Release Notes v.3.6.0.253

As autumn settles in and the busy season starts to gather pace on the horizon, Helm has been making sure every part of the operation is ready for it. This release is all about control and confidence: finer permissions for fulfilment clients, clearer rules for multi-warehouse sites, and a Mobile App that makes batched stock feel every bit as simple as everything else.

Alongside the headline features, there is a healthy helping of refinements across despatch, integrations and the Public API, so the everyday flow from pick to pack to paperwork runs that little bit more smoothly.

Smarter Control For Fulfilment Clients

Fulfilment operations run on trust and clear boundaries. These additions give you precise control over what your clients can do and see, without adding work for your team.

Fulfilment Client Order Permissions can now be configured for every order status, including the custom statuses you create yourself. Head to Settings > Statuses and edit any order status to find three new options: Allow Adding Products, Allow Removing Products and Allowed Status Changes. Helm's standard behaviour for built-in statuses is clearly marked as the default, and the same permissions apply in both the Helm interface and the Public API.

This means a custom status such as "Pre-Orders" can now work exactly as you intend. For example, you might let clients add or remove products on their pre-orders and move them to Despatch Ready themselves once stock arrives, while keeping every other status locked down.

Fulfilment clients can also now be given Advanced Stock Information. Enable it on an individual client under Settings > Fulfilment Clients and that client's users can view stock locations, batches and best-before or expiry dates per location, the same view the fulfilment master enjoys. It is strictly read only, so clients gain visibility without being able to change anything. Where the global setting to let all fulfilment clients view stock locations is already switched on, the per-client option is shown as unavailable, keeping the two settings from pulling in different directions.

Sharper Picking & Packing Across Every Warehouse

For sites running more than one warehouse, and for anyone who likes their pick types to make perfect sense, this section brings welcome clarity.

A new setting, Restrict Post-Pick Processing To Picked Warehouse, is now available in Settings. Helm always records the warehouse an order was picked in, and with this setting enabled that warehouse is respected for the rest of the journey: the Box Manager and Tote Manager only list orders picked in the current warehouse, totes can only be linked to orders from the same warehouse, and the packing bench only accepts orders picked where the packer is working. Single-warehouse sites, or operations that move goods between warehouses after picking, can simply leave it switched off.

Tote scanning has also been refined to identify each tote by its barcode with greater precision, so linking and packing stay accurate even where similar tote names exist across the business.

Pick type allocation is now smarter about orders where several order lines resolve to the same product. When separate lines, such as a Shopify group product listed at different prices or multiple quantities imported from TikTok as individual lines, all map to a single SKU, Helm now recognises this and creates a Single pick rather than a Multi/Tote pick. Your pickers follow the quickest route, and the pick queue reflects what is really on the order.

Smoother Stock Movements On The Mobile App

Moving batched stock on the Mobile App now feels just like moving everything else. When a location holds only one batch of the scanned product, Helm selects that batch for you and carries on with the familiar flow. Where there is more than one batch, you choose the batch as before, and the quantity screen now includes the same Select All option used for non-batched products. Stock that is already allocated to orders is protected from being moved, keeping allocations and pick routes intact.

The result is one consistent workflow for every product, fewer taps for your team and less room for keying errors during routine stock moves.

The Android layout has also been refined for the latest devices. Headers, pick numbers and on-screen buttons now sit comfortably within the device's safe areas, clear of the status bar and navigation controls, so everything stays fully visible and easy to tap.

Smarter Features For Confident Despatch

A collection of improvements to labels, packaging and customer communications, all aimed at keeping despatch predictable.

Pregenerated labels can now be cancelled before an order has been despatched. Whether an order is sitting in Despatch Ready or PreGen Success, the Cancel the Pregenerated Label option in Helm, and the equivalent Public API request, will cancel any open shipment for the label and clear the order's pregenerated status. This gives you the flexibility to change plans, carriers or services before a parcel leaves the building.

Partial fulfilments sent to Shopify now report each order line individually, even where several variant lines share the same SKU in Helm. Quantities reach Shopify exactly as they appear on the original order, so your storefront and your customers see an accurate picture of what has shipped.

Auxiliary Packaging such as tissue paper, stickers and cards is now deducted from stock when orders are despatched through batch labels, just as it is for orders processed individually. Your packaging stock levels stay accurate however your team chooses to despatch.

Automated emails sent through your own SMTP integration now display the Sender Name configured under Settings / Integrations / SMTP. Your customers see your brand name in their inbox alongside your email address, which looks more professional and helps your messages stand out.

A More Dependable Public API

Integrators will find the Public API a little clearer and more capable in this release.

The despatch_with_tracking_code endpoint now returns clear, structured responses when a request cannot be completed. Requests for an order that is not fully allocated, that cannot be found, that is missing required fields or that the API user is not authorised to access each receive a specific validation, not-found or authorisation message, making it far quicker to understand and resolve the issue in your own systems.

The label cancellation request now supports pregenerated labels on orders that have not yet been despatched, matching the new behaviour in the Helm interface.

For fulfilment operations, the fulfilment client endpoints now include the advanced_stock_information field, and inventory responses for clients with Advanced Stock Information enabled include their stock locations. The new Fulfilment Client Order Permissions are also honoured by the Public API, so the rules you set in Helm apply consistently wherever orders are managed.

Every change in this release is designed to give you more control, clearer rules and fewer extra steps, from the permissions your clients enjoy to the batches your team moves on the warehouse floor. Thank you for trusting us with your operations; we will keep listening, refining and building so that the season ahead runs as smoothly as possible. If you have any questions about these updates, our support team is always happy to help.

Your team at Helm