I’m reviewing the checkout process on our store and I get stuck at the payment page because I don’t want to submit a real order. Is there a way to preview the Order Confirmation page?
Topic summary
Goal: preview the order confirmation (“Thank you”/order status) page without placing a real order.
Key options discussed:
- Test orders: Use Bogus Gateway or Shopify Payments test mode. You won’t be charged, but test mode blocks real checkouts while enabled. Toggling is instantaneous and a test takes ~5 minutes, so consider doing it off-hours.
- View an existing order’s status page: In Admin > Orders, open an order, then More actions > View order status page (shows the same page the customer sees). Some users report this option not appearing.
- Latest/clear method: Admin > Settings > Checkout > Customize the live configuration, then in the checkout editor switch the view from “Checkout” to “Thank you” to preview the page.
Cautions:
- Placing and canceling a real order may incur non‑refundable payment processing fees.
Notes:
- Screenshots were shared to illustrate where “View order status page” and the editor toggle appear.
Status: A workable preview path exists via the checkout editor. The missing “View order status page” option remains an open quirk for some users.
You can place a test order to check this out. Beyond there, there is not really anything you can do to see the order confirmation page. Here is the instruction from Shopify on how to set up test order.
https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/checkout-settings/test-orders
Hello @Danielle1144
I would like to give you some recommendations to support you.
You can place a test order by simulating a transaction through Shopify’s Bogus Gateway, or if you’re using Shopify Payments, then you can test your configuration by using Shopify Payments test mode.
You aren’t charged for a test order. You should place at least one test order during your store setup, or whenever you make changes to your payment settings.
I hope the above is useful to you.
Best regards,
GemPages Support Team
Thank you, since the store is already running and taking sales, seems like submitting an order and then canceling might be the only answer.
You can still place a test order regardless if your store has already been set up. It is common for merchants to place test orders after they making changes to check out or cart setting for example.
YyOz, thanks for following up. Can you point out how? The link you posted previously talks about using" Shopify’s Bogus Gateway", but that requires all orders to be test orders. It also mentions testing with Shopify Payments, which also has a test mode that says users can’t checkout with real card info. I suppose this could be done in off-hours? Thanks!
You are correct that when you enable the test mode, it is not really possible for customers to place the order in the meanwhile. I don’t know how busy your shop is, but the test itself, i.e. placing an order should take less than 5 minutes typically. Enable and disable test mode is instantaneous.
I was under the impression that maybe you have not had any sales (clearly wrongly), as if you already had sales, you can view the order status page, which is basically the same as the order confirmation page that the customer will see. You should be able to get that from any order. Go into an order, and then More action, and choose View Order Status Page. That would take you to the same order confirmation page that your customer sees.
Depending on your own personal situation, you have to choose whichever suits you the most. Perhaps placing an order and cancel it works best for in this situation if you don’t mind paying for the payment processing fees, as shopify won’t refund it.
Thanks Yy0z, I selected an order and then the More Actions dropdown, but don’t see “View Order Status Page”. I see Print Packing Slips, Archive Orders, Unarchive Orders, Add Tags, Remove tags. Am I looking in the wrong spot?
You have to go into the order itself. This is a screen shot of the order page, and when I click the More Action drop down, it gives you the option to view order status page.
This “View order status page” doesn’t appear for me.
@Danielle1144 From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Checkout.
Under Configurations, click to Customize the live configuration.
From the editor, toggle from “Checkout” to “Thank you”
Shopify article with more details can be found here.