Shopify Update: Inactive Draft Orders Will Now Be Automatically Removed After One Year

Shopify has introduced a new policy that will affect how long inactive draft orders remain in your store’s admin. Starting on or after April 1, 2025, any draft order that has been inactive for 12 months will be automatically deleted. This change is part of Shopify’s ongoing effort to optimize performance and reduce clutter in merchant dashboards.

What Are Draft Orders?

Draft orders are manually created orders within Shopify. They are useful for orders taken over the phone, custom sales, or pre-orders that are finalized later. Until now, these draft orders would remain indefinitely unless manually removed.

What’s Changing?

Shopify will now automatically remove draft orders that haven’t been updated or converted into real orders within a 12-month period. This update applies retroactively, so older inactive draft orders will also be subject to removal.

Why This Matters

• Cleaner Admin Interface: Reduces unnecessary clutter, making it easier to manage current orders.

• Improved Store Performance: Fewer old draft orders improve backend performance and data management.

• Better Organization: Encourages timely follow-up on pending draft orders.

What You Should Do

If you rely on long-term draft orders, now’s the time to review them. Make sure to either convert important ones to actual orders or take note of the details before they are automatically deleted.

Learn More

You can read Shopify’s official announcement here.