Request: Add Comments to Order via API

[tgadf]

It would be really useful to be able to add Order comments (that show up in the Timeline) via the API. 

[Josh]

Hi @tgadf , 

This is definitely feedback that I can pass along. Do you have an example use-case in mind if you were able to do this? 

It's often helpful to have potential use-cases included when requesting new features, so if you have anything in mind feel free to reply to this post to let me know.

[tgadf]

@Josh, thanks for your reply. Yes, I have a couple different scenarios in mind:

The simplest one is support tracking. I'd like to add a comment whenever we receive a support request from a customer that references an order.

Similarly, we're using some 3rd-party tools to track parts of our order fulfillment workflow (vendor shipments, fulfillment center receiving inventory, etc), and I'd like to be able to post updates in comments to the Shopify order page.

[Josh]

Hey again @tgadf , 

Makes sense to me - thanks for getting back in touch! Consider your feature request created. 

In terms of your fulfillment-related concerns though, I think our coming fulfillment orders feature will help a lot with that. 

[Djurmamman]

An order is the essence of the webshop flow. So many things is connected to the order. Support ticket, invoice, ordered items instructions, instructions for warehouse staff, and much, much more.

It would help my business indescribable lot if we are able to post to order timeline thru the API. This is requested since 2016 in the forums 😞 

[joose]

This is a feature I would like to see as a shipping label app creator. So many use cases for this feature.

[parasmk]

This is an invaluable feature as rightly pointed by some users already.

Do we have a timeline for this feature implementation?

[samddc]

When will this feature be added? It looks like many members of the community have been waiting for well over a year. 

[yudho]

+1 on this. The use case is that, I have a backend system which reacts to webhook or schedule and send a custom email notification. I want the system to be able to update the order timeline that the custom email has been sent at what time.

[JoesIdeas]

I also regularly get requests from store owners that want the timeline comments to trigger a webhook (integrating it with the order update webhook would make the most sense I think).

I know plenty of store owners that use the timeline as an essential part of their workflow, if we could have better access as developers we could help more store staff save time and provide a better experience.

[Brandon_Eley1]

We would also love for the order comments (notes) to be accessible (read & write) through the API. Using third-party customer service / ticketing software like Re:amaze or Gorgias or similar - having the ability to write back notes with a link to the helpdesk ticket in app would be a game changer. Looking in Re:amaze we can see order information from within the app, but when a customer calls us on the phone and we look it up in Shopify, we have to take two more steps to then to over to the order in Re:amaze to see if there are any interactions. It's tedious and clunky. Being able to write to and read from the order timeline would make a huge difference as we'd be able to just stay in Shopify the majority of the time.

[Vincent20]

Any update on this ?

It's really anoying to not be able to add our comment by Api on the order.

Thanks.

[Timed_Ecom]

Another +1 on this please

[shelley-verisar]

+1 on this feature request. Surprised this has been hanging around so long. We are lazy minting NFTs on POS and want to log a minting event along with the NFT identifiers in the order timeline.

[adhamdwikat]

we need this , is it implemented or not yet ? 

[mitch10]

+1 on the feature request. We like to use it to comment whenever we need to special order items from suppliers to send out directly if we don't have an item in stock.

[drmuzz]

+1 like many others.

[stouchette]

Another use case is that our Order Management System and our POS both need to add and remove tags from orders to help our shipping and CS staff in their workflows. Based on tags we have parts of the business segment and handle orders. We can add and remove tags via API, but if we cannot add comments via API, then we have no idea who (person or API) nor when a tag was added. So it makes it a nightmare for end users to know the order timeline of events. So now when we do the API updates to tags, we log them in our database, but then users have to ask Dev for details when researching issues or asking for timeline of tags.

Is this still not possible?

[Gregarican]

I don't believe it's available yet. Although you certainly have a good use case. While you could employ metafields to handle "logging" the product tag changes, these wouldn't be easily visible to the endusers in the web UI. 

[ryantkelly]

Just wanted to chime in that, in the year 2021, this would still be a great feature to add to the REST API.

As it stands, I am sending email confirmations to my customer service team as opposed to logging these changes in the order comments/timeline.

[TJ_Biddle]

Why is this not added yet? 3 years... 

Would be super useful.

And no, "Use the Order Notes" is not a valid replacement. That field should be kept for the customer's input upon ordering, and it's also not timestamped.

[maddos]

Hello,

is (or when) this feature still planed to be release?

[thanjaipvr]

Hi All,

Any update on this. I need the API to update the comments for an Order.

Thanks

[SkyImageLab]

This would be a very valuable feature for me as well

[Tonegolf71]

+1 We need this for similar reasons to what has already been mentioned.

[SkyImageLab]

This would be a very useful feature for my business as well

[Scott_Imbrie]

This would be a big one for us.

The primary reason is that if the API also allowed tagging of users within the API added comment we would then be able to omit some additional amount of logic with regard to internal notifications.

I assume this could have far reaching effects for many apps beyond our internal work but more over strengthening / augmenting the breadcrumb trail within the order history makes it potentially possible to interface secondarily between apps using only the comments section of the order as a common datastore.

[Gregarican]

Yep, this is a common theme. Seems a lot of developers could utilize this endpoint being read/write and not read-only --> https://community.shopify.com/c/Shopify-APIs-SDKs/Expose-the-timeline-through-an-API/td-p/205764/pag.... 

[Sagi_Green]

+1

It would be super usfull for us! updating intenvtory and warehouse staff comments directly from our WMS will be a dream

[CharlyTalavera]

+1 to this feature. Would be nice to have it to set some useful information for the merchant in the order history in our app.

[hermanq42]

This could be a huge time saver for communicating between teams & automations! 

[ben_baback]

It would be also very useful for me!

[spyrosel]

+1 it would be very useful for my app too.

[MrCheers]

+1 on this

Use cases include being able to comment on an order when an automated task has been carried out. The benefit of being able to add comments to the timeline is that they are timestamped, adding notes and tags are seemingly not which isn't helpful from an auditing perspective.

[yomeyers]

+1 for this

[Charlie-SLA]

+1                

[dillerdev]

+1
Any time estimate for this feature?

[TJ_Biddle]

Bump!

[dillerdev]

No news on this so far?

[zennitiruj]

This feature is also required by us. We developed the fulfillment portal systems using Res API so our shops' staff  can do fulfillment on their product vendors. However, Shopify does not have API to edit or reject some items on the order, so we need to communicate to admin staff. Currently we use message API to update the order Note. It looks not too bad, it is not trackable. If API to comment, it will be very helpful.

[tamirble]

Really looking forward to this feature. Did anyone find a workaround for that?

[edweis]

I am still waiting on my side.

One alternative is to create an order meta field of type "Multi-line text" and update it via API.

It is not ideal but it allows to do the trick.

[tamirble]

Thanks @edweis. How does this look on Shopify? Like a real comment?

[edweis]

It looks something like this. When the user clicks on the field it expands. They are able to edit as wel.

[TJ_Biddle]

@edweis This is a creative work-around. Thanks!

Main concern here is that it wouldn't have any real history like the timeline. The timeline of course you can have multiple entries over time, and timestamp each one. Where here, I think the only way to preserve history would be to get the current value and append new data to it in the same metafield.

Still though - need idea, and I think I can use the metafields in some way for my own usecase instead.

Although, Shopify - still a glaring oversight that we're unable to post to the timeline directly

[stouchette]

Actually they do keep track if you update the notes via API, it does log it
in the order timeline. It has not always been that way and that was added
at some point.

[TJ_Biddle]

Are we speaking of different things? I was talking about the metafields, not notes. 

Notes are useless for me in my use-case as they're customer-facing and we have internal data we're trying to track that shouldn't be shown to the customer.

[stouchette]

The thread started with adding comments via API. I was just mentioning that
I found success in my case to API into Notes, and that created a timeline
entry with the details as they are updated each time to essentially add
them to the timeline. I don't think we expose Notes to the customers in our
case. I don't see them on order history pages from within their account
while logged in, nor in some notification emails. If someone was not
customer facing them, then my workaround could work well. Yes Metafields
could likely be done. I played with them and was able to have them show on
the end of either customers. or items for another project. I assume you
could do the same with orders. Good Luck!