What partial fulfilment does
Automatic fulfilment in Alva Digital Downloads has always been decided for a whole order at once. Either every line item qualified and Shopify marked the order Fulfilled, or nothing was fulfilled at all. An order holding a paperback and its ebook failed that test, so the ebook sat unfulfilled alongside the book and you cleared it by hand.
Switching on Also fulfill digital items in mixed orders changes the rule. Alva marks only the eligible digital line items as fulfilled and leaves everything else untouched, so Shopify shows the order as Partially fulfilled and your picking and packing flow still owns the physical item.
A partly fulfilled order can drop out of an Unfulfilled filter — the view many merchants pick and pack from. If your warehouse works off that list, the physical half of a partly fulfilled order can go unnoticed. That is why the setting stays off until you choose it.
Before you start
- Automatic fulfilment is a paid-plan feature and is off by default. Enable Auto-Fulfillment has to be on before the mixed-order setting does anything.
- Your digital products must not require shipping in Shopify. A digital product with This is a physical product still ticked is never fulfilled automatically — see Why an order isn't marked as fulfilled.
- The setting applies to orders placed after you save it. Orders already in your admin keep the status they have.
Turn on fulfilment for mixed orders
1. Open Settings → Orders
In the Alva admin, open Settings and go to the Orders section. This is where Enable Auto-Fulfillment lives.
2. Tick "Also fulfill digital items in mixed orders"
The new setting sits directly under Enable Auto-Fulfillment. Tick it. If auto-fulfilment itself is off, turn that on first — the mixed-order setting only refines what auto-fulfilment already does.
3. Save and test
Save your settings, then place a test order containing one digital product and one shippable product. Within a minute of payment Shopify should show the order as Partially fulfilled, with the digital line marked fulfilled and the shippable line still open.
Alva admin → Settings → Orders. Show the "Enable Auto-Fulfillment" checkbox ticked with "Also fulfill digital items in mixed orders" ticked directly beneath it, help text visible, and the save bar showing. No real shop data.
Override auto-fulfilment for one product
Some products should never be marked fulfilled by software — a made-to-measure item, a service, a product your team wants to touch before it closes. Open the product in the Alva admin and look under Settings for Auto-fulfillment for this product. It offers three choices:
- Use shop default (enabled) or Use shop default (disabled) — the product follows your shop-wide auto-fulfilment setting, and the wording tells you which way that currently points. This is how every product starts.
- Always auto-fulfill — the product is fulfilled even when auto-fulfilment is off for the shop. This option needs a paid plan.
- Never auto-fulfill — Alva never fulfils this product, whatever your shop setting says. Available on every plan, including the free one.
Save the product. Like the shop setting, the choice applies from the next order onward.
Alva product page → Settings card → "Auto-fulfillment for this product" dropdown open, showing "Use shop default (enabled)", "Always auto-fulfill" and "Never auto-fulfill". Use a fictional product name. No real customer data.
"Never auto-fulfill" behaves differently with mixed orders off
This one surprises people, so it is worth reading twice. When Also fulfill digital items in mixed orders is switched off, an order containing anything Alva will not fulfil is skipped in full. Mark one product Never auto-fulfill, and a two-item order containing it fulfils nothing at all — not "everything except that product". Alva shows the same warning on the setting inside the app.
If what you wanted was "fulfil the rest of the order but leave this product alone", turn Also fulfill digital items in mixed orders on. That is exactly what it does: every eligible item is fulfilled, the excluded product is left open, and the order lands on Partially fulfilled.
What Alva never fulfils automatically
Four kinds of line item are left alone no matter how either setting is configured:
- Products that need a file uploaded per order. A personalized product has no file until you make one, so Alva waits — the line is fulfilled once you upload the customer's file.
- Anything Shopify says needs shipping. This catches real physical goods, and it also catches digital products that still have This is a physical product ticked in Shopify. That single checkbox is the most common reason a purely digital order is never fulfilled — untick it on every variant you sell.
- Products whose Alva mapping is set to Inactive. An inactive mapping delivers nothing, so Alva does not claim the line as fulfilled either.
- Point-of-sale orders. In-store sales skip automatic fulfilment entirely and are yours to fulfil in Shopify or on the POS.
Fraud checks move when fulfilment happens
With fraud checks enabled, an order is fulfilled at the moment you approve it rather than the moment it is paid. Approving releases fulfilment along with delivery; rejecting means the order is never fulfilled. Nothing about partial fulfilment changes that sequence — it only changes which line items are included once the order is released.
Your customers see nothing new
Alva creates fulfilments without a Shopify notification, so no buyer receives a "your order has shipped" email because a digital item was marked fulfilled. The download email Alva sends is still the only message they get about their files, and it arrives whether or not the order was fulfilled — delivery and fulfilment status are independent.
Frequently asked questions
Will a partially fulfilled order still appear in my Unfulfilled list?
Not necessarily. Shopify gives a partly fulfilled order its own Partially fulfilled status, and an Unfulfilled filter can exclude it. Check the filter your picking and packing process uses before you turn the setting on.
Do I have to turn this on to use automatic fulfilment?
No. With the setting off, automatic fulfilment behaves exactly as it always has: an order whose items all qualify is still fulfilled in full. The setting only changes orders that mix items Alva fulfils with items it does not.
Why did an order containing a Never auto-fulfill product fulfil nothing at all?
Because Also fulfill digital items in mixed orders was switched off. With it off, an order containing anything Alva will not fulfil is skipped in full. Turn the setting on and the rest of the order is fulfilled without the excluded product.
My digital-only order still is not fulfilled. Why?
Check This is a physical product in Shopify. A digital product with that box ticked requires shipping, so Alva never fulfils it, even in an order that contains nothing else. Untick it on every variant you sell.
Does the customer get a shipping notification?
No. Alva creates every fulfilment without a Shopify notification, because it already sends its own download email. Your buyers never receive a duplicate your order has shipped message.
When are orders fulfilled if fraud checks are enabled?
At approval, not at checkout. An order held for a fraud check is fulfilled when you approve it, and an order you reject is never fulfilled.
See also
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Last updated 2026-07-30