Import all orders from history

If you installed Fileflare after your store had been running, your existing customers’ orders aren’t in Fileflare’s database — meaning past customers can’t access downloads from their order pages or accounts. Importing past orders pulls every order from Shopify into Fileflare so historical buyers retain access to their files.

When you’d use this

• You just installed Fileflare on an existing store and want past customers to get download access.
• You migrated from another digital-downloads app and want to bulk-deliver via Fileflare to old customers.
• You want to use the bulk send tool on past orders.

How to import

1. Open Fileflare → Orders (or Settings → look for Import all previous orders).
2. Click Import all orders.
3. Wait. The import runs in the background; you don’t have to keep the app open. For larger stores, it can take a while.

Once complete, all imported orders appear in Fileflare and customers can access downloads from those orders’ surfaces (customer account, thank-you page, or via a manual email send from the order page).

Import a single missing order

You don’t need the full import to fix one order. If a Shopify order isn’t in Fileflare — the usual cause is a dropped orders/create webhook — open it in Shopify and choose More actions » View digital order. Following that link imports that one order, generates its download links, sends the customer their download email, and drops you on the order in Fileflare.

Two things worth knowing:

• Orders older than 12 hours import and get their links, but no email is sent. That’s deliberate — nobody wants a surprise delivery email about a month-old order. Click Resend email on the order if the customer needs one.
• If Shopify doesn’t have the order either, you’ll land on Fileflare’s Orders list. That’s the genuine “no such order” case rather than a sync gap.

This is the first thing to try when a customer says their downloads are missing, and it’s faster than a store-wide import.

Limits

• Default cap: 500,000 orders. Most stores fit comfortably.
• Above 500k: contact us for a custom plan. There’s a price increase for handling stores at that scale, but we can do it.
• Order age: no age limit — Shopify orders from years ago import fine.

What happens to imported orders

• Fileflare links each order to its products. If a product has assets attached now, the imported order gets access to those assets retroactively.
• Imported orders keep their original order date. Fileflare records the date Shopify processed the order, so an order that was migrated into Shopify from another platform carries the date the customer actually bought it rather than the date it landed in Shopify. Your Fileflare Orders list sorts the way you’d expect, and the {{orderDate}} PDF stamp variable prints the real purchase date.
• Imported orders don’t auto-trigger download emails. To send emails, use the bulk-send tool or manually resend per order.
• Limits and expiration apply to imported orders the same way they do to new orders. Because a store-wide expiry window counts from the order date, historical orders can land outside that window — see the note below.

Give old orders access when you use an expiry window

If you’ve set a store-wide expire downloads after N days rule, it’s measured from each order’s own date, so an order from two years ago is already past a 30-day window and its links won’t open. You have two options:

1. Set a per-order expiration on the historical orders you want to keep available, which overrides the store-wide rule for that order.
2. Leave the store-wide window off and rely on download limits or IP restrictions instead.

Common issues

• Import seems stuck — large stores can take hours. Check back later. If it’s been more than 24 hours and no progress, let us know.
• An order is missing after import — confirm the order exists in Shopify and is in Paid status. Pending or cancelled orders may not import. For a one-off miss, open the order in Shopify and use More actions » View digital order to pull it in directly (see above).
• Imported orders don’t have download links visible to customers — make sure you’ve also enabled customer-account downloads (or the thank-you page surface) — without those, customers won’t see the imported orders’ downloads. See customer account downloads.
• Imported links say the order has expired — a store-wide expiry window is counting from the original order date. Set a per-order expiration on the orders you want to reopen (see above).
• I have multiple Shopify stores — each store needs its own Fileflare account/import. Data doesn’t transfer between accounts (Shopify’s per-store API model). See transfer data between accounts.

Keep learning

• The digital order page
• Bulk-send download emails to imported orders
• Migrate from another digital-downloads app
• Download limits, IP restrictions, and expiration
• Customer account downloads