The Delivery Details metabox (free)
Open any order under WooCommerce → Orders. The Delivery Details metabox sits at the top of the normal column.
- Select Delivery Person — a Select2 search field. Type a name, username or email and matching Delivery Person users appear (shown as Name (#ID – email)), up to 20 at a time.
- Mark as Out for Delivery — tick when the order leaves the store.
- Mark as Delivered — tick when it arrives.
Below the fields, the same delivery timeline the customer sees is rendered, so you can check the order’s history without leaving the screen. Click Update to save.
What the plugin records when you save:
- the driver’s user ID and the assignment timestamp, plus an order note naming them;
- a timestamp the first time each status flag is ticked, plus an order note for each.
The metabox works on both the HPOS order screen and the legacy post-based order screen.
Capability: saving the metabox requires
manage_options, so shop managers without that capability can view the box but not change the assignment. (Pro’s metabox usesmanage_woocommerceinstead, which is the usual shop-manager capability.)
The metabox with Pro
With Pro active, the two checkboxes are replaced by a fuller panel:
| Field | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Delivery person | Same searchable picker, with the driver’s on-duty state shown next to them. |
| Delivery status | Your own delivery statuses instead of two checkboxes. |
| Status note | An optional note stored with the status change. |
| Expected delivery date | Per-order override; the default from your lead time is shown beneath it. |
| Time slot | One of your configured slots, or Any time. |
| Links | Map link to the delivery address, the order’s tracking-page link, and the failed-attempt counter. |
| Proof of delivery | The captured photo, signature and recipient name, once the driver has submitted them. |
| Delivery notes | Add a note (internal or customer-visible) without reloading the page, and delete notes. |
| Timeline & delivery log | The customer-facing timeline, plus an expandable raw log of every recorded event. |
Pro keeps the free out for delivery and delivered flags in sync with its own status, so nothing breaks if you later deactivate it.
The orders list (Pro)
Pro adds a Delivery column to the WooCommerce orders list, on HPOS and legacy screens alike. Each row shows the assigned driver and a coloured status badge, or Unassigned.
- Quick assign — click Assign / Change in the column and pick a driver from an inline dropdown. It saves over AJAX without leaving the list.
- Filters — two dropdowns above the list: filter by delivery person (including Unassigned) and by delivery status.
- Bulk assign — tick several orders, choose Assign delivery person from the Bulk actions menu, and apply.
The dispatch board (Pro)
WooCommerce → Delivery Dispatch is the screen to run a shift from. It shows lanes side by side:
- Unassigned — every order waiting for a driver, with an Auto-assign all button.
- One lane per delivery person — their current active deliveries, an on-duty indicator (🟢 / ⚪) and their load count against capacity.
On any card, you can assign, reassign, unassign, or choose ⚡ Auto-assign to let the plugin pick using your zone rules. A banner at the top shows the current automatic-assignment mode and links to change it.
Automatic assignment (Pro)
You can skip manual dispatch entirely. Configure zones and a mode under WooCommerce → Delivery Manager → Zones & Assignment, and orders get a driver as soon as they reach your trigger status. See Zones & Automatic Assignment.
Reassignment
Changing the driver on an already-assigned order is a first-class action everywhere — metabox, quick assign, bulk assign and the dispatch board. With Pro:
- the reassignment is written to the delivery log with who did it and how (manual, bulk, auto or dispatch);
- the new driver gets the Delivery assigned email;
- the customer is emailed about the change if Email the customer when the delivery person changes is enabled on the assignment tab.