Proofs and approval
A proof is a mockup you send the customer before production. StitchPress records each round on the order, sends the customer a link that needs no login, records their decision with a time and IP address, and holds the order out of production until a round is approved.
When a proof is needed
- The customer asks for one. The designer has a checkbox, Email me a proof before production. The cart and the order show "Proof requested".
- You decide to send one. You can send a proof on any order. The Proof approval box says "No proof has been requested on this order. You can still send one below."
Only an order with a requested proof is held by the gate below. A proof you send on your own initiative is recorded the same way but does not hold the order.
The production gate
When an order that needs a proof reaches Processing, On hold or Completed, StitchPress moves it to Awaiting proof approval and adds an order note. Watching all three statuses means orders that arrive as On hold (bank transfer) or go straight to Completed are held too.
The order stays there until a proof round is approved. Then it moves to Processing with the note "Proof approved, released for production" and shows up as ready to produce.
Orders in Awaiting proof approval:
- count as paid in WooCommerce;
- appear in StitchPress > Production queue, so you can see what is waiting;
- print with a "PROOF REQUESTED" banner on the Job Jacket until the approval is on file.
If you deactivate StitchPress, orders in this status move to On hold with a note saying the proof was not approved.
Send a proof round
Open the order (WooCommerce > Orders) and find the Proof approval box.
- Under Upload proof round N, choose the mockup: JPG, PNG or PDF, up to 20 MB. Click Upload proof. The round is recorded with an order note; nothing is sent yet.
- Under Send round N to the customer, type an optional Covering note. It appears in the email.
- Click Send to customer. The proof email goes to the order's billing email address.
The box also shows the Approval link (valid for this round only). Copy it if the order has no billing email, if email fails, or if you would rather send it yourself.
The rounds table lists each round's Mockup, Uploaded and Sent dates and the Decision: not sent, awaiting customer, approved or changes requested.
What the customer sees
The email. The subject names your shop and says the proof for their order is ready to approve. The body has your covering note, a short summary of what you will produce, a View and approve your proof button, and the link written out in case the button does not work. It asks them not to forward the link.
The proof page. The link opens a page on your site titled "Please approve your proof". It shows:
- the order number, the order date and the round number;
- "What you placed": their design as they placed it, drawn from the order;
- "What we'll run": your mockup, which is the one they are approving (a PDF proof gets a download link);
- "What we will produce": the placements, sizes, colors and text from the order;
- the proof history, if there were earlier rounds;
- Approve this proof, with the warning that approving releases the order to production and that changes are no longer possible afterwards;
- Need something changed? with a comment box and a Request changes button. A comment is required.
The page shows no address, email or order total. Treat its content as what a forwarded link could reveal.
After deciding, the customer sees a thank-you page and gets a confirmation email.
Other places. While a proof is outstanding, the order received page and WooCommerce's customer order emails show a "Production protection" block with four steps: order placed, we prepare your proof, you approve it or ask for changes, production begins. In My Account, the order page shows the proof's state, and the orders list gets an Approve proof button when a round is waiting.
What happens after a decision
Approved. The round is marked approved with the time and the customer's IP address, an order note is added, and the order moves from Awaiting proof approval to Processing. An email goes to the shop (the site's admin email address).
Changes requested. The comment is written into an order note, the shop gets an email with the comment, and the order stays in Awaiting proof approval. Upload a new round to continue.
Rounds
Only the latest round counts. Uploading a new round:
- makes the previous round's link stop working;
- if the order was already approved, cancels that approval. An order with a requested proof that is in Processing, On hold or Completed goes back to Awaiting proof approval, because the customer approved the artwork they were shown, not the new one.
Link expiry and validity
Each link is signed for one order and one round. It stops working when:
- a decision has been recorded on that round;
- a newer round is uploaded;
- the order is canceled, refunded or failed;
- 60 days have passed since the round was uploaded.
Sending a round again does not extend the 60 days, because the clock starts at upload. To give the customer a live link after expiry, upload a new round and send it. A customer who opens an expired link sees "This proof link has expired" and is asked to contact you; nothing has been decided on the order.
One IP address can submit at most 10 decisions per hour. Behind a proxy or CDN, see Rate limit messages.
Approvals received another way
If the customer approved by phone or email:
- In the Proof approval box, find Record an approval received elsewhere.
- Fill in How was the approval received? (required), for example "Approved by Dana on the phone, 2:15pm".
- Click the Mark approved button.
The approval is recorded against your user account and written into the order notes, and the order is released to Processing. No confirmation email goes to the customer for an approval you record.
To release an order without any approval, use Cancel the proof hold: fill in Why? (recorded on the order) and click Cancel hold and return to Processing. The order note says the job was released without an approval.
The proof notices (proof ready, proof approved, changes requested, and the shop's own copies) are WooCommerce emails under WooCommerce > Settings > Emails, each with an enable switch, recipient, subject and heading; see Emails.