In the left menu click Status Manager.
The Manage Order Status page will display, where you can Add, Edit, Sort and Delete order status.
Every order in AbleCommerce has a status associated with it. The possible statuses and their meaning are defined by the merchant. This gives the merchant more control over the order management process.
In the left menu click Status Manager.
The Manage Order Status page will display, where you can Add, Edit, Sort and Delete order status.
From the Manage Order Status page click the Add button
The Add Order Status page will display.
Enter the values as needed for the new order status.
Name: This is the name of the order status as it will appear in the merchant administration.
Display Name: This is how the order status will appear to customers on the store website.
Event Triggers: When certain events take place for an order in AbleCommerce, it can have the status automatically updated. From the list, select what event(s) will cause an order to update to this status. For complete details on the events, see Events.
Stock Control: When an order is set to this status, indicate the effect it will have on the inventory levels for items that are in the order. There are four possible values:
None – Setting an order to this status has no effect on inventory levels.
Reserve Stock – Setting an order to this status will cause all items in the order to have inventory reserved.
Destock Inventory – Setting an order to this status will cause all items in the order to have inventory destocked.
Release Reserved Stock – Setting an order to this status will cause all items in the order that currently have reserved inventory to release the reserve back to stock.
Restock Inventory - Setting an order to this status will cause all items in the order that currently have either reserved or destocked inventory to return all quantities back to stock.
Note: When an order status is updated, AbleCommerce checks the stock control setting for the new status. Then any necessary adjustments are made to the stock levels. Changes in stock level cannot be repeated. For example, suppose you have status “Paid Partial” and status “Paid Full”. Both have Stock Control set to Reserve Stock. If an order is set to Paid Partial, all inventory controlled items in the order will have stock reserved. If the order is later set to Paid Full, stock levels will not change since this has already been done.
Is Active: This setting is a way of indicating what orders are being processed and which have been completed. Set to “Yes” if this status represents orders that are actively being processed. Set to “No” if this status represents orders that are complete and require no further action. In previous versions of AbleCommerce, inactive orders were called “Archived”.
Is Valid: Indicate whether orders of this status are valid. Valid orders are included in sales reports. Invalid (e.g. void, cancelled, charged back) orders are ignored in sales reports.
Click the Finish button.
The Manage Order Status page will display.
From the Manage Order Status page click the Sort button
The Sort Order Statuses page will display.
Click on the name of an order status to select it in the list.
Click the 
up or 
down button to adjust to items order in the list.
Click the Finish button.
The Manage Order Status page will display with the sorting changes displayed.
Note: Sorting is for internal purposes only, in the display of the list on the merchant admin pages.
Advanced order status:
When an event occurs in AbleCommerce, it can cause an order status to be updated. When you are adding or editing order statuses, this is set through the Event Triggers field. Some merchants will find it easier to view the list of events and then see which order status is associated.
The Manage Event Rules page is provided for just that purpose. It will list out all of the supported events that relate to an order. You can then configure which order status should be set for the event. To access this screen, click the “Event Rules” link. A page similar to the one below will be displayed.
Listed down the page are the events that occur. Only events that relate to orders are displayed. To the right of the event name is the order status that will be set. Note that not all events will cause a change in order status.
Make your selections, then click the Update or Finish button to save.
The status of an AbleCommerce order can be manually updated, rather than automatically in response to an event. The can occur through one of two processes:
An admin updates the order status through the “Edit Order” screen
An external program (such as Stone Edge Order Manager) has updated the order details, including Order Status.
When the status of an order is changed, you can set AbleCommerce to signal one of the predefined events. This can help ensure that appropriate order notifications are sent.
As an example, consider the following situation. A merchant has an order with a status of “New”. They then update the status of the order to “Paid” without having processed the payments through AbleCommerce. In this case, AbleCommerce would not yet have generated a “Payment Received” event. The merchant could set up a status rule so that if the status changes from New to Paid, it will cause AbleCommerce to force a Payment Received event. This would allow other actions linked to this event (such as email notification) to take place.
Although the above example illustrates how the status rules work, it does not make sense from an administrative standpoint. The merchant would have greater success if they simply process the payments through the order management interface. Then the Payment Received event will be automatically triggered and can adjust the order status as appropriate.
In fact, merchants who do all of their order management from the AbleCommerce administration will probably not find status rules useful. They are primarily directed at external software so that AbleCommerce can still generate automatic order notifications normally triggered by events. It is with these outside applications that the status rules become crucial.
To mange the status rules for your store, click the “Status Rules” link at the bottom of the Manage Order Status screen. This will open the “Manage Status Rules” screen similar to the one below.
The screen lists the existing status rules in table form. Each row shows the event that will occur when an order is changed from the old status to the new. In the example image, the first row indicates that an order changed from the “New” status to the “Paid Full” status will trigger a Payment Received (Full) event.
To add a new rule, enter the old status, new status, and event in the select boxes provided. Then click the “Add” button on the right side of the row. The new rule will then appear in your list. You can add any number of status rules.
To delete a rule, click the Delete button to the right of the appropriate row. The rule will be deleted from your list.
Using order statuses effectively:
Merchants can use the order status as a tool for communication with the customer. It can help answer the customer’s big question: “What’s happening with my order?” Because the list of statuses can be customized, it can be specifically tailored to meet the business needs.
If you import the basic data for your new store, you will already have some standard statuses created for you: New, Paid Partial, Paid Full, Shipped Partial, Shipped, Completed, and Cancelled. For many stores, they will be all that is ever needed.
For other stores, an order has several additional stops between “Paid” and “Shipped”. Consider a screen printing shop that sells custom t-shirts. After the order is paid for, it may need to be sent to the art department who will verify a custom image is suitable for printing. Then perhaps it moves to the printing department who will actually produce the t-shirt. Then it moves to the fulfillment department for QA and shipment. All along that route, you could have custom order statuses like “checking artwork”, “being printed”, and so on. This way the customer can see the progress.