing the customer’s chosen shipping method. Standard shipping methods get a blue badge; local pickup orders get an orange badge with a store icon, so your team can immediately spot pickup orders without clicking into them.
Priority badges — when an order matches a priority rule, a coloured badge appears on the card showing the rule name (e.g., “Same Day Service”, “Express Shipping”, “VIP Customer”). The badge colour matches the priority level — red for Urgent, orange for High, yellow for Elevated. Orders that have been escalated by the time-based system show an additional escalation indicator. Normal priority orders (level 4) don’t show a badge to keep the queue clean.
Order detail panel
The right side shows the selected order’s full details. On mobile and tablet, this slides in as an overlay. The panel includes:
- Items — each item with its image, name, and quantity
- PitchPrint design files — for orders with PitchPrint customisation, the detail panel shows design previews (thumbnail images for each page, hover to zoom) and download buttons for PDF, PNG, and TIFF formats. For file-upload orders (where the customer uploaded their own files rather than using the PitchPrint editor), download links are shown for each uploaded file. PitchPrint’s raw meta fields are hidden from the generic meta display to avoid duplication.
- Shipping method — the delivery method with a truck icon
- Shipping address — formatted delivery address (or billing address if no separate shipping address)
- Order notes — typed notes (customer, shipping, internal) with colour-coded badges, author name, and timestamp. Newest notes appear first.
- Add note form — a text input with three explicit buttons: Internal (staff only), Message to customer (emails now), and Goes in shipped email. The labels tell the packer exactly what will happen before they send. The picker is role-gated: packers and shippers only see buttons for the visibility levels their role is permitted to create, set in Tracksies > Settings > Packsie > Interaction Visibility. If a role hasn’t been granted any level, the form is replaced with a short message pointing to the settings page rather than showing a picker that would fail on submit. See Customer Notes for full details on note types, visibility, and the permission matrix.
- Customer history — for returning customers, the panel shows recent notes from across all their orders (up to 5), with interaction type icons (call, email, complaint, return, preference, etc.). This gives the packer context about the customer without leaving the page. A “view all” link opens the full customer profile. This section is hidden for guest orders.
- Action buttons — Claim, Pack, Ship, and other workflow actions
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Split packing
Sometimes one order can’t go in a single box. Maybe a fragile item needs to ship separately, or one product is physically too large to combine with the rest.
Multi-package fulfilment
Create as many packages as an order needs. Each package gets its own tracking number, so the customer can track every parcel individually.
Partial quantity packing
If a customer ordered five of something but you only have three ready to ship right now, pack a partial quantity. Ship the three you have, handle the remaining two later. The system tracks packed vs. unpacked quantities across all packages.
Item unavailability
If an item is out of stock or can’t be fulfilled, mark it as unavailable directly from the dashboard. When auto-refund is enabled, this automatically processes a refund for that item — the customer gets their money back without anyone manually handling it in WooCommerce.
What happens to the order in the queue? Marking an item unavailable counts the same as packing it for queue purposes — the order will leave the To Pack tab once every remaining item is either packed or marked unavailable. So an order with 4 items where 3 are packed and 1 is marked unavailable moves out of To Pack and into the Packed (Awaiting Ship) tab, ready to ship the three available items.
The unavailable count is preserved on the order for reference (you’ll see it on the order detail panel and in WooCommerce’s order admin), so you can always check what was substituted, refunded, or held back. The customer-facing item count on the order itself doesn’t change — they originally ordered 4 items — but the queue-relevant count drops to 0 once everything is handled.
Over-packing protection
The system includes server-side validation that prevents packing more items than the order contains. If someone tries to pack three units when only two were ordered, the system flags the error before anything ships. No silent over-packing, no stock discrepancies.
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Items on hold pending manager approval
When a packer requests an action they don’t have authority to execute themselves — a refund, a substitute, a return resolution — the request queues for someone with the Approvals permission. While the request is pending:
- The item stays visible in the order’s item list. It doesn’t disappear; the packer can see what they asked for.
- The selectable checkbox is replaced with a small pause icon. They can tell at a glance “I can’t pack this right now.”
- A yellow callout appears under the SKU: _On hold — awaiting [refund/substitute/etc.] approval — requested by [name] [age] ago._
- The order card in the packing list gets a yellow N-on-hold badge alongside priority and customer-note badges, so packers can scan the list and see at a glance which orders have blocked work.
When the manager resolves the approval:
- Approved-as-requested or rejected → the pending state clears; the item returns to its normal state in the packer’s view (selectable checkbox if there’s still quantity to pack).
- Approved-as-substitute → the item now shows a blue Substitute approved: SKU-XYZ by [manager name] callout instead. The packer reads exactly which SKU to pack with, plus any optional note the manager added when approving.
The substitute callout is visually distinct (blue, left border) so packers don’t miss the “use this SKU instead” instruction while picking. See Manager Approvals Queue for the full workflow.
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Sound Alerts
Feature toggle: packsie.sound_alerts
Sound alerts play an audio notification when new orders arrive in the queue or when an order’s status changes. This keeps warehouse staff aware of what’s happening without needing to watch the screen constantly — they can be packing a box and still hear when the next order lands.
The sound can be toggled on and off from the dashboard header by each individual staff member, so it’s a per-user preference rather than an all-or-nothing setting. Enable the feature in Tracksies > Settings > Features, and each packer decides whether they want it on or off during their shift.
This is especially useful in busy warehouses with multiple packing stations, or when staff are moving between the screen and the packing bench.
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Auto-Refresh
Feature toggle: packsie.auto_refresh
Auto-refresh keeps the dashboard current without anyone needing to hit the browser’s refresh button. The dashboard automatically checks for new orders at a configurable interval and updates the queue in place.
Enable it in Tracksies > Settings > Features. Once active, the refresh interval can be adjusted in Packsie’s settings — shorter intervals mean faster updates but slightly more server load, longer intervals are gentler on your hosting.
Auto-refresh works alongside sound alerts for a fully hands-free workflow: new orders appear in the queue automatically, and a sound plays to let the packer know there’s something new. Between the two, staff can focus on packing without constantly checking the screen or refreshing the page.
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Priority indicators
If you’re using Tracksies HQ’s priority rules system, orders in the packing queue show their priority level in two ways:
Priority stripe — a coloured bar on the left edge of each order card indicates the priority level at a glance:
- Urgent (red) — needs immediate attention
- High (orange) — should be packed soon
- Elevated (yellow) — higher than normal priority
- Normal (grey) — standard processing
Priority badge — a coloured label on the card showing the name of the matched rule. Instead of a generic “Urgent” label, packers see the actual reason — “Same Day Service”, “Express Shipping”, “VIP Customer”, or whatever you named the rule. This gives warehouse staff instant context about why an order is prioritised, not just that it is.
Orders that have been escalated by the time-based system show an additional escalation badge with an arrow icon and the escalation level.
Orders are automatically sorted by priority level, so the most urgent orders appear at the top of the queue. Within the same priority level, older orders appear first. Time-based escalation means orders that sit too long automatically bump up in priority.
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Tips for efficient packing
- Set up the login redirect so packers go straight to the dashboard after logging in — no navigation needed
- Use kiosk mode on dedicated warehouse devices for a clean, focused interface. See Kiosk Mode & Page Protection for setup details
- Enable sound alerts so packers hear when new orders arrive
- Use priority rules to automatically surface urgent, VIP, or time-sensitive orders at the top of the queue
- Bookmark the page on warehouse devices and set it as the browser homepage
- Explore the other tabs — staff can switch to the Returns or Customers tab without leaving the page, so one bookmarked URL covers everything