- Short answer
- Shopify documents two causes: the store uses legacy customer accounts, or the links are turned off in Settings > Customer accounts.
- Where the toggle lives
- Settings > Customer accounts; on the current customer accounts page the toggle reads Show sign-in links.
- Why the label looks wrong
- The order status page documentation writes Show login links for the same setting.
- On legacy accounts
- Shopify states it flatly: login links don't display on the order status page for stores using legacy customer accounts.
- If you hide the links
- Customers can't sign in, and your customer accounts menu no longer displays on your store.
- No third documented cause
- No third cause on the order status, customer accounts or changelog pages we read on August 27, 2026.
The two reasons Shopify documents
Shopify's order status page documentation settles this in one sentence.
Login links don't display on stores that use legacy customer accounts, or that have turned off login links.
No page we read on August 27, 2026 — the order status page documentation, Shopify's customer accounts and upgrade-from-legacy pages, and the changelog post on the login requirement — names a third cause beyond those two. The same documentation adds a prerequisite beyond the toggle: customer accounts have to be set up at all.
Which of the two you have, and where the toggle is
Take your account version first: Shopify names legacy customer accounts flatly, with no condition attached. It states that legacy customer accounts are deprecated and asks stores to upgrade; what actually changes when you move is set out in our customer accounts migration guide.
Then the toggle: Settings > Customer accounts in your Shopify admin. On the page documenting the current version of customer accounts, Shopify labels the control Show sign-in links, while the order status page documentation writes Show login links for the same setting — two official pages, one control, two labels on August 27, 2026. If that toggle is already on and customer accounts are set up, the account version is the condition left to check.
What your customer sees while the link is missing
The page itself stays reachable: the order confirmation email opens it without any login for a limited window. Once that window closes, Shopify says a customer who doesn't log in or provide their credentials sees only limited details — such as the items purchased, order total, discounts applied and the order's status — while customer information such as the name, shipping and billing addresses, payment methods, shipping method, and tracking number aren't displayed. How long that no-login window lasts is the customer's side of this page.
Hiding the links costs more than the link: after you hide sign-in links, Shopify states, customers can't sign in and your customer accounts menu no longer displays on your store.
This article was written entirely by AI under human editorial direction. The editor sets the topic and structure, runs multi-stage validation on facts, links, and interactive elements, and verifies the output is useful from a business perspective. All claims are checked against official Shopify sources. Details may change — always confirm critical data at shopify.com.
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