All plugin settings are done in WooCommerce / Settings under the Mailstep tab. If you haven’t installed the plugin yet, you want to start reading from the Installing the plugin article.
Basic settings
Below, we’ll go through the individual plugin settings that you need to adjust before you can use it. Other parameters that are not required can be found in a separate help section below.
1. Connecting with Mailstep
First, we will prepare a user for testing and a password that we got when onboarding Mailstep. Enter them in the Username and Password fields.
If you did not get custom URLs for each endpoint during onboarding, leave them as they are(Live endpoint URL: https://app.mailship.eu/mailstage, Test endpoint URL: https://staging.mailship.com/mailstage).
If the entered data is correct, the edges of all fields will turn green after a short validation. However, if any of the edges are red, it may mean the following:
- red username and password – wrong username and password (or wrong endpoint added to it, but unless you are using an old endpoint, the default settings should work)
- red Testing endpoint URL – username and password works on a live site, you do not have a testing endpoint enabled with Mailstep
- red Live endpoint URL – username and password works on the test site, but no live endpoint is enabled
For starters, I recommend Enable logging of all requests to Mailstep in case you need to deal with them, so you know what’s going on in your shop. Once you have tested it, you can disable logging. Requests with errors that are not successfully added to Mailstep will be logged anyway.
Test mode – use if you have been given access to the Mailstep test interface. If you don’t have one, test for a harsh environment with an order you can safely recognize – e.g. sender Test etc.
If you sell in EUR as well, you need to contact Mailstep to have them enable EUR on their side (due to conversion when insuring the package), nothing needs to be changed in the plugin.
2. Pairing transport and delivery classes in Mailstep
In this section, you need to pair each transport method you have in WooCommerce (linked to each transport zone) with the transports you use in Mailstep.
For example. If you are sending goods by courier, you want to find an appropriate carrier such as PPL, Geis, InTime, DPD, GLS, DHL Connect, DHL Express and Liftago.
You’ll need to update this section whenever you add a new shipping method – if you accidentally forget to do this, the submission to Mailstep will fail, but you’ll be able to resubmit the order manually once corrected.
3. Order statuses
Now all you have to do is choose when your order will be shipped to Mailstep. The Send to Mailstep option only applies to orders that are not paid by cash on delivery – these are sent to Mailstep immediately.
Here, you want to select the order status that the order will go to after payment.
It depends on your workflow – most often it will be a status of In process. However, if you are using it for example to send an email for pick up or otherwise, the plugin adds a new Mailstep – Paid option, which is not linked to any email sending to the customer.
In Cancel Order, you can set when to cancel the cancelled order in Mailstep so you don’t have to do it in two places. The default option is the basic order status Cancelled, so
4. Integration activation and test
When you have all the basic settings ready, go all the way back to the top of the settings and enable integration by checking Enable integration.
From this point on, all orders are sent to Mailstep where they are paired using the Catalog Number (SKU) of the product in WooCommerce with the product stored in Mailstep with the same value in the Internal SKU.
If the product is not found according to the Catalog Number – Internal SKU combination, an order error will occur.
I recommend trying out the whole order process to make sure everything works properly. If you need help with the setup, you can contact Mailstep or me.
Warehouse synchronisation
There is a separate article dedicated to warehouse synchronization, but in short – we can do it, just read it carefully.
Other settings
In addition to the settings mentioned above, the plugin offers several other options.
Custom order statuses
If you have a large e-shop, it’s quite possible that you use some additional WooCommerce builds that your programmer has prepared for you or that you have added using a plugin.
If you want to use your own status in Mailstep order acceptance ( New Order status), you can select it in the Mailstep status option “New Order”.
If you want to use a custom status when the shipment is in transit (i.e. Mailstep – Handed over to carrier or Mailstep – For collection in case of personal collection), you can use the Mailstep status option “In transit”.
If you want to pair your actions to other order states , your programmer can do so in the standard way as if they were editing the default states. If you don’t have a programmer, I’ll be happy to help you – you can contact me here.
Hooks and filters for developers
If you need to change the plugin’s behavior in a way not described here, have your programmer read the section with ready-made hooks and filters for further plugin extensions.