Automation Rules in ShipHero automatically perform actions on orders when defined conditions are met. Use them to set shipping methods, apply holds, send notifications, manage tags, and more, reducing manual work and ensuring consistent handling across your fulfillment operations.
Before You Begin
Build and manage your rules at Orders > Automation Rules. Rules run when an order is created or imported, they run before a warehouse is assigned, and they apply only to orders that arrive after the rule is created.
Table of Contents
- Understanding Automation Rules
- How to Create an Automation Rule in ShipHero
- How ShipHero Processes Automation Rules
- Triggers and Actions in Automation Rules
- Searching and Bulk Managing Automation Rules
- Important Notes for Automation Rules
- Automation Rules Best Practices
Note for 3PLs: Every Automation Rule is owned by a single client account, but you can create and manage client rules from your 3PL account. Create a rule for one client or several clients at once, and copy an existing rule to other client accounts. See Overview: Managing Automation Rules as a 3PL in ShipHero.
For troubleshooting Automation Rules, see Troubleshooting: Why is my Automation Rule not working?
Understanding Automation Rules
Configure and manage Automation Rules in your ShipHero account at Orders > Automation Rules. From this page, create, edit, and sort the processing order of your rules. You can also activate, deactivate, and delete rules, and create data lists for more complex conditions.
An Automation Rule has two main parts:
- Triggers: the conditions an order must meet for the rule to apply. This is the "IF" part of the rule.
- Actions: the tasks ShipHero performs automatically when an order matches the triggers. This is the "THEN" part of the rule.
Automation rules run when an order is created or imported into ShipHero. Rules run before a warehouse is assigned to the order. To run a rule after warehouse allocation, use the "Only Run after MWA" setting with the appropriate triggers. See How to Use Automation Rules with Multi Warehouse Allocation.
How to Create an Automation Rule in ShipHero
Every Automation Rule is built the same way, whatever the rule does. Pick the trigger that describes the orders you want to act on, then pick the action ShipHero should apply to them.
Note for 3PLs: Select at least one client in the Clients selector before choosing a trigger or an action. Triggers and actions stay unavailable until a client is selected, because every Automation Rule is owned by a client account. Actions that point to one client's own records, such as a warehouse, list, or status, are disabled when you create a single rule for several clients at once. See How to Create Automation Rules for 3PL Clients.
- Go to Orders > Automation Rules.
- Select Create New Rule.
- Enter a Name for the rule. Use a name that describes what the rule does, so you can find it later in the search field.
- Select a Trigger and the value the order must match. Select the (+) to add another trigger, which narrows the rule to orders matching both conditions.
- Select an Action and set any values the action needs.
- Select Create. The rule appears in your rule list and is active immediately.
New rules run on orders that arrive after the rule is created. To confirm a rule works before it matters, create a test order that matches the trigger and check the order history to see the rule listed.
Pro-Tip
Rule order decides which rule wins when two rules set the same field. Before creating a rule that overlaps an existing one, see How ShipHero Processes Automation Rules below, and for the trigger or action you need, see Automation Rule Triggers and Actions Reference.
How ShipHero Processes Automation Rules
- Sequential Processing: When a new order comes in, ShipHero checks your automation rules individually, starting from the top of your list and going down.
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Rules can overwrite other rules: If multiple rules have similar actions and an order meets the triggers for more than one, the rule lower in the list overwrites the rule higher in the list. Place lower-priority rules at the bottom so they override earlier rules when needed.
- For example, if you have a rule to "Set Shipping Method" to Cheapest:Ever but also need "Set Shipping Method" to FedEx Overnight for specific orders, the FedEx Overnight rule should be listed below the Cheapest:Ever rule.
- Wait Before Making Manual Changes: Let all automation rules finish running on an order before making manual changes. Check the order history to see which rules have been applied to a specific order.
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Activate and Deactivate: Automation rules are active by default when created. Deactivate a rule by unchecking the box while editing it, or from the rules list page.
- Deleting: Use the garbage can icon to delete a rule from the list. Deleting a rule breaks the link in order history notes for any previous orders it ran on. Deactivate the rule for a period of time before deleting it to allow for troubleshooting.
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Applied to New Orders Only: Automation rules apply only to orders placed after the rule is created and will not apply to orders already in the system.
Exception for Shopify users: The "Rerun this rule on order tags import" setting is enabled by default. When an order tag is added in Shopify after the order already exists in ShipHero, and that tag is used as a trigger, the automation rule reruns. Adding a tag to an order directly in ShipHero after import does not rerun the rule.
Triggers and Actions in Automation Rules
Automation rules can handle simple one-to-one scenarios or more complex multi-condition logic. Understanding how triggers function ensures the rule runs as expected and the correct actions are applied.
- Using a Single Trigger: Any order that meets the condition triggers the action.
For example, in the rule below, an operator hold is applied to all orders placed after 5/14/2025.
- Using Multiple Triggers: Use multiple triggers when rules need to apply to more specific orders. The (+) means AND, so the rule runs when an order meets this AND this.
For example, to limit the rule above to orders from a specific connected store, add (+) AND "If Store Name is xxx" as an additional trigger.
- Using and Managing Lists: Lists work well when multiple criteria should trigger the same action. Think of a list as an "OR" condition. For example, if the SKU is ABC-123 OR XYZ-456, then do this. Create and manage lists from the Lists panel on the Automation Rules page, then point a trigger at the list. For step-by-step instructions, see How to Create and Manage Automation Rule Lists in ShipHero.
Available Triggers and Actions
ShipHero offers 52 triggers and 60 actions. For the full list, what each action does, and which article covers it, see Automation Rule Triggers and Actions Reference.
Pro-Tip
Use the search field when selecting a Trigger or an Action to filter the list instead of scrolling it.
Searching and Bulk Managing Automation Rules
On the Orders > Automation Rules page you can search your rules and act on several of them at once instead of opening each rule.
How to Search Automation Rules
Enter a rule name, trigger, or action in the search field to narrow the list. When no rules match, ShipHero shows an empty state rather than a blank table.
Drag-and-drop reordering is unavailable while a search is active, because the filtered list is not your full rule order. Clear the search to reorder your rules.
How to Bulk Manage Automation Rules
- Go to Orders > Automation Rules.
- Select the checkbox next to each rule you want to change, or use Select All to select every rule currently shown.
- In the Bulk Manage panel in the right sidebar, choose Activate, Deactivate, Delete, or Duplicate.
- If Delete is selected you must confirm the action when prompted.
ShipHero processes a bulk action as one operation. If one selected rule cannot be processed, the action stops and the remaining selected rules are left unchanged.
How to Duplicate an Automation Rule
Select one or more rules, then select Duplicate in the Bulk Manage panel. ShipHero names each copy after the original rule with Copy added to the end, creates it as inactive located at the bottom of the list, and shows a success message after the page reloads.
| Duplicate Action in Bulk Manage | Duplicated Rule Result |
|---|---|
Important
Duplicated rules are always created inactive. Open each copy, review its triggers and actions, and activate it when you are ready for it to run on new orders.
Note for 3PLs: From a 3PL account you can also copy rules into other client accounts. See How to Duplicate Automation Rules in ShipHero.
Important Notes for Automation Rules
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Address Validations occur after Automation Rules run.
- When using any address field as a trigger, ShipHero uses the address information the order was imported with. This has a higher variability rate than other triggers. For example, if an order is created with "United States" as the country but the trigger is "Country equals US," the rule will not run as expected.
- When using the Set Address Hold: "No" action, address holds may be overridden by automated address validation. Use this action together with Set ignore address validation errors to prevent unexpected overwrites.
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Automation rules do not run for orders created with a Canceled or Fulfilled status.
- An order must have a pending status for rules to run. This includes ShipHero's default status as well as any custom statuses. An order is pending as long as it has at least one line item with a pending fulfillment quantity of at least 1. If a rule cancels all pending line items, the order moves to Fulfilled and any rules positioned after that rule in the list will not trigger.
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Changes to an automation rule do not retroactively update existing orders.
- Only new orders are considered for the updated rule. Make manual edits to any orders already in ShipHero that should reflect the change.
- To investigate who made changes to an automation rule, contact support@shiphero.com with the Automation Rule ID (the last set of numbers in the URL). The support team can investigate using backend logs.
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Duplicated rules within the same account are created inactive.
- A copy never runs until you activate it. If a rule you just duplicated is not firing on new orders, check its active status first.
Automation Rules Best Practices
- Review and test your automation rules regularly to confirm they are running as expected on new orders.
- Understand the specific conditions that trigger each rule before activating it. Check the order history on test orders to verify.
- Monitor order processing after creating or updating rules to catch any unintended overwrites or conflicts between rules.