# Recover abandoned checkouts

Level: Beginner. About 30 minutes. Plans: Not stated by Shopify. Checked against Shopify's documentation on 2026-10-08.

**Short answer:** From your Shopify admin, go to **Orders** > **Abandoned checkouts** to see checkouts where a customer entered an email but did not pay [1]. Turn on automatic recovery emails in **Apps** > **Messaging** > **Automations**, choose who gets them and how long to wait, and send a single recovery link by hand from the checkout's page when a customer asks [1][2].

## Before you start

Shopify counts a checkout as abandoned when a customer has entered an email address but has not finished paying, and the checkout stays incomplete for more than ten minutes after that [1]. The items in the cart are not saved after the checkout is abandoned [1].

Keep these limits in mind:

- Recovery works only for the **Online Store** and **Buy Button** sales channels. Checkouts from Shopify POS, Shop or third-party channels do not get recovery emails [1][2].
- Abandoned checkouts older than three months are deleted automatically, and you cannot delete a single one by hand. To keep one, create a draft order with the same details [1].
- Shopify's pages on this feature do not say which plans include it. For Shopify B2B, abandoned checkouts are off by default, and the store or organization owner must contact Shopify Support to turn them on [1].
- Recovery emails are now set up in the **Shopify Messaging** app. An older abandoned checkout email in **Settings** > **Checkout** keeps working until Shopify removes it. Switching to the new automation is permanent; you cannot go back to the legacy email [2].

## Steps

1. **Open the abandoned checkouts list.** From your Shopify admin, go to **Orders** > **Abandoned checkouts** [1]. Each row shows the customer, an **Email status** and a **Recovery status** [1]. Checkouts that Shopify Payments blocked as high risk appear in the **Blocked** view [1].

2. **Read why a payment failed.** Click a checkout, then open **Timeline** on its details page. Click a payment event to expand it and read the **Message** field. It tells you what to pass on to the customer, such as a declined card [1].

3. **Open the recovery automation.** Go to **Apps** > **Messaging** > **Automations** [1]. If you already have the **Abandoned checkout emails by Shopify** automation, click its actions menu (**...**) > **Edit settings** [1]. If you are setting it up for the first time, click **View templates**, select the **Abandoned checkout** template, and click **Turn on automation** > **Continue** [2]. Your earlier legacy settings carry over when you switch [2].

4. **Turn on automatic sending.** In the **Abandoned checkout emails** section, select **Send abandoned checkout emails automatically** [1].

5. **Choose who receives the email.** Under **Send to**, pick the recipients [1]. By default only customers subscribed to email marketing get the email; you can choose **All customers** to include everyone [2].
6. **Set the wait time.** Under **Send after**, choose how long Shopify waits before sending, then click **Save** [1]. The wait time and workflow run in Shopify Flow; you can change them from the automation with **Edit** and then **Turn on workflow** [2].

7. **Edit the email.** Click **Customize email**, or select the automation and click **Edit** > **Edit email** > **Continue** [1][2]. You can change the **To**, **Subject**, **Preview text** and **From** fields, and use the section editor to change text, logo and colors or add a discount [2]. Click **Save**.

8. **Send a recovery link by hand when needed.** Go to **Orders** > **Abandoned checkouts** and click the checkout's number. Click the customer's email address under the customer information, and your email program opens with the recovery link [1]. Send it only to that customer. Anyone with the link can continue the checkout, and you cannot turn a link off after you send it [1].

9. **Recreate checkouts you cannot recover by email.** If Shopify Payments blocked a payment as high risk and you know the customer, create a draft order and send them an invoice [1]. If a third-party gateway captured the payment but Shopify did not record it, recreate the order as a draft order, mark it as paid, then fulfill it [1].

10. **Find shoppers who abandoned a checkout.** To see these customers as a group, build a customer segment with the condition `abandoned_checkout_date IS NOT NULL` [3]. The guide to customer segments on this site walks through the segment editor.

## Check your work

- Open **Orders** > **Abandoned checkouts** a day after you turn the automation on and look at the **Email status** column. Hover over the tooltip on any email that was not delivered to see why [1].
- Go to **Automations** > **Marketing automation**, select the automation, then open **Workflow** > **View recent activity** and click a **Run ID** to see the result of each send [2].
- Open the **Abandoned checkouts emails report by Shopify** in the **Growth** section of your reports. It shows sessions, completed orders, conversion rate, sales, average order value and first-time customers [1].
- A checkout counts as recovered once the customer completes the order, whether through the link or on their own [2].

## Common problems

- **"Some abandoned checkouts never got an email."** Shopify does not send one when the customer bought before the send time, a payment processing error occurred, you do not ship to the customer's address, the customer entered a phone number instead of an email, no products are available, the order is free with no shipping fee, or Shopify Payments blocked the payment as high risk [1]. With the default settings, customers who are not subscribed to email marketing are also skipped, and no email goes out while a newer abandoned checkout's wait time has not passed [2].
- **"Checkouts from my POS or marketplace channel are missing."** Recovery covers only the **Online Store** and **Buy Button** channels [1].
- **"I see checkouts that look like bots."** Shopify filters most card testing and bot checkouts, but some can still appear in the list [1].
- **"A customer paid, but I only see an abandoned checkout."** With a third-party payment gateway, this can happen when the customer leaves before returning to the store, the return URL is wrong or the confirmation does not reach Shopify. Recreate the order as a draft order and mark it as paid [1].
- **"I want the old email back."** Once you turn on the new automation, you cannot return to the legacy abandoned checkout email [2].

## Further reading

- Abandoned checkouts, Shopify Help Center [1]
- Migrating to the new abandoned checkout automation, Shopify Help Center [2]

## Sources

1. [Abandoned checkouts](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/orders/abandoned-checkouts), Shopify Help Center, accessed 2026-10-08
2. [Migrating to the new abandoned checkout automation](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/promoting-marketing/create-marketing/migrate-abandoned-checkout), Shopify Help Center, accessed 2026-10-08
3. [Customer segment reference guide: components](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/customers/customer-segmentation/reference-guide/components), Shopify Help Center, accessed 2026-10-08

Source page: https://webmerchants.net/guides/recover-abandoned-checkouts