How to Add Order Form Fields on Shopify

Quick Answer

The best way to add custom fields to your Shopify store is by using an app like Magical Order Form Fields. There are a couple of workarounds to create fields natively within Shopify, but they come with significant limitations and require a manual setup and coding. Using an app provides an easy, scalable solution that allows you to create required or optional fields, automate data collection, and integrate them into product pages with no coding required.

Detailed Answer

The best way to add custom fields to your Shopify store is by using an app. Apps like Magical Form Fields allow you to create required or optional fields, such as text fields, dropdowns, and checkboxes, without coding. They integrate seamlessly into product pages, automate data collection, and even support paid fields with fixed or percentage-based pricing. This makes them the easiest and most effective solution for most Shopify stores.

There are a couple of workarounds that can done natively to add custom fields, but they come with drawbacks:

1. Product variants can be used for very basic options like size or colour, but this doesn’t work for more unique order-specific details.
2. Line item properties allow for more customization but require theme modifications and don’t work well for storewide fields.

These methods are restrictive, require coding, and are time-consuming to set up and manage. For most merchants, using an app is the simplest and most scalable way to add custom fields efficiently.

Key Benefits of Using an App

• Add custom fields effortlessly without modifying your theme or adding custom code.
• Collect the right information at the right time with more control over the placement of fields on product pages.
• Never miss essential details by marking fields ‘Required’, reducing errors and back-and-forth communication.
• Gather the precise information you need with various types of custom fields such as text fields, dropdowns, checkboxes, date pickers, file uploads, and more.
• Make order fulfillment faster and easier by automatically storing and organizing field data within orders.
• Easily scale custom fields across your entire store as your business grows, something Shopify’s native options struggle to do.

Video Explainer

I made a 30-second video that explains how you can add fields to your store using an app, and why it’s almost always better than any existing native solutions.

How to Add Order Form Fields Using an App

The most effective way to add order form fields on Shopify is by using an app designed specifically for this task. Apps like Magical Order Form Fields provide the most efficient, flexible, and reliable way to collect information from customers without Shopify’s native limitations.

Unlike Shopify’s default options, apps allow you to create and manage order form fields with greater flexibility and control. Instead of manually modifying themes or relying on basic cart notes, merchants can use an app to configure custom fields that integrate seamlessly into the checkout process.

Several apps are available for adding order form fields, including:

• Magical Form Fields (Recommended) is the best choice for most Shopify stores. It offers both required and optional fields, with multiple field types such as text fields, dropdowns, and checkboxes. It also supports paid fields, with both fixed and percentage-based pricing options.
• Infinite Options is a flexible app that lets merchants add custom options for products, though it lacks order-wide field capabilities.
• Product Options by HulkApps offers custom field functionality but requires additional setup and may not be as seamless for storewide implementation.

Of these, Magical Form Fields is the best choice for most Shopify stores because of its ease of use, automation, and ability to handle a wide range of field types efficiently.

How to Add Order Form Fields Natively in Shopify

As a merchant, you may want to know if there are ways to add custom fields natively within Shopify. A couple of options exist, but they come with drawbacks:

1. You could use variants, but they don’t work well for unique order-specific details such as names, dates, and custom text.
2. You could use line item properties, but they require theme modifications which will require custom coding. They also don’t scale well for storewide custom fields.

Neither of these options is good as they both come with significant limitations. 

If you only require basic fields like size, colour, or material, on a limited number of products, Shopify’s variant option may be enough. For more advanced fields like short answer text, dropdowns, or multiple checkboxes, line item properties are necessary but require coding. 

For most merchants, an app is the easiest and most scalable solution, allowing them to apply custom fields across multiple products without any coding.

Real-Life Experiences

I once worked with a paint store that needed a way for customers to specify custom paint colours when placing orders. With thousands of products, each with multiple variants, manually adding a custom field to every product was overwhelming. The owner felt stuck, unsure where to even begin.

I recommended Magical Order Form Fields, which let them easily add a single custom field across all products without modifying their theme or managing individual variants. Instead of a complicated workaround, they had a simple, scalable solution that lets customers enter their custom colour choices directly on the product page.

Key Takeaway

While Shopify provides some basic options for collecting customer input, they come with significant limitations. Using an app like Magical Product Fees ensures you can add fully customizable order form fields without the need for coding.

Try Magical Product Fees today to simplify your checkout process and collect the customer details you need!