Proof statuses explained
Every Proofed order and artwork status (Pending Design, Awaiting Approval, Revision Requested, Approved, Archived) and exactly how they change.
Proofed tracks status at two levels: each artwork (an individual design on a line item) has its own status, and the order status is derived automatically from its artworks. Understanding this makes the dashboard, tags, and emails completely predictable.
Order statuses#
| Status | Shopify tag (default) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Pending Design | Proof: Pending | No proofs have been sent yet: you're still designing. |
| Awaiting Approval | Proof: Sent | Proofs are with the customer, waiting for their decision. |
| Revision Requested | Proof: Revision | At least one artwork needs changes: the customer left feedback. |
| Approved | Proof: Approved | Every artwork is approved. Ready for production. |
| Archived | Proof: Archived | You manually archived the order to clear it from the active workflow. |
All five tags are renameable in Settings; see Shopify Integration.
Artwork statuses#
Each artwork is one of:
- Pending: no decision yet (also the state after you upload a new version)
- Approved: the customer approved this artwork
- Revision Requested: the customer asked for changes
How the order status is derived#
You never set the order status directly (except Archive). Proofed recalculates it whenever anything changes, using these rules in order:
- Archived? Stays archived: it's a manual override.
- Any artwork with a revision request? The order becomes Revision Requested.
- All artworks approved? The order becomes Approved.
- Proofs sent, still waiting? The order becomes Awaiting Approval.
- Otherwise, the order is Pending Design.
A few practical consequences:
- One revision request among ten approved artworks makes the whole order Revision Requested, so nothing slips into production half-approved.
- Uploading a new proof version resets that artwork to Pending, and resending moves the order back to Awaiting Approval. The revision loop can repeat as many times as needed.
- An order only ever reaches Approved when every artwork is signed off.
The dashboard shows live counts per status, and each status maps to its own colour-coded tag on the Shopify order, so your team can triage from either side.
Version history#
Every artwork keeps its complete proof history. Each upload increments the version number (v1, v2, v3, and so on), and comments stay attached to the version they were made on, so you always know which feedback applied to which round.
Archiving#
Archive an order from its detail page when you want it out of the active list without it being approved: cancelled orders, test orders, or jobs handled outside Proofed. Archived orders are hidden from the dashboard by default; toggle Show archived to see them.
Related guides#
- How Proofed Works: the animated lifecycle
- Dashboard, Kanban & Archiving: filtering and managing orders by status
- Shopify Integration: customising the status tags
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