Order Intake & Dispatch Windows
Intake windows control when your business accepts orders and when it commits to dispatching them. Use them if you batch-cook and dispatch at fixed times, have specific operating hours, or want to promise customers a realistic dispatch date.
Intake Modes
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Always Open | Accept orders 24/7. No dispatch windows apply. Use for businesses that fulfill on demand at any time. |
| Always Open — Dispatch Windows | Accept orders any time but map each order to its next dispatch window. Customers see the expected dispatch time. Use for batch-dispatch businesses (e.g. cloud kitchens, bakeries dispatching at fixed times). |
| Restricted Hours Only | Only accept orders when an intake window is currently open. Outside windows, customers cannot place orders. Use when your team genuinely cannot handle orders outside set hours. |
| Paused | Fully stop all order intake. Enter a reason shown to customers. Use for planned closures, inventory days, or seasonal shutdowns. |
Creating an Intake Window
- Go to Settings → OMS Settings → Intake Windows.
- Set the intake mode to Always Open — Dispatch Windows or Restricted Hours Only.
- Click Add Window.
- Choose the day of the week, the opening time, and the closing time. A window cannot span midnight.
- Set the dispatch mode — Batch or Rolling.
- Save. Repeat for each day and shift you operate.
Batch Dispatch
Orders placed inside a batch window all dispatch at the same fixed time on a set day offset.
- Dispatch time: the time-of-day when all orders in this window go out (e.g. 14:00).
- Dispatch day offset: how many days after the order date the dispatch happens. 0 = same day, 1 = next day, 2 = day after tomorrow. Maximum 30 days.
Example: a bakery has a window on Monday 06:00–12:00 with dispatch time 13:00 and offset 0. Any order placed between 06:00 and 12:00 on Monday is committed to dispatch by 13:00 that same Monday.
Rolling Dispatch
Each order placed inside a rolling window dispatches a fixed number of minutes after the order is placed.
- Processing minutes: how many minutes after order placement dispatch is promised. Must use dispatch day offset of 0.
Example: a food delivery kitchen has a window 11:00–22:00 with processing time 45 minutes. An order at 15:30 promises dispatch by 16:15.
Dispatch Lead Days
Lead days give customers a realistic dispatch date range when no specific dispatch window applies.
- Minimum dispatch lead days: the earliest an order can dispatch (e.g. 2 for next-day-plus orders).
- Maximum dispatch lead days: the latest. Together with minimum, this builds a customer-facing range label such as "ships in 3–5 business days."
- Skip weekends: when enabled, Saturday and Sunday are not counted as dispatch lead days. A lead of 2 business days starting on a Friday becomes Monday rather than Sunday.
Per-product lead day overrides are also available on the product form. A product's override takes precedence over the org-level setting when set.
Pausing Intake
Switch the intake mode to Paused and enter a reason. The reason is shown to customers on the web store checkout and in WhatsApp when they try to order. To resume, change the mode back to your normal setting.
The web store Setup page also has a quick toggle to pause intake without leaving that page.
Common Blockers
- Orders blocked outside expected hours: you are likely on Restricted Hours Only mode and there is no open window for that time. Switch to Always Open or add a window for the missing hours.
- Dispatch time showing wrong date: check the dispatch day offset. An offset of 0 means same-day dispatch; 1 means next day.
- Rolling dispatch exceeding window close time: if a customer orders at 21:50 in a window that closes at 22:00 with a 45-minute rolling time, the promised dispatch (22:35) falls outside the window. Socialone moves the dispatch promise to the next available window in this case.
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