F12 Labs
CartSync ProCartSync Pro documentation / Cart Helper
Cart history and restore
See every saved version of a customer's cart in Cart Helper, who saved it and when, and put an earlier version back. What CartSync Pro stores for each version, and for how long.
CartSync Pro keeps a history of each customer's saved cart. In Cart Helper you can see how the cart changed, who changed it, and put an earlier version back: after a mistake, or when a customer asks for the cart they had last week.
See a customer's cart history
- Open Cart Helper and select the customer.
- The Cart history card is on the right, under Current Cart and Draft order.
The card shows the three newest versions. Click Show all versions to scroll through the rest, and Load older versions at the bottom to go further back. If the customer has no versions yet, the card says so.
Each version shows:
| What it shows | |
|---|---|
| Who saved it | Saved by customer, Built by and a staff member's name (or Built by staff), or Ordered with the order number |
| What happened | Saved, Edited, Cleared, Restored earlier version or Cleared after order, and when |
| Current | On the newest version: the cart as it is now |
| Value and items | The cart's value and how many items it held, or Empty cart |
| Show items | Each product and variant with its quantity |
When a version is added
| Who | When |
|---|---|
| Your team | Every time someone saves in Cart Helper: Save Cart to (Saved), Save Changes (Edited), Clear Cart (Cleared) or Restore this version (Restored earlier version) |
| The customer | When their cart changes on your storefront. A shopping session is kept as one version: changes within 10 minutes of that version starting update it, and the time shown is the latest change. A save that doesn't change anything adds nothing |
| An order | When the customer places an order and their saved cart is emptied: Cleared after order, with the order number |
So the history reads like a timeline of shopping sessions and staff changes, not every tap of +. Your team's versions are always added, even when the contents didn't change, so you can see who did what.
Restore an earlier version
- In Cart history, find the version. Click Show items to check it.
- Click Restore this version.
- Confirm. Cart Helper asks whether to replace the customer's saved cart with the version from that date and time.
The saved cart becomes that version, and Current Cart shows it. A new version is added at the top, Restored earlier version, with your name. To undo, restore the version before it.
What happens next:
- Every line shows as Pending until the customer's next signed-in visit, when the cart in their browser is updated and they see the restore notice.
- Items that are out of stock or no longer published by then aren't added. The notice says how many couldn't be.
- Restoring an empty version works like Clear Cart: the browser cart is emptied on their next visit too.
Free gifts in a restored version
- A gift that's still active stays a gift.
- A gift that's been redeemed, declined or taken back is left out. Restoring doesn't give it again.
- An active gift that isn't in the version you restore is taken back, and is no longer free. Give it again from Cart Helper if the customer should keep it.
See Free gifts.
What's stored
The customer's current cart is in Shopify, on their customer record (the custom.custom_cart metafield). The history is in CartSync Pro's own database, on F12 Labs' servers.
For each version, CartSync Pro stores:
- The Shopify customer ID (not their name, email or address)
- Each variant ID and quantity, whether staff added it, and the free gift it belongs to, if any
- Who saved it: the customer, or the staff member's Shopify user ID and name
- What happened (saved, edited, cleared, restored, cleared after order), and the order ID and number for an order
- When it was saved and last updated
Product names, images and prices aren't stored. Cart Helper looks them up in Shopify when you open the history. Line item properties, cart notes and discount codes aren't saved in the cart at all, so they aren't in its history either.
The database also keeps what CartSync Pro needs for the home page's Insights and for gifts: which items were put back on another device, orders that included them, free gifts, and draft orders created in Cart Helper.
How long it's kept
There's no time limit. Versions are kept until:
- You erase a customer's personal data in Shopify. Shopify tells CartSync Pro, and that customer's cart history is deleted.
- You uninstall CartSync Pro. 48 hours after an uninstall, Shopify asks the app to erase the store's data, and all cart history is deleted.
The custom.custom_cart metafield isn't removed when you uninstall. It stays on each customer record in Shopify until you delete it there.
Customers don't see the history. It's only shown to your staff in Cart Helper. For a customer's data request, or to have history deleted, email support@ftwelvelabs.com.
Troubleshooting
There's no history for a customer whose cart I can see. Versions start from the first save after the cart history was added to CartSync Pro. A cart saved earlier shows in Current Cart with no versions until it changes.
Two of the customer's changes are in one version. They were made within 10 minutes of each other, in the same shopping session.
The value looks wrong. It uses today's prices, and counts free gifts at full price. See the note in See a customer's cart history.
I restored a version but the customer still has an item that wasn't in it. It was still in the cart on one of their devices, and opening a page there saved it back, so it's in the saved cart again. Remove it in Current Cart. If it keeps coming back, ask the customer to remove it from their cart on that device.