Articles on: Invoices

How to track and manage bulk actions

Every time you start a bulk action in Invoice Falcon — whether it is printing, downloading, or emailing invoices for multiple orders — the job runs in the background and appears on the Bulk Actions page. This page is your central dashboard for tracking the status of bulk actions, monitoring progress as invoices are generated, downloading completed files, cancelling actions that are still in progress, and reviewing which orders succeeded or failed. You can navigate to the Bulk Actions page at any time by clicking Bulk actions in the Invoice Falcon sidebar menu.

Navigating to the Bulk Actions Page

The Bulk Actions page is accessible from the main navigation sidebar in Invoice Falcon.

Open Invoice Falcon from your Shopify Admin.
In the sidebar navigation on the left, click Bulk actions. The sidebar menu lists the following pages in order: Orders, Templates, Bulk actions, Plans, and Settings.
The Bulk Actions page will load and display a table of all your recent bulk actions, with the most recent actions at the top.

Tip: When you first visit the Bulk Actions page, you will see an informational banner at the top that explains: "Bulk actions are processed in the background. Check the status below and download your files once complete. If items fail, try re-initiating the bulk action or contact support." You can dismiss this banner by clicking the X button.

Understanding the Bulk Actions Table)

The Bulk Actions page displays a table listing all your bulk actions. Each row represents one bulk action and shows the following columns.

Action Column

The first column shows the type of bulk action that was performed. The label is determined by the action type, output format, and template used. Possible labels include:

Bulk print orders — A bulk print action using the Bundle output format (all invoices combined into one PDF).
Bulk print orders (separate) — A bulk print action using the Separate output format (individual PDFs in a ZIP file).
Bulk print invoices — A bulk print action for invoices using the Bundle format.
Bulk print invoices (separate) — A bulk print action for invoices using the Separate format.
Bulk CSV – orders — A bulk CSV export of order data.
Bulk CSV – invoices — A bulk CSV export of invoice data.

If the action used a Packing slip template, the label will include "(Packing slip)" at the end — for example, "Bulk print orders (Packing slip)".

Status Column

The second column displays the current status of the bulk action as a colored badge. The possible statuses are:

Preparing (orange badge) — The system is gathering the list of orders and fetching data from Shopify. This is the initial stage when you have selected all orders matching a filter and the system needs to identify every order that qualifies.
Pending (yellow badge) — The bulk action has been created and is queued, waiting for background processing to begin.
Processing (blue badge) — Invoice PDFs are actively being generated. A progress bar will appear in the Progress column showing how far along the job is.
Finalizing (blue badge) — All individual invoices have been generated. The system is now packaging them into the final file — either combining them into a single PDF (for Bundle format) or creating a ZIP archive (for Separate format).
Complete (green badge) — The bulk action has finished successfully. The file is ready to download.
Failed (red badge) — The bulk action encountered an error and could not complete. You can view details to see which orders failed.
Cancelled (grey badge) — The bulk action was cancelled before it finished processing.

Progress Column

The third column shows the progress of the bulk action.

For active actions (Preparing, Pending, Processing, or Finalizing), a progress bar is displayed along with a percentage (for example, "45%"). The progress is calculated based on how many orders have been processed (including both successfully completed and failed orders) out of the total number of orders.
For completed actions, the column shows "100%".
For cancelled or failed actions, the column shows a dash (—).

Date Column

The fourth column shows the date and time when the bulk action was created — for example, "15 Jan 2025, 14:30".

Actions Column

The fifth column contains action buttons that let you interact with each bulk action. The buttons that appear depend on the current status of the action.

Download (arrow-down icon) — Appears only when the status is Complete and a file is available. Click this button to download the completed file (a ZIP archive or a combined PDF, depending on the output format you chose when starting the bulk action).
Cancel (X icon, red) — Appears only when the action is still active (Preparing, Pending, Processing, or Finalizing). Click this button to cancel the bulk action. Once cancelled, any invoices that were already generated will not be available for download.
Refresh (refresh icon) — Appears when the action is not yet complete (any status except Complete). Click this button to fetch the latest status and progress from the server. This is useful when you are waiting for a job to finish and want to check if the status has changed.
View details (info icon with a number) — Appears when the bulk action has processed at least one order (either successfully or with failures). The button displays a number showing the total count of processed items. If any orders failed, the icon changes to an alert icon (red) to draw your attention. Click this button to open the details modal.

How to Track the Status of a Bulk Action

After starting a bulk action from the Orders page, follow these steps to monitor its progress.

Navigate to the Bulk actions page by clicking Bulk actions in the Invoice Falcon sidebar menu.
Find your bulk action in the table. The most recent action will appear at the top of the list.
Check the Status badge to see the current state of the action (Preparing, Pending, Processing, Finalizing, Complete, Failed, or Cancelled).
If the action is still in progress, look at the Progress column to see the percentage completed. The progress bar updates as each order is processed.
To get the latest status, click the Refresh button (refresh icon) in the Actions column. This fetches the most up-to-date status from the server.
Once the status changes to Complete, the progress will show 100% and a Download button will appear in the Actions column.

Tip: You do not need to keep the Bulk Actions page open while a job is running. The processing happens in the background, and you will also receive an email notification when the file is ready to download.

How to Download a Completed File

Once a bulk action reaches the Complete status, you can download the generated file.

On the Bulk actions page, find the completed bulk action in the table (it will have a green Complete badge).
In the Actions column, click the Download button (arrow-down icon). The file will begin downloading to your computer.
Depending on the output format you chose when starting the bulk action:

Separate: The downloaded file will be a .zip archive containing individual PDF invoices — one for each order.
Bundle: The downloaded file will be a single .pdf document with all invoices combined.

Tip: Download your files promptly once they are ready. The generated files are stored temporarily and may not be available indefinitely.

How to Cancel a Bulk Action

If you need to stop a bulk action that is still in progress, you can cancel it directly from the Bulk Actions page.

On the Bulk actions page, find the active bulk action you want to cancel. It will have a status of Preparing, Pending, Processing, or Finalizing.
In the Actions column, click the Cancel button (X icon, displayed in red).
The system will stop processing the remaining orders and mark the action as Cancelled (grey badge). A toast notification will confirm: "Bulk action cancelled."
Once cancelled, any invoices that were already generated during processing will not be available for download. The file is discarded.

Important: Cancellation takes effect as soon as the current order finishes processing. If the system is in the middle of generating a PDF for a specific order, it will complete that one order first and then stop.

How to View Details of a Bulk Action

The details modal provides a breakdown of the bulk action, showing summary information and listing which orders were processed successfully and which ones failed.

On the Bulk actions page, find the bulk action you want to inspect. Look for the View details button in the Actions column — it is an info icon with a number showing the total count of processed items.
If any orders failed during processing, the icon will appear as a red alert icon instead of the standard blue info icon, making it easy to spot actions with failures.
Click the View details button. A Bulk action details modal will open.

The details modal displays the following information:

Action — The type of bulk action (for example, "Bulk print orders" or "Bulk print orders (separate)").
Status — The current status badge (Complete, Failed, Cancelled, etc.).
Created — The date and time the bulk action was created.
Progress — The progress percentage at the time of viewing.
Date range — If the bulk action was initiated using "Select all" with a date range filter applied, the start and end dates of the filter are shown here. This helps you understand which time period the action covered.
Failed (red section) — If any orders failed during processing, this section lists the order numbers or invoice identifiers that could not be generated. The failed items are displayed on a light red background so they stand out visually. The section header shows the total count of failures (for example, "Failed (3)").
Completed (green section) — This section lists the order numbers or invoice identifiers that were processed successfully. The completed items are displayed on a light green background. The section header shows the total count of successes (for example, "Completed (47)").

Review the failed items to determine if any orders need to be reprocessed individually.
Click the Close button to dismiss the modal.

Tip: If some orders failed, you can try downloading or printing those specific orders individually from the Orders page using the per-row action buttons, or you can start a new bulk action for just those orders.

Pagination

If you have many bulk actions, the table is paginated to keep the page manageable. Each page displays up to 10 bulk actions at a time.

Use the Previous and Next buttons at the bottom of the table to navigate between pages.
A page indicator (for example, "Page 1 of 3") appears next to the pagination buttons so you know how many pages of bulk actions exist.

Empty State

If you have not yet performed any bulk actions, the page will display an empty state message: "No bulk actions yet" with a description: "Bulk actions are created when you print, download, or export multiple invoices or orders at once." Once you start a bulk action from the Orders page, it will appear here.

Known Limitations

One active bulk action at a time. Invoice Falcon allows only one bulk action to be processing at any given time. If you try to start a new bulk action while another is still active, you will see an error. Wait for the current action to finish or cancel it first.
Files are temporary. The generated download files (ZIP or PDF) are stored temporarily. Download your completed files promptly.
No retry option. There is no built-in button to retry a failed bulk action. If a bulk action fails or some orders within it fail, you will need to start a new bulk action from the Orders page.
Progress requires manual refresh. The progress bar does not update automatically in real time. Click the Refresh button to fetch the latest status and progress percentage.
Cancelled actions cannot be resumed. Once you cancel a bulk action, it cannot be resumed. You will need to start a completely new bulk action from the Orders page.
10 actions per page. The table shows a maximum of 10 bulk actions per page, and there is no option to change this.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely Cause	Fix
"Failed to load bulk actions. Please try again." error banner	A network error occurred when loading the bulk actions list.	Refresh the page. If the error continues, check your internet connection and try again.
Bulk action stuck on "Processing" with no progress change	The background job may be processing a large batch, or it encountered a temporary delay.	Click the Refresh button to check for updates. If progress has not changed after several minutes, consider cancelling the action and starting a new one.
"Failed to cancel bulk action." toast notification	A network error occurred while trying to cancel the action.	Wait a moment and try clicking the Cancel button again. If the issue persists, refresh the page.
Download button does not appear for a completed action	The file may not have been generated properly, or there was an issue during the Finalizing step.	Click View details to check for failures. If the action shows as Complete but has no download, try starting a new bulk action.
"Failed to refresh bulk action." toast notification	A network error occurred when fetching the latest status.	Wait a moment and try clicking the Refresh button again.
Many orders listed as Failed in the details modal	Individual invoices could not be generated for those orders, possibly due to missing data or temporary Shopify API issues.	Try processing the failed orders individually from the Orders page, or start a new bulk action for just those orders.

FAQs

Q: Where do I find my bulk actions after starting one from the Orders page?
A: Click Bulk actions in the Invoice Falcon sidebar menu. All your bulk actions are listed here, with the most recent at the top.

Q: Does the progress bar update automatically?
A: No. The progress bar does not refresh in real time. Click the Refresh button (refresh icon) in the Actions column to fetch the latest progress from the server.

Q: Can I start a new bulk action while one is already running?
A: No. Only one bulk action can be active at a time. You must wait for the current action to complete or cancel it before starting a new one.

Q: What happens to already-processed invoices when I cancel a bulk action?
A: When you cancel a bulk action, any invoices that were already generated are discarded. The partial file is not made available for download. You would need to start a new bulk action to get those invoices.

Q: How do I know if any orders failed during a bulk action?
A: Look at the View details button in the Actions column. If failures occurred, the button will display a red alert icon instead of the standard info icon. Click it to open the details modal, which lists all failed order numbers in a red section at the top.

Q: Will I receive a notification when my bulk action is done?
A: Yes. You will receive an email notification when the bulk action is complete and the file is ready to download. You can also check the Bulk Actions page at any time.

Q: How long are download files available after a bulk action completes?
A: Download files are stored temporarily. It is recommended to download your files as soon as possible after the action completes.

Q: Can I view details for a cancelled bulk action?
A: Yes, if the action processed any orders before it was cancelled. The View details button will appear with a count of how many items were processed. The details modal will show which orders completed and which failed before the cancellation.

Updated on: 20/05/2026

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