This doc requires PreProduct to be installed on your Shopify store. Sidekick is built into the Shopify admin, so there is nothing else to install.
Everything Sidekick can do with PreProduct #
Sidekick is Shopify’s AI assistant, built into your Shopify admin. With PreProduct installed, you can ask Sidekick about your pre-orders in plain English, get answers from PreProduct’s help docs, and have it open the right PreProduct screen with the task already filled in.
Sidekick can look things up for you, but it never makes changes on its own. Nothing is saved, charged or sent until you review it and confirm in PreProduct.
You don’t need to name any of these. Sidekick picks the right one from what you ask.
Look-ups (read only) #
These only read information. They never change anything in your store or in PreProduct.
| Tool | What it does | Example question |
|---|---|---|
| Search PreProduct help | Searches PreProduct’s docs, videos and website, and links the pages it used | “How do deposits work?” “Why isn’t my pre-order button showing?” |
| Is on pre-order | Checks whether a product, or specific variants, are on pre-order | “Is the blue hoodie on pre-order?” |
| Get pre-order listing | One product’s listing: payment mode, deposit, discount, shipping estimate, ship date, customer limit and units pre-ordered | “What are the pre-order settings for X?” |
| Search pre-order listings | Lists your listings, filtered by product name, active or finished, and payment mode | “What’s on pre-order?” “Which pre-orders take deposits?” |
| Get pre-orders | Customer pre-orders for a listing, product or order, with their payment status | “Who pre-ordered X?” “Which pre-orders haven’t paid?” “What’s pre-ordered on order #1001?” |
| Get listing automation | Which listing manager is on, whether the location-aware one can be turned on, and your templates and their tags | “Is pre-order automation set up?” |
Actions (you review and confirm) #
These open a PreProduct screen with the details filled in. You review everything and confirm in PreProduct before anything is saved, charged or sent.
| Action | What it does | Example request |
|---|---|---|
| Create pre-order listing | Opens listing setup with the product, payment mode, deposit, early bird discount, shipping estimate, customer limit and variants filled in | “Put the cycling gloves on pre-order with a 20% deposit” |
| Manage pre-order listing | Opens an existing listing to change the deposit, discount, shipping estimate, limit or variants; charge its customers; send update or upsell emails; or finish the listing | “Change the shipping estimate to 6 weeks” “Charge everyone who pre-ordered X” |
| Edit customer email template | Opens a PreProduct customer email (confirmation, payment link, upcoming or failed charge, update, upsell) with the new subject or message filled in, optionally per language | “Make the pre-order confirmation email friendlier” |
| Automate pre-order listings | Guides you through the whole setup: activates the right automation (the location-aware listing manager), helps you create a Listing Template with the tag condition and listing preferences that suit how you want these pre-orders to work, then tags your products so they go on pre-order when they sell out. | “Automatically put products on pre-order when they sell out” |
Example use-cases #
Ask anything about PreProduct #
Open Sidekick from anywhere in your Shopify admin and ask a question about PreProduct. Sidekick searches PreProduct’s help docs, how-to videos and website, then answers in its own words and links the exact doc pages it used, so you can read further.
In the video, the question is “Can I offer a pay-early option for my deferred charge pre-orders?”. Sidekick checks PreProduct’s capabilities, explains that there’s an optional “pay early” option you can add to a listing (and a separate pay-early feature in the customer portal), and links through to the Offering a pre-order ‘pay early’ option doc.
Other questions that work well:
- “How do deposits work?”
- “Why isn’t my pre-order button showing?”
- “Can I split pre-order items into a separate order?”
Find unpaid pre-orders and charge them #
If you take deferred charge or deposit pre-orders, Sidekick can tell you who still owes money and get you straight to the charge screen.
- Ask something like “Which products are currently on pre-order and have uncharged pre-orders?”. Sidekick looks up your live PreProduct listings and their customer pre-orders, then lists the listings with unpaid pre-orders and how many units each covers.
- Tell it which ones to charge, for example “OK, let’s charge the rucksack pre-orders”.
- Sidekick opens that listing’s pre-orders in PreProduct, filtered to Not paid, with those customers already selected.
- Choose the charge option from Actions, review the amounts, then confirm. No charges are made until you do.
Automate pre-order listings #
Ask Sidekick to put products on pre-order automatically when they sell out, and it walks you through the whole setup.
- Ask something like “I want the cycling gloves to go on pre-order once they’re out of stock”. Sidekick checks the product and your current automation setup.
- If the automatic listing manager is off, Sidekick opens PreProduct’s Automations page with the Location-aware listing manager highlighted. Click Activate, then tell Sidekick it’s done.
- Sidekick confirms the listing manager is active and explains how to create a dedicated rule for the product: go to Listing Templates, add a template with the condition tags includes a tag it suggests (for example
preorder-cycling-gloves), click Create template, then Set listing preferences to choose the payment terms and shipping estimate. - Once you tell Sidekick the template is saved, it checks the template and adds the tag to the product for you.
From then on, the product is connected to the automatic rule. When a tagged product runs out of stock, it goes on pre-order within about a minute, and comes off pre-order when stock returns.
Good to know #
- Where to find it: Sidekick is available in your Shopify admin. Open it from the admin and ask your question; it works from any page.
- You stay in control: actions never change anything without you confirming in PreProduct. Sidekick opens the screen and fills it in, and you decide whether to save, charge or send.
- Automation needs the location-aware listing manager: the automation flow uses the location-aware listing manager. If a plan or permission requirement applies to your store, Sidekick will explain it.
