Articles on: Troubleshooting

Shopify Flow isn't firing

A workflow is switched on and nothing happens. Flow rarely reports why — a trigger that cannot fire simply stays quiet. Work through these six checks in order.

Check 1 — Is the feature turned on?

This explains most silent failures.

Every Account Editor trigger depends on a feature. Product removed cannot fire if customers are not allowed to remove items. The workflow is fine; there is nothing to react to.

Find which feature the trigger depends on.
Open Features in Account Editor and check it is On, not Off or Not live yet.

Not live yet matters too. A feature with no app block means customers never make the change, so the trigger never fires.

Check 2 — Did the customer actually do it?

Place a test order and make the change yourself, on the customer's order page.

Flow's own test run does not exercise Account Editor's side. It confirms your conditions and actions work; it does not prove the trigger fires. Only a real change does that.

Check 3 — Is the action running too late?

If a workflow is meant to stop an edit but customers still edit, timing is the cause.

Actions apply from the moment they run. If the workflow runs on an Account Editor trigger, the customer has already made the change.

Move the action to run at order creation instead.

Check 4 — Are your conditions too narrow?

Open the workflow's run history in Flow. If it shows runs that stopped at a condition, the trigger is firing and your condition is filtering it out.

Remove conditions one at a time until it completes.

Check 5 — Is another workflow interfering?

Two workflows acting on the same order will eventually collide — one restricting, another releasing.

List every workflow using Account Editor triggers or actions and check none of them contradicts this one.

Check 6 — Is Flow in your plan?

Account Editor's triggers and actions are plan-based. If they do not appear in Flow's list at all, check Pricing.

If they used to appear and no longer do, reinstall Shopify Flow so it re-reads what the app offers.

Special cases

A hold will not release

Shopify allows one hold per order. If another Account Editor feature still needs the order held — an editing window, an address check, a cancellation review — Release Order Holds will not free it.

Clear the other reason first.

The workflow runs constantly

Order updated fires on updates generally. With no conditions, it runs every time anything touches the order.

Add conditions, or switch to a specific trigger like Product added.

It runs twice on the same order

Flow has no memory between runs. Tag the order when the workflow runs, and check for that tag before doing anything.

Still stuck?

Have this ready for support:

The workflow name and its trigger
Which Account Editor feature it depends on, and whether that is On
What the run history in Flow shows
Whether a real test order reproduced it

Use Chat with us in the app's Help menu.

Good to know

Silent failure is the normal failure. Flow does not warn you that a trigger cannot fire. If a feature is off, the workflow simply waits forever.

Triggers react, actions prevent. Triggers fire after the change. Actions apply going forward. Mixing them up causes most timing problems.

Actions apply to one order. They never change your store's behaviour.

FAQ

Why does my workflow never run?

Nearly always the Account Editor feature behind the trigger is turned off, or its app block was never added. Customers cannot make the change, so nothing fires.

It works in Flow's test but not on real orders. Why?

Flow's test simulates the trigger. It does not exercise Account Editor's half. Test with a real order and make the change yourself.

Can Flow stop an edit that already happened?

No. Actions only prevent future changes. To catch edits before dispatch, hold orders during the editing window.

Why do I get so many notifications?

Order updated with no conditions. Add conditions, or use a specific trigger.

The action ran but customers can still edit. Why?

It ran after they had already edited. Move it to order creation so the restriction is in place first.

Updated on: 21/08/2026

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