- Short answer
- Click the customer's email on the order page or customer profile to email them; Shopify Inbox help covers replying to chats, not starting them.
- Copy for yourself
- Tick the box beside your own or the store owner's address to get a copy.
- No email on the order
- If the customer chose to enter a phone number, call the number they entered.
- Customer timeline
- After an email is sent, a notification appears in the customer's timeline.
- Delivery status
- Only for automatic emails, such as those sent when an order is placed or canceled.
- Shopify Inbox plans
- Basic, Grow, Advanced and Shopify Plus.
- Texting a customer
- The Shopify app has a text-message icon on orders; the desktop help we read describes no one-off text.
How do you email a customer from an order?
- Open the order from Orders.
- In the right-column Customer card (the help's Contact section), click the customer's email address (order help).
- In the Contact customer dialog, enter your message, click Review email, then click Send notification.
- Orders
To get a copy, tick the box beside your own or the store owner's address. In a development store we checked on October 24, 2026, the dialog showed Subject and “Send bcc to:” fields.
If the order has no email because the customer chose to enter a phone number, call the number they entered.
Can you email from the customer profile instead?
Yes, from the admin or the Shopify app (customer help). On desktop, click the email address under Contact information (the help's Customer overview), then edit the subject line or leave the default.
- Customers
After an email is sent, a notification appears in the customer's timeline. Delivery status exists only for automatic emails, such as those sent when an order is placed or canceled, so for your records, copy yourself via Send bcc to (in the Shopify app, the Cc field).
Can you start a Shopify Inbox chat or send a text?
Shopify Inbox, on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Shopify Plus, connects you with customers who visit your online store: when they message you, you reply from desktop or mobile. After they leave, your reply goes to their email, if they provided one or signed in.
The Inbox help pages we read in October 2026 — overview, conversations, setup and Inbox agent — describe replying, not starting a chat yourself; see how Shopify Inbox works and where it stops.
No page we read in October 2026 — order details, customers and SMS notification help — describes a one-off text or WhatsApp message from the desktop admin. The Shopify app shows email, phone call and text-message icons in an order's Contact section. Shopify's order-confirmation text is a separate setting: see whether Shopify texts shipping updates.
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