By the end of this guide
Three things will be true of your shop, and all of them run on their own.
Customers pick a date
A calendar appears in the cart showing only the dates you can actually fulfil. No more orders for days you're closed.
You're never overbooked
Set how much notice you need, and a daily limit when you're ready. Too-soon and sold-out dates just grey out.
Everyone stays informed
Your closed dates and order-by deadlines show up on your storefront and in confirmation emails, without you touching them.
Set up in 5 steps
Do these in order. After step 5, you're live.
Add Blackout Dates to your store
Install the app from the Shopify App Store. One click, and it starts on the free plan, so there's nothing to pay to get going.
- Open the Blackout Dates listing on the Shopify App Store.
- Click Add app, then Install.
- You'll land on the app's home page inside your Shopify admin.
Turn on the date picker in your theme
This is the switch that makes everything else work. It adds the calendar customers use to pick a collection or delivery date, and there's nothing to copy or paste.
- In your Shopify admin, go to Online Store → Themes.
- Click Customize on your live theme.
- At the top of the left panel, open App embeds.
- Find Date Picker Embed (under Blackout Dates) and switch it on.
- Click Save in the top-right corner.
Theme editor: App embeds Switched themes later? Just turn it on again on the new one.
Tell us when you're closed
Add the days your whole shop can't take orders: bank holidays, your annual break, every Sunday. Customers won't be able to pick them.
- In the app, open Store Closed Dates.
- Click days on the calendar to block them, or tick a weekday to block it every week.
- Optionally name a closure (e.g. “Christmas”) for friendlier customer messages.
- Save, and those dates vanish from checkout straight away.
Admin: store closed dates Set how much notice you need
Tell us your prep time and a daily cut-off so customers can't pick a date that's too soon for you to make and pack the order.
- Open Settings in the app.
- Set your prep days. “3 days” means the soonest a customer can pick is 3 days out.
- Set your last order time. Orders after 2pm then count from the next day.
- Pick your time zone, then Save.
Try it like a customer
Two minutes here saves a lot of second-guessing, because you see exactly what your shoppers see.
- Visit your storefront and add any product to the cart.
- Check the calendar appears, with closed and too-soon dates greyed out.
- Pick a date and carry on. The date travels with the order to checkout.
- Place a test order and confirm the date shows on it.
Storefront: cart date picker Calendar not showing? It's nearly always step 2. Check Date Picker Embed is on and saved.
Want the date to appear in your order confirmation email, or need help with checkout delivery options? Those have their own short guide. Open the email & checkout setup →
Grow your setup
Extras you can switch on any time. Take the ones that suit your shop.
Different rules per product
Sell a Valentine's-only cake, or give your tiered showstopper a longer lead time. Every product, right down to each size, can have its own dates.
Collection, delivery & postage
Offer pickup, local delivery, or shipping, each on its own schedule. Add a surcharge for rush or peak dates that only shows when chosen. Checkout filtering and surcharges are enforced on Shopify Plus stores; other plans get a cart-side heads-up.
Limit orders per day
Cap how many orders you take per day or time slot so you never over-promise. Sold-out days hide themselves automatically.
Tell customers before they shop
Show a tidy notice of upcoming closures and an order-by deadline banner. Both keep themselves updated from your closed dates.
Sync orders to your calendar
Connect Google or Outlook and every dated order lands in the calendar your team already uses, with a prep reminder.
Print a daily prep sheet
A ready-to-print list of what to make each day, grouped by station with allergen notes. Ideal for the morning handover.
Not on Shopify Plus? You can still sell posted orders on a schedule. Make a postal product (or a “Posted” variant) with the postage built into the price and free shipping, then give it its own posting days with per-product date rules. The date restriction does the scheduling that checkout filtering would. See how in the checkout setup guide →
What's on each plan
Start free, upgrade only when you need the extras. Change plan any time.
Everything to get started
- Store-wide closed dates
- Block one recurring weekday
- Prep days & last order time
- Customers pick a date in the cart
Per-product control & delivery
- Everything in Free
- Per-product & per-size rules
- Collection, delivery & postage
- Date-based surcharges & min spend
Capacity, calendar & automation
- Everything in Plus
- All your locations, each its own branch
- Daily & time-slot limits
- Calendar sync & prep sheet
- Storefront notices & reports
Quick fixes
The handful of things that trip people up, and the one-line fix for each.
The calendar isn't showing in my cart
Nine times out of ten it's the app embed. Go to Online Store → Themes → Customize → App embeds and make sure Date Picker Embed is switched on and saved.
Do I need Shopify Plus?
No. The date picker, closed dates, prep time and the confirmation-email date all work on every Shopify plan. Only the checkout-side delivery filtering and date surcharges need Plus, and other plans get a cart-side heads-up instead.
A date I expected to block is still selectable
A per-product rule may be overriding your store-wide closed dates. Open Product Availability for that item. A product's own allowed dates take precedence over the store defaults.
The date isn't on my order confirmation email
That's a separate one-time paste. Follow the Email & checkout guide to add the snippet to Settings → Notifications → Order confirmation.
Stuck on a step?
We'll get you sorted, usually the same day. Or have a look at the FAQ first.