Metafields give you the option to store additional, structured information for which Shopify doesn't provide dedicated input fields by default. By using Pickware, specific metafields are automatically added to your Shopify Admin. You can easily recognize these fields by the addition (Pickware) after the respective name. You can manage all metafield definitions centrally in the Shopify Admin under Settings → Metafields and metaobjects (Metafelder und Metaobjekte). You'll find the corresponding input fields directly on the respective records for orders, customer accounts, or products.
Metafields for orders
External order number
The external order number is used, for example, for transaction references or marketplace order numbers, and can be output in the Order number field in the DATEV payment export or document export. Please make sure that in the Pickware Admin under Settings → Extensions → DATEV → Booking record (Buchungssatz), you have selected either the option External order number or External order number, order number if empty in the Order number field, so that this information is also included in the export. You can find more detailed information about this here.
Invoice comment
In this field, you can enter a comment that will then be printed at the bottom of the invoice.
Picking instruction
You can store individual picking instructions for each order, which will then be displayed on the picking list or in the WMS App. You can also have this field filled automatically via Flow. Here you'll find more information about the picking instruction.
Metafields for links to the invoice and invoice correction
Within the so-called unstructured metafields, you'll find pickware.pickware_invoice_url and pickware.pickware_invoice_correction_urls. These store the URLs to the invoice or invoice correction, which allows you to pass them on to connected marketplaces or use them within emails. Here you'll find an example where the metafield for the invoice URL is used in an email template.
You can find the unstructured metafields under Settings → Metafields and metaobjects (Metafelder und Metaobjekte) → Orders via the More actions menu.
Tracking codes of return labels
If you create a return label for an order in Pickware, Pickware stores the tracking codes of the active return labels in the metafield pickware.pickware_return_label on the corresponding Shopify order. The field contains a JSON list of all currently active (non-canceled) return tracking codes for the order – each with carrier and tracking number:
[{ "carrier": "DHL", "trackingNumber": "00340434161094023456" }, { "carrier": "GLS", "trackingNumber": "GL123456789DE" }]
The value is automatically updated as soon as a return label is created or canceled. If there are no (more) active return labels, the metafield is removed.
This lets you read out the return tracking codes via Shopify Flow and pass them on to connected marketplaces – for example, to Otto via marketplace apps like magnalister, ChannelEngine, Tradebyte, or Channable, which already expect return tracking along with the shipping confirmation.
This metafield is not directly visible in the order, but is still maintained. If you still want to read out this field, you can do so after creating a return label via Metafields → Show all → Show unstructured metafields.
Metafields for products and variants
The picking instruction can be maintained either at the product or at the variant level.
If a product has no variants, you'll still find both the variant metafield and the product metafield in the product details, since the product technically counts as the main variant here.
The product metafield always has the highest priority. If a value is stored here, only this picking instruction is transferred to Pickware. A picking instruction additionally maintained in the variant metafield is ignored in this case.
If the product metafield is empty, but a picking instruction is stored in the variant metafield,
the picking instruction from the variant metafield is transferred to Pickware instead.
If a product has variants, you'll find the product metafield for the main product and the variant metafield for each variant in the product details.
The picking instruction is maintained in the variant metafield. This way, each variant can have its own picking instruction.
If a picking instruction is also stored for the main product, it is transferred to Pickware, but not displayed on the picking list.
Here you'll find an overview of where you can find the picking instructions for products in the Pickware Admin and how they are displayed on order documents or in the WMS App.
Metafields for customers
You'll find metafields for customers in the customer account. Pickware provides the field Business customer VAT ID here, which is hidden by default. Once you pin it once, it becomes visible in all customer accounts. Proceed as follows to display it:
Scroll to the Metafields section in the customer account and click Show all. | |
Double-click on the name of the field to access the settings. | |
Click on Pin definition here and save the change using the button at the very top. |
Business customer VAT ID
Here you can enter the VAT ID for business customers if you are not using Shopify Plus. The VAT ID in the customer account (under Tax details) cannot be read by Pickware, which is why this metafield is needed. With Shopify Plus, the VAT ID is managed directly via the company. If you have maintained the VAT ID both via the company details (via the Shopify Plus feature) and via the Pickware metafield, the field in the company details will be overwritten by the metafield.
If you capture the VAT ID via third-party apps, you can transfer it into the Pickware metafield using a Flow. You can find more details about this here.
Using metafields in Shopify Flow
To use structured and unstructured metafields in Shopify Flow, you need to specify the fields in the format namespace.key. The namespace for all metafields coming from Pickware is always pickware. You can find the full name in the respective metafield definitions:
Here you'll find an overview of all metafields along with their technical names:
Name | Full name |
Picking instruction (Pickware) [Products] | pickware.pickware_wms_product_picking_instruction |
Picking instruction (Pickware) [Variants] | pickware.pickware_wms_product_picking_instruction |
Business customer VAT ID (Pickware) | pickware.pickware_shopify_customer_vat_id |
External order number (Pickware) | pickware.pickware_external_order_number |
Invoice comment (Pickware) | pickware.pickware_erp_invoice_comment |
Picking instruction (Pickware) | pickware.pickware_wms_picking_instruction |
- | pickware.pickware_invoice_correction_urls |
- | pickware.pickware_invoice_url |
- | pickware.pickware_return_label |
In Shopify Flow, you can manually create your own new flows, choose from existing templates, or use the AI assistant to create flows by describing what you want your flow to do:
Then click on Preview and check the result. If everything meets your satisfaction, click Turn on workflow at the top right.
You can find more information about Shopify Flow in the official guide.