Overview
The Hold Order automation action pauses order fulfillment by setting the sales order (and all of its associated fulfillment orders) to On Hold status. It stores a target release date internally so that the system knows when the hold is meant to end.
Hold types available
When building an automation rule with the Hold Order action, you can choose from three hold types:
| Hold type | How it works |
|---|---|
| Duration ("N days") | Calculates a release date that is N days from the moment the automation fires |
| Specific date | Holds the order until a fixed calendar date you supply |
| Indefinite (manual) | Holds the order with no expiry date — it stays on hold until a user manually releases it |
The most common use is the Duration type, which is the "put on hold for N days" pattern.
Does the hold auto-release when the period expires?
No — the hold does not lift automatically when the N days are up.
What the system does during the hold period:
- It actively blocks status recalculation and prevents any source sync (Shopify, TrackStar, etc.) from advancing the order out of On Hold while the hold date is still in the future.
- This protection applies even to forced refresh operations, so the hold cannot be accidentally bypassed by a background job.
What happens after the hold date passes:
- The block is removed. The next time the order is refreshed or synced (triggered by a source platform update, a shipment event, or a manual refresh), the system recalculates the order's correct status from its fulfillment data.
- The resulting status depends on the order's fulfillment state at that point — typically Awaiting Shipment or Pending if fulfillment orders have not yet shipped.
- Once the status changes out of On Hold, Luminous automatically re-triggers fulfillment order generation for the order (if it has been posted and is not in a terminal state like Cancelled or Shipped).
In practice: if no sync event occurs soon after the hold date passes, the order may stay visually "On Hold" in the grid until the next refresh cycle. You can use the Refresh Order action on the order to pull the latest status immediately.
What status does the order move to after the hold?
There is no single fixed status that the order moves to — it transitions to whatever status the system calculates from actual shipment and fulfillment data:
- Awaiting Shipment — the order is posted and has unfulfilled lines ready to ship
- Pending — the order is not yet fully posted or has no shipment activity
- Partially Shipped / Shipped — if shipments were recorded during or before the hold
The fulfillment order auto-generation process also re-runs at this point, so warehouse fulfillment orders can be created or updated as needed.
Can a user manually release or override the hold early?
Yes. Any user with access to the Sales Order Grid can release an On Hold order at any time before the hold date expires.
Steps to release a hold manually:
- Go to Operations → Sales Order Grid (or the Orders grid).
- Find the order with On Hold status.
- Click the actions menu (⋮ or dropdown) on that order row.
- Select Set to Pending.
This immediately changes the order status to Pending, bypassing the hold date entirely. The hold is fully released — the system will not re-apply it automatically.
Note: The Hold Order action in the same menu is hidden while an order is already On Hold. Only Set to Pending appears, preventing double-hold confusion.
After you set the order to Pending, Luminous automatically re-triggers fulfillment order creation (for posted orders), so the order re-enters the normal fulfillment flow right away.
Holds on orders that are already shipped or cancelled
If an automation tries to apply a Hold Order action to an order that is already Shipped or Cancelled, the system skips the hold and leaves the order in its current status. No error is shown — the action is silently bypassed for terminal-state orders.