Install and set up

Requirements

• WordPress 6.4 or newer
• PHP 7.4 or newer
• WooCommerce, active

Install the plugin

1. In wp-admin, go to Plugins > Add New and search for “Brainrune Shipment Tracking”. Install and activate it. WooCommerce has to be active.

2. The setup wizard opens on its own the first time you open an admin page after activation. You can also open it any time from Shipments > Setup wizard.

The setup wizard

The wizard has five steps. Everything you choose here can be changed later from the plugin’s own screens. You can skip any step with Skip this step.

1. Language. Choose the language of the plugin. It covers the plugin’s admin pages, the tracking page and the emails it adds.

2. Couriers. Under “Where do you ship from?”, pick the country your parcels leave from. Only the couriers that pick up there are listed, plus the worldwide ones. Under “Which couriers do you ship with?”, tick each courier you have an account with and fill in its credentials. They are the same ones you use in the courier’s own app or portal. See Couriers for what each one needs.

3. Tracking page. Pick an existing page or choose “Create a new page”. For a new page, set the Page title and the Address (the part after your domain). You also set the Heading, the Text above the form, the Support email and whether to show the Full history (every courier scan / position). See Tracking page.

4. Emails. Choose where the tracking box goes in WooCommerce emails, for which order statuses, and its texts. You can also tick Send an “order shipped” email when a tracking number is added. See Emails.

5. Done. A summary of your choices, with a Change link next to each one.

Check a courier connection

Each courier has a Test connection panel on its screen under Shipments. It uses what is typed in the form, saved or not.

• Couriers with a login step (Sameday, for example) can be tested without a tracking number. You see “Connected. The courier accepted the login.”
• For the others, type a real Tracking number and click Run test. You see the status customers will get and the number of events, for example “Connected. Status: In transit, 6 events.”

Add your first tracking number

1. Open an order in WooCommerce > Orders.

2. In the Shipment tracking box on the right, choose the courier and type the tracking number.

3. Save the order. The plugin adds an order note, “Tracking number added”, and the box now shows the current status and the last courier event.

If you use the Sameday or Cargus plugin, or Advanced Shipment Tracking, you do not need to type anything. The plugin reads the numbers they write on the order.

Tip

The courier list in the order box only shows couriers you have switched on. If the box says “Switch on a courier in Shipments to add tracking numbers here”, go to Shipments > All couriers first.

Settings worth knowing

Under Shipments > Settings:

• Ask the courier / refresh rate (minutes): how long a status is kept before the courier is asked again. The default is 30 minutes. Delivered and returned parcels are kept for a week.
• Language: the plugin language, the same as in the wizard.
• Delete settings and courier accounts when the plugin is deleted: off by default. Tracking numbers always stay on the orders.
• Parcel status cache: Clear the cache forgets every saved status and login token. The next visit asks the couriers again.
• Run the setup wizard again: goes through the five steps with your saved values filled in.
• Reset all settings: deletes the courier accounts, the language and every setting of the plugin and its add-on, then opens the setup wizard. Tracking numbers stay on the orders and the tracking page stays published.