Email Notifications
WP admin: WP Admin → POS → Settings → Checkout.
WooCommerce sends emails about orders: a New order email to you, a Completed order email to the customer, and so on. For sales made in the POS, you choose here which of those emails go out and who gets them. Your online orders keep your normal WooCommerce email settings.
Go straight to: Admin emails · Customer emails · Send a receipt manually · Cashier emails · Common scenarios · If something goes wrong
Turn emails on or off
These switches override Enable this email notification in WooCommerce > Settings > Emails for POS orders. An email switched off in WooCommerce can still be sent if it is ticked here.
- In WP Admin, go to POS > Settings > Checkout.
- Find the three email switches under Prevent overselling: Admin emails, Customer emails and Cashier emails. The Gateways list is below them.
- Turn a switch on, and a checkbox appears for each email in that group. Untick an email to stop just that one.
- Turn a switch off, and no email in that group goes out for POS sales, whatever the checkboxes say.
Each change saves as you make it: the screen shows Saving, then Saved.
Who each switch emails, and how it starts when you install:
- Admin emails: on when you install
To the addresses in Recipient(s) for that email, in WooCommerce > Settings > Emails - Customer emails: on when you install
To the order's billing email - Cashier emails: off when you install
To the email address on the cashier's WordPress account
What one sale paid at the till sends, when its payment method's Order Status is Completed:
- Store — the Recipient(s) of New order in WooCommerce, if Admin emails is on and New order is ticked.
- Cashier — the cashier's own address, if Cashier emails is on and New order is ticked.
- Customer — the order's billing email, if Customer emails is on, Completed order is ticked and the order has a billing email.
Admin emails
These go to you, the store. Every email is ticked when you install.
To change who receives an admin email, go to WooCommerce > Settings > Emails, open that email's settings and edit Recipient(s).
| Sent when | |
|---|---|
| New order | A POS order moves to Completed, Processing or On hold |
| Cancelled order | A Processing or On hold order is cancelled |
| Failed order | A Pending payment or On hold order fails |
When a POS order moves from POS - Open or POS - Partial Payment to Completed, Processing or On hold, New order is sent if it is ticked under Admin emails or Cashier emails and that switch is on, even if New order is switched off in WooCommerce. The status each sale moves to is the Order Status you set for its payment method: see Order Status.
Why WCPOS sends New order for POS sales itself
WooCommerce sends New order only when an order leaves Pending payment, Failed or Cancelled. A POS order waits in POS - Open or POS - Partial Payment instead, statuses WooCommerce doesn't know, so WooCommerce would not send it when the order moves on. WCPOS sends it in WooCommerce's place, at the moments above.
Customer emails
These go to the order's billing email. An order with no billing email, such as a guest sale where you didn't enter one, gets no customer email. Every email is ticked when you install.
Send a receipt manually
Email Receipt on the paid screen is separate. It sends WooCommerce's invoice email, which these switches don't control, so it works with Customer emails off. See Email the receipt.
Emails sent automatically
| Sent when | |
|---|---|
| Order on hold | An order moves to On hold from Pending payment, Failed or Cancelled |
| Processing order | An order moves to Processing from Pending payment, On hold, Failed or Cancelled |
| Completed order | An order moves to Completed |
| Refunded order | An order is refunded, in full or in part. See Refunds |
| Failed order | An order fails |
A sale that moves straight from POS - Open to Processing or On hold, such as a cash sale, doesn't send Order on hold or Processing order: WooCommerce sends those only from the statuses listed. Completed order, Refunded order and Failed order don't depend on the earlier status, so they go out for POS sales. To give the customer an email for a sale that ends in Processing or On hold, use Email Receipt.
Cashier emails
This sends the New order email to the cashier who made the sale, at the email address on their WordPress account. The switch is off when you install; turn it on and New order is ticked.
The cashier gets the email at the same moments the admin does (see Admin emails). Admin emails and Cashier emails work on their own: turning one off doesn't change the other. If the cashier's address is already among the admin recipients, for example an owner who is both, they get one copy, not two.
Which WordPress users can sign in to the POS as cashiers is set in Cashier Access.
Common scenarios
Stop the inbox getting flooded on busy days
Untick New order under Admin emails. Keep Cancelled order and Failed order ticked: those are the ones you want to hear about.
To follow takings, use Reports rather than counting New order emails.
Send New order emails to the cashier on duty, not the admin
Untick New order under Admin emails, or turn Admin emails off, and turn Cashier emails on. The cashier who makes each sale gets the email at their own address, and the admin inbox stays quiet.
Turning Admin emails off also stops Cancelled order and Failed order, so unticking New order alone is usually the better choice.
No customer emails for in-store sales
Market stalls and cafes often don't want to email a customer who already has a printed receipt. Turn Customer emails off, and no Processing, Completed, Refunded or other customer email goes out for POS sales.
Your online orders still send their customer emails as normal. A customer who asks for a receipt by email can still get one: press Email Receipt on the paid screen.
I upgraded from before 1.8.9 and the single 'Enable emails' switch is gone
Version 1.8.9 replaced the single on/off switch with the three groups on this page. WCPOS reads your old setting: if emails were off, Admin emails and Customer emails are off; if they were on, both are on with every email ticked. Cashier emails starts off either way.
You don't need to do anything.
If something goes wrong
The admin gets no New order email. Check that Admin emails is on and New order is ticked. Then check Recipient(s) for New order in WooCommerce > Settings > Emails.
A customer gets no email. Check that Customer emails is on and that email is ticked. Then open the order and check it has a billing email. To send a receipt now, use Email Receipt.
The cashier gets no email. Check that Cashier emails is on and New order is ticked, and that the cashier's WordPress account has an email address. If that address is also an admin recipient, they get only one copy.
An email you switched off in WooCommerce still arrives for POS sales. For POS orders the checkboxes here decide. Untick the email here as well.
Developer hooks
For a developer who needs control beyond these switches. Store owners can skip this.
Four WordPress filters, and how New order recipients are set
Before WCPOS 2.0 these filters were named woocommerce_pos_* (for example woocommerce_pos_admin_emails). Those names still work but are deprecated since 2.0 and are removed in 2.2 at the earliest. See Hook naming.
wcpos_admin_emails: the admin email IDs WCPOS controls. Default: cancelled_order, failed_order.
wcpos_customer_emails: the customer email IDs WCPOS controls. Default: customer_failed_order, customer_on_hold_order, customer_processing_order, customer_completed_order, customer_refunded_order.
wcpos_admin_email_enabled: whether one admin email is sent for one POS order. Arguments: $is_enabled, $email_id, $order, $email.
wcpos_customer_email_enabled: whether one customer email is sent for one POS order. Same arguments.
New order is not in wcpos_admin_emails. WCPOS sets its recipients through WooCommerce's woocommerce_email_recipient_new_order filter: it clears the store recipients when the admin doesn't want it, and adds the cashier's address when the cashier does. The cashier is the WordPress user saved in the order's _pos_user meta. Your own callback on that filter can add or remove addresses the same way as for any WooCommerce email.