The Hold Until Date feature lets you delay the fulfillment of an order until a specific date and time. While the hold is active, the order is blocked from being picked or shipped — but inventory remains allocated (reserved) so the items are not sold to another customer. When the hold date arrives, Warehance automatically releases the order and makes it available for fulfillment. No manual intervention is required.
This is useful when a customer requests a future delivery, when you need to coordinate a shipment with a specific event, or when you want to batch orders for a particular ship date.
How It Works
When you set a Hold Until Date on an order:
- The order is immediately marked as not ready to ship and not pickable.
- The items in the order remain allocated — they are reserved in your inventory and will not be available for other orders.
- The order's fulfillment status does not change. It stays as Unfulfilled (or whatever its current status is).
- A background process checks for orders whose hold dates have passed approximately every 2 minutes.
- Once the hold date passes, the order is automatically released and becomes ready to ship — assuming no other holds are active.
Inventory is reserved the moment the order is created and allocated, regardless of whether a Hold Until Date is set. This means the items will not be oversold while the order is waiting.
Setting a Hold Until Date on a Single Order
Step 1: Open the Order
From the Warehance dashboard, navigate to Orders and click on the order you want to hold.
Step 2: Find the Settings Widget
On the order details page, look for the Settings section in the sidebar.
Step 3: Set the Hold Until Date
Click the Hold Until Date field. A date and time picker will appear. Select the date and time you want the order to be released for fulfillment.
The date and time are based on your organization's timezone. Warehance converts and stores the value in UTC internally.
Step 4: Save Changes
Click Save Changes. The order will immediately become not ready to ship and not pickable until the selected date passes.
Setting a Hold Until Date on Multiple Orders (Bulk)
Step 1: Select Orders
From the Orders table, select the orders you want to place on hold by checking the boxes next to each order.
Step 2: Open the Bulk Edit Modal
Click the Bulk Edit button that appears after selecting orders. A modal titled Bulk Edit Properties will open.
Step 3: Set the Hold Until Date
In the Order Properties section of the modal, find the Hold Until Date field and select your desired date and time.
Step 4: Apply Changes
Click Save to apply. The bulk update will run as a background task. You can check the Background Tasks section for progress.
How the Warehouse Team Should Handle Held Orders
The warehouse team does not need to take any manual action to release orders with a Hold Until Date. Here is the expected flow:
- Order is created — Inventory is allocated automatically.
- Hold Until Date is in the future — The order appears as not ready to ship. It will not show up in pick lists or be available for fulfillment.
- Hold Until Date passes — Warehance automatically re-evaluates the order within a few minutes and marks it as ready to ship (assuming no other holds are active).
- Order becomes pickable — It appears in pick lists and can be fulfilled normally.
There is no checkbox to uncheck or button to click. The release is fully automatic.
Monitoring Orders on Hold
Orders Table Filters
You can filter your orders table to find orders that are currently on hold:
- Has Hold — A filter that shows orders with any active hold, including a future Hold Until Date or any hold checkbox (Fraud Hold, Address Hold, etc.).
- Hold Until Date — Filter by a specific date range to find orders held until a certain period.
Dashboard Widget
The Warehance dashboard includes an Orders On Hold table that shows recent orders with active holds. This gives you a quick overview without needing to navigate to the full orders table.
Daily Store Performance Report
The Daily Store Performance report includes an On Hold count per warehouse. Clicking it takes you to the orders table filtered to show held orders for that warehouse.
Hold Until Date vs. Hold Checkboxes
Warehance has two separate hold mechanisms that work independently:
Hold Until Date — A date-based hold that releases automatically when the date passes. Set in the Settings section of the order details.
Hold Checkboxes — Manual holds that must be toggled off by a user. These are found in the Holds section of the order details and include:
- Fraud Hold
- Address Hold
- Payment Hold
- Warehouse Hold
- Store Hold (read-only, set by the system)
- Allocation Hold
- Operator Hold
- CS Hold
Both types block the order from being ready to ship. If an order has a Hold Until Date and one or more hold checkboxes active, the order will remain on hold even after the date passes — you must also remove the hold checkboxes for the order to become ready to ship.
Think of it this way: a Hold Until Date tells Warehance "don't ship before this date." Hold checkboxes tell Warehance "don't ship until I say so." If both are set, both conditions must be cleared.
Removing or Changing a Hold Until Date
To remove a Hold Until Date before it expires:
Step 1: Open the Order
Navigate to the order and open the Settings section.
Step 2: Clear the Date
Click the Hold Until Date field and clear the value, or set it to a date in the past.
Step 3: Save Changes
Click Save Changes. The order will be re-evaluated within a few minutes and, if no other holds are active, will become ready to ship.
To change the date, simply select a new date and save.
Common Scenarios
Scenario 1: Customer Requests a Future Ship Date
A customer places an order but asks you not to ship it until a specific date. You set the Hold Until Date to that date. The order sits in your system with inventory reserved. On the selected date, the order is automatically released and your warehouse team can pick, pack, and ship it.
Scenario 2: Coordinating a Batch Shipment
You receive multiple orders throughout the week but only ship on Fridays. You set the Hold Until Date on each order (individually or in bulk) to the upcoming Friday. All orders become ready to ship at the same time, and your team can process them together.
Scenario 3: Preventing Early Fulfillment on a Pre-Order
You accept pre-orders for a product that hasn't arrived at your warehouse yet. You set a Hold Until Date on each pre-order for the expected arrival date. Inventory is allocated so the items are spoken for, but the orders won't be fulfilled prematurely. When the date arrives and your stock is received, the orders release automatically.
Scenario 4: Hold Until Date Plus a Manual Hold
An order has a suspected address issue, so you enable the Address Hold checkbox. You also set a Hold Until Date because the customer asked for delayed shipping. When the hold date passes, the order is still not ready to ship because the Address Hold is still active. Once your team verifies the address and unchecks the Address Hold, the order becomes ready to ship.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is inventory reserved while an order is on hold?
Yes. Inventory is allocated when the order is created, regardless of whether a Hold Until Date is set. The items remain reserved and will not be available for other orders.
What happens when the Hold Until Date passes?
Warehance runs a background check approximately every 2 minutes. When it detects that an order's Hold Until Date has passed, it re-evaluates the order. If no other holds are active, the order becomes ready to ship and pickable.
Can the order be picked or shipped while on hold?
No. While the Hold Until Date is in the future, the order is marked as not ready to ship and not pickable. It will not appear in pick lists.
Does the Hold Until Date change the order's fulfillment status?
No. The order's fulfillment status (Unfulfilled, Partially Fulfilled, etc.) is not affected by the Hold Until Date. Only the ready to ship and pickable flags are affected.
What if I have both a Hold Until Date and a hold checkbox active?
Both must be cleared for the order to become ready to ship. The Hold Until Date releases automatically, but hold checkboxes must be manually unchecked.
Can I set a Hold Until Date with a specific time?
Yes. The date picker supports both date and time selection. This is useful if you need an order to release at a specific hour.
How do I find all orders currently on hold?
Use the Has Hold filter in the orders table. This shows all orders with any active hold, including future Hold Until Dates and active hold checkboxes.
Can Shopify set a Hold Until Date automatically?
Yes. If a Shopify fulfillment order includes a "Fulfill At" date, Warehance will automatically set the Hold Until Date on the imported order to match.