- Short answer
- Yes: turn on the order note box in your theme's Cart settings (any free Shopify theme offers one), and the note appears in the order's Notes section.
- In Horizon
- Theme settings > Cart > Allow note to seller; off in the fresh Horizon copy we checked.
- Shopify's help steps
- Cart page > Sections > Template > Subtotal > Enable cart note; else see your theme's docs.
- Where you read it
- The Notes section of the order; Timeline comments stay internal.
- Checkout Blocks field
- Shopify Plus only; the order-notes type is incompatible with draft orders.
Where do you turn on order notes in a Shopify theme?
Order notes collect special instructions about how to prepare and deliver an order, and Shopify says any free Shopify theme can show the box on the cart page. Some themes call it a cart note.
In Horizon it's a theme setting: Allow note to seller, under Cart features. It was off in the fresh Horizon copy we checked, so confirm it's on.
- Online Store
- Themes
- Edit theme
- Theme settings
- Cart
Shopify's help names the setting Enable cart note, with steps through the Cart page's Sections, Template and Subtotal, and points you to your theme's documentation if you can't find it.
Where do you read a customer's order note?
The customer's text lands in the Notes section of the order. Timeline comments are different: they're internal and aren't visible to your customers.
Shopify also documents the note as a template variable for notification emails and packing slips.
Order notes, cart attributes and line item properties are, in Shopify's words, three separate tools with similar functionality.
What happens to the note at checkout?
Per Shopify's developer docs, a checkout UI extension from an app or your developer can't change the note when the buyer uses an accelerated checkout such as Apple Pay or Google Pay.
A Checkout Blocks custom field, available only on Shopify Plus, can save as an order metafield, attribute or note. The order-notes type shows the cart's note inside checkout, but it's incompatible with draft orders.
When a custom field saves to order notes, it replaces whatever the customer typed in the note box. If your customers already leave notes, either switch off the cart note in your theme, as Shopify suggests, or save the field as an order metafield, which Shopify calls the most robust way to store custom order data.
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