Cancellation reasons let you track why order quantities are lost. When someone cancels an order, removes a line, or reduces a quantity, they select a predefined reason. The reasons are then available on each order and can be used for reporting.
Setting up cancellation reasons
Before cancellation reasons can be used, you need to create at least one reason.
- Go to Settings → Cancellation reasons.
- Click Add new reason.
- Enter a Code (a short identifier, e.g.
OOS) and a Description (e.g. "Out of stock"). - Click Save.
[SCREENSHOT: The Cancellation reasons settings page showing the table with Code and Description columns and the Add new reason button]
To change an existing reason, click Edit on its row. To remove one, click Delete. A reason cannot be deleted if it has already been used on an order.
Tip: Creating cancellation reasons requires the Make changes to cancellation reasons permission. Viewing them requires Read cancellation reasons.
Configuring when reasons are required
By default, selecting a cancellation reason is optional. You can make it mandatory in Settings → Sales, where three related settings control the behaviour.
| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
| Require selecting a reason when cancelling an order | Users must pick a reason when cancelling an entire order. The cancel dialog will not submit without one. |
| Require selecting a reason when cancelling an order line | Users must pick a reason when deleting a line or reducing its quantity. The order cannot be saved until every affected line has a reason. |
| Default cancellation reason for underdeliveries | Automatically applied when an underdelivered shipment is approved without backorder. If this is set, no manual selection is needed for underdeliveries. |
[SCREENSHOT: The Sales settings page showing the three cancellation reason settings]
Cancelling an order with a reason
When you cancel an entire order, a single reason is applied to all lines in the order.
- Open the order you want to cancel.
- In the sidebar, click Cancel order.
- In the Reason for cancelling dropdown, select a cancellation reason.
- Choose what should happen to the items: Remove cancelled pieces from inventory or Lift allocations/reservations.
- Click Yes! to confirm.
[SCREENSHOT: The cancel order confirmation dialog with the Reason for cancelling dropdown open]
If Require selecting a reason when cancelling an order is enabled, the dialog will not submit until a reason is selected.
Cancelling individual order lines
When editing an order in request or approved status, you can assign a cancellation reason to individual lines that are deleted or have their quantity reduced.
- Open the order and make your changes — delete lines or reduce quantities.
- In the change panel at the bottom of the page, click Add cancellation reasons.
- In the modal, use Set reason for all lines to assign the same reason to every affected line, or pick a reason per line in the Reason column.
- Click Save reasons.
- Save the order.
[SCREENSHOT: The Add cancellation reasons modal showing a list of cancelled/reduced lines with per-line Reason dropdowns and a bulk-assign dropdown at the top]
The modal shows each affected line with its Cancelled qty — the number of pieces being removed. For a deleted line this is the full quantity; for a reduced line it is the difference.
If Require selecting a reason when cancelling an order line is enabled and you save without assigning reasons, the modal opens automatically and must be completed before the order can be saved.
Underdeliveries
When a shipment is underdelivered and you choose not to put the missing quantities into backorder, the shorted quantities are treated as cancelled. Cancellation reasons can be applied to these automatically or manually.
- If a Default cancellation reason for underdeliveries is configured in Settings → Sales, it is applied automatically — no extra step is needed.
- If no default is set and Require selecting a reason when cancelling an order line is enabled, a dialog appears asking you to select a Cancellation reason before confirming.
[SCREENSHOT: The Select cancellation reason dialog that appears when approving an underdelivered shipment without backorder]
Viewing cancelled lines
Once lines have been cancelled on an order, a Cancelled tab appears in the order's product table. The tab label includes the total cancelled quantity, e.g. Cancelled (12).
The table shows each cancelled line with:
- Qty — the number of pieces cancelled.
- Reason — the cancellation reason description and code, or "No reason" if none was assigned.
Each record also indicates the source of the cancellation: Manual (a user deleted the line or reduced quantity), Order cancelled (the entire order was cancelled), or Order archived.
[SCREENSHOT: The Cancelled tab on an order showing cancelled lines with quantities and reasons]
Cancelled lines on documents
Cancelled lines can be included on the order confirmation PDF. When enabled, a separate section appears below the product table listing each cancelled line with its quantity and reason (shown as "code - description").
This is controlled by the Show cancelled lines on order confirmation setting in your document settings.
Related articles
- [LINK: Managing orders — creating, editing, and tracking orders]
- [LINK: Shipments and fulfillment — packing, shipping, and handling underdeliveries]