Changelog

As the clocks go back and the warehouse mornings start a little darker, Helm has been attending to the details that make the working day run smoothly. This release is about clarity and control: purchase orders that tell you when stock is really expected, Smart Shipping reaching every corner of despatch, storage billing figures you can trust, and a handful of quiet refinements that remove friction from everyday tasks.

Nothing here demands a change to how your teams work. Where a new option is available, the existing behaviour stays exactly as it was until you choose to switch it on.

Purchase Orders: Clearer Dates & Cleaner Deliveries

Purchasing teams spend a great deal of time asking one question: when is it actually arriving? This section is about giving a better answer, and about making deliveries behave predictably whatever shape they arrive in.

Expected Delivery Dates That Follow Your Inventory Lines

A new setting, Settings > Purchasing > Purchase Order Expected Delivery Date, lets you choose how the date shown on the Purchase Orders list is worked out. The default, Set on the purchase order, keeps today's behaviour: the list shows the date entered under Edit Order Details, so nothing changes for operations that already manage this by hand.

Switch to Follow inventory lines and the list instead shows the earliest expected date across the lines that are still to be delivered. It keeps itself up to date as line dates are added, changed or removed, as lines are added or deleted, and as deliveries are booked in. Switching the option on aligns your existing purchase orders once, so the list is accurate from the moment you enable it.

In this mode the date can also be edited directly on the list for Draft, Submitted and Partially Delivered purchase orders. A date changed there is applied to every undelivered line, which makes updating a whole order after a supplier call a matter of seconds rather than a line-by-line edit.

Deliveries With Zero Quantity Lines Now Reset Cleanly

Resetting a purchase order delivery that contained lines with a delivered quantity of zero could previously stop part way through. Reset now skips the stock movement for those lines (there is nothing to remove) and clears them as intended, and a reset that cannot be completed stops before any stock moves, leaving stock levels and delivered quantities exactly as they were.

To keep deliveries tidy from the start, zero quantity lines are no longer saved when a delivery is created, whether from the purchase order screen, the Mobile App or the Public API. If every line on a delivery is zero, nothing is recorded and you are asked to enter a delivered quantity; the Public API returns a clear 422 response with the same explanation.

Smart Shipping & Batch Labels Across Despatch

Smart Shipping has proved its worth on the Packing Terminal. This release brings the same rules-based courier selection to the rest of the despatch toolkit and gives batch labels a proper home on the order.

Smart Shipping Now Works Everywhere Labels Are Created

Smart Shipping is now available on Batch Label Processing, Pregenerated Labels and the Multi Pick Pack Terminal, as well as the Packing Terminal. Each of these now applies your Smart Shipping rules when choosing a service, and the shipments they create are recorded and cancelled as Smart Shipping shipments, so your reporting stays consistent however an order was despatched.

Batch Label Details On The Order Edit Page

Until now the only way to tell that an order already had a batch label was to check the order log or look for a tag. The Order Edit page now shows a clear batch label notice with the batch number and date, alongside View and Cancel Batch Label buttons, for undespatched, despatched and fulfilment client orders alike. Return labels created through batch processing also open correctly from the same place.

Storage Billing You Can Rely On

For operations billing storage through Cost Centre, the recurring storage run is now far more transparent, and the figures it sends keep pace with what is actually on the shelves.

Rejected Storage Lines Are Now Visible

When Cost Centre cannot apply a storage line (for example because a location type or client has not yet been set up on the Cost Centre side), that outcome is now recorded against the client and shown in System Logs and on the client's page, rather than passing silently. You can see at a glance which storage has and has not been billed, and put the configuration right before the next run.

Location Types That Empty Are Reported As Zero

When a client's stock leaves a location type altogether, Helm now sends a quantity of zero for that type, so Cost Centre no longer carries forward a stale figure from the last run that held stock. Clients with no stock links at all are handled the same way. Non-zero quantities and run log totals are unchanged across all four billing options.

Clearer Billing Options & Deleted Locations Excluded

The Client Billing Option on the fulfilment client screen now carries help text explaining what each option counts, and newly created clients default to option 4, which bills by location rather than by every SKU and location link. Existing clients keep their current option. Deleted locations are now excluded from storage calculations under every billing option and from the item data file, so the storage figures sent for billing agree with the Stock Locations report your customers check them against.

Terminal Sorting Plugin: Every Line Accounted For

The Terminal Sorting plugin now lists each order line on its own and highlights every line of a SKU that appears more than once on an order as its quantities are scanned. Packers can see exactly which lines are complete and which are still outstanding, with no risk of a repeated SKU being shown as finished before all of its lines have been picked.

This is a plugin update and is released separately from the core Helm version.

MicroApps & Public API Refinements

MicroApps are young, and this release tidies some of the edges reported by early adopters.

Order data returned by GET /picks/{id} now follows the same privacy masking as GET /orders, so customer address and contact details are handled consistently across both endpoints, with and without PII consent. Orders now include the details of the packer who handled them, subject to the same consent rules, so apps can show who packed what without resolving staff numbers by hand. The Activate and Deactivate buttons under Settings > Apps now update the app's status immediately, and the MicroApps guide has been refreshed to match.

Everyday Refinements

A collection of smaller improvements that remove minor irritations from day-to-day work.

Draft Orders Stay In Draft

Manually created orders in Draft status now remain in Draft when an out-of-stock item is added or a quantity is increased, instead of being moved to Back Order straight away. Order rules that act on Back Order status therefore wait until the order is actually submitted. Orders that are not in Draft continue to move to Back Order as before, and orders created as Draft through the Public API or a CSV import follow the same rule.

Quicker Navigation In User Setup

The Edit User screen now has a Back button at the top, matching the User Setup list, and saving a user returns you to the list with a confirmation message. If a save cannot be completed, the screen stays put with your entries intact and the reason shown.

Batch Logs Toggle Behaves As Expected

On the Batch Logs view within a location, clicking Available now highlights Available, and clicking back to On Hand highlights On Hand, with the matching log set loading each time.

General System Improvements

Alongside the items above, this release includes a round of security and reliability refinements across purchase order, inventory, order and return terminal requests and the Public API, including stricter validation of request data. These keep the platform robust without changing how your teams use it.

Every change in this release is designed to give your teams clearer information and fewer surprises: purchase orders that show real expected dates, despatch tools that share one set of shipping rules, and billing figures that match the warehouse floor. Thank you for trusting us with your operations. We will keep listening and refining so that Helm stays a dependable part of your working day.

Your team at Helm

As autumn settles in and the run-up to peak begins in earnest, Helm has been making sure the busiest parts of your day are also the most dependable. This release is about confident despatch: labels that behave, picks that always finish properly and stock that goes to the customers who have waited longest.

Alongside that, we have added the product safety fields your carriers increasingly expect for US and EU shipments, plus a few thoughtful touches to integrations and plugins, so you head into the busy season ready rather than reactive.

Ready For New Product Safety Rules

New product safety requirements are arriving for cross-border parcels: US CPSC rules have applied since July, and EU product identifiers are required from 1 November 2026. Helm now holds and sends everything you need for both.

New Product Safety & Manufacturer Fields

Products in Inventory now have seven new fields: Manufacturer SKU, CPSC Product Version, CPSC Registry Product ID, CPSC Intended Use Code, CPSC Intended Use Description, CPSC Disclaim Code and CPSC Disclaim Reason. You can edit them on the product page, fill them in bulk through Imports & Exports, and read or write them through the Public API.

When a field is filled in, it travels with every shipment booked for that product, so carriers and destinations that need the information receive it automatically. Products without these details ship exactly as they do today, so you can complete them at your own pace, starting with the lines you send abroad most.

Tax IDs Carried Through From Neuro

Orders arriving from Neuro now bring their VAT ID with them. The value lands in the order's Tax ID and is sent with the shipment when a label is booked. This is particularly useful for shipments to Norway under the VOEC scheme, where a tax ID is required, and saves your team adding it to each order by hand.

Smarter Shipping & Label Handling

From collection times to cancelled labels, this group of changes keeps orders moving cleanly from pack bench to carrier.

Your Own Collection Time For Smart Shipping

Smart Shipping now has its own Collection Settings, found under Settings > Couriers > Smart Shipping. Set a Collection Time that matches your carrier's latest collection, and labels created before that time are dated for today, while later labels roll to the next collection date.

You can also choose Collection Days, which apply when Delayed Despatch is enabled, in the same way as your other couriers. Nothing changes until you save a time, so existing set-ups carry on as before; simply pop in your real cut-off (for example 23:00) and evening despatches will be dated correctly.

Cleaner Cancellations For Pregenerated Labels

Cancelling a pregenerated label from Batch History now resets the order properly, so it can be packed and shipped with a fresh label straight away. For any order that was caught in this situation, Cancel Pregenerated Labels on the order page now brings it back into a ready-to-pack state.

If a carrier declines a cancellation, Helm now keeps the existing label and shipment in place, so the order can still be despatched on the label it already has. Batch History also shows the carrier's actual response, so you always know exactly where each label stands.

Amazon Easy Ship Orders Despatch Smoothly

Amazon Easy Ship orders, where Amazon shares only the postcode and handles the rest of the address itself, now open on the Packing Terminal without fuss. Shipping services load as expected and the orders can be booked and despatched like any other domestic order.

Adding Courier Accounts Made Simple

Adding a new account for couriers that use account credentials rather than a login window, such as Royal Mail Click & Drop, now opens the credentials form directly from Add New Account. Couriers that use a sign-in window, such as Amazon, continue to work just as before.

Steadier Picking & Fairer Stock Allocation

These changes look after the moments when timing matters most: the end of a pick, and the arrival of new stock.

Picks That Finish Cleanly

Helm is now far more resilient when a pick's completion is interrupted, for example during a very busy moment on your system. A background check picks up any unfinished completion within minutes and completes it properly: stock is moved, orders move to Picked and the pick is closed, so you no longer find a completed pick with orders still sitting in Picking.

Orders that have changed in the meantime, such as one placed On Hold, are left exactly as they are, and the pick log notes them for a quick manual review. Force Complete now waits politely if a pick is already being completed, and asks you to try again in a minute rather than running at the same time.

Back Orders Released Oldest First

When new stock arrives, back orders are now released strictly in order of the date they were received, with the oldest first. Your longest-waiting customers are served first, regardless of the order in which their orders were imported.

Dependable Integrations & Public API

A pair of refinements that keep data consistent between Helm and the systems around it.

Consistent Order Dates Across The Public API

Orders created through the /orders/create_with_inventory and /orders/create_with_shipment endpoints of the Public API without a date_received are now recorded in UK time, matching /orders/create. Order dates now line up neatly however your orders arrive.

Fulfilment Updates That Keep Flowing

When Helm sends fulfilment updates to your sales channels in a batch, a single order that the channel declines no longer holds up the rest. Every other order in the batch is still sent, and only the declined order is marked as failed, with its own clear message, so your customers keep receiving their tracking updates.

Plugin Enhancements

Pregenerated Labels: Respecting Single Parcel Per Item

The Pregenerated Labels plugin now honours the Single Parcel Per Item setting. An order for five such items is prepared as five parcels, with one label for each, ready to despatch as five pieces.

Every change in this release is aimed at the same goal: a smoother, more predictable run into peak, with labels, picks and stock that behave exactly as you expect. Thank you for trusting us with your operations; we will keep listening and refining so that Helm stays a steady, dependable part of your day. If you have any questions about these updates, our team is always happy to help.

Your team at Helm

As the leaves turn and the busy season starts to gather pace, Helm has been reinforcing its foundations. This release is built around two themes: a stronger, safer front door for every account, and a Public API that does considerably more for the integrations you rely on.

Alongside those, you will find clearer split orders, tidier label handling, more accurate stock and purchase order figures, and a new home for manufacturer details. Everything here is designed to give you firmer footing heading into peak.

A Stronger, Safer Front Door

This section brings together a set of security refinements across sign-in, passwords and file handling. Most of them work quietly in the background; the password rules are the one change your team will notice.

Stronger Password Rules

A single, consistent set of Password Rules now applies everywhere a Helm password can be set: the password reset page, My Account, User Setup, the Public API and the user import. New passwords must be at least 12 characters long. Passwords under 16 characters need a mix of at least three of lower case letters, upper case letters, numbers and symbols, while longer passphrases are welcome without the extra complexity.

Commonly used and easily guessed passwords are now declined, as are passwords built from the account's own name, email address or company name. Existing passwords are untouched, so nobody is locked out; the rules simply apply the next time a password is set. A memorable phrase of three or four random words is an easy way to meet them.

Tighter Control Over File Uploads

Files uploaded against orders and purchase orders are now checked by Helm itself, not just by the browser. Two new settings under Settings > Misc Settings let you decide what is accepted: Allowed Upload Extensions and Allowed Upload File Size (KB). The accepted formats are shown alongside the upload button, so your team always knows what will go through.

Behind-The-Scenes Browser Protections

Helm now sends a fuller set of modern browser security protections on every page, and the external scripts it loads are verified before they run. A couple of outdated third-party scripts have been retired along the way. You should not notice any difference, other than the reassurance that it is there.

A Richer, More Dependable Public API

The Public API has gained several new capabilities in this release, along with a round of refinements that make its behaviour match the Helm screens more closely.

New Endpoints For Statuses & Order Logs

A new GET /statuses endpoint returns your list of order statuses, so integrations no longer need to hard-code status IDs. Order logs are now available too: GET /order/{id}/logs reads an order's history and POST /order/{id}/add_log adds a new entry, making it simple for an integration to leave a clear audit trail on the orders it touches.

Archive Filters For Orders & Inventory

The /orders list can now include archived orders, which is ideal for historical reporting and analytics. The inventory list (GET /inventory) now matches the Inventory screen and leaves archived products out by default, so stock reports built from it only show live products. On both lists, filters[show_archived]=1 returns live and archived records together and filters[archived_only]=1 returns archived records only, and every inventory item now carries an is_archived field.

If any of your integrations need archived products in the inventory list, simply add filters[show_archived]=1 to the request.

Enable API Access For Users

A new Enable API Access option in User Setup lets administrators decide exactly which users may sign in to the Public API, with a clear reminder of what that user will be able to see. On upgrade, the option is switched on for existing Administrators and Supervisors and off for other user levels. If one of your integrations signs in as a user at another level, tick Enable API Access for that user and it will carry on as before. The Mobile App and App Store apps are not affected.

Smarter Order & Label Handling

Orders can now be moved back out of Cancelled through POST /order/{id}/update, in the same way as on the order page, and setting the cancelled status through the same call now cancels the order properly. cancel_label now cancels a pre-generated label while leaving the order in its current status, ready to be booked again.

When an order is created without a payment_currency, or with it left empty, Helm now uses your account's Default Currency, just as the manual order screen does. Lower-case currency codes are accepted, and an invalid code returns a clear message.

Refinements To Inventory & Users

Package configurations now accept a barcode when they are created or updated, so outer and case configurations can be set up in full in a single call. Products also accept the new cpsc_certifier_id field described below.

Stock can no longer be created on a tote, the assembly location or a zone through the Public API, matching the Add Stock Location rules on the product screen. Normal shelf locations work exactly as before, and the API returns a clear message if a restricted location is chosen.

Updating a user through the Public API now only changes the fields you send. Leaving out the password keeps the current one, and leaving out the user level or warehouses keeps them as they are, so a simple change of name or email no longer affects anything else.

Manufacturer Details For Product Compliance

Manufacturer Addresses

A new Manufacturers list lets you record manufacturer names and addresses and link them to your products. Manufacturers can be managed on screen, imported and exported, and created or updated through the Public API using the new inventory_manufacturers endpoints. When a product is shipped, the linked manufacturer's address is included in the courier data; where no manufacturer is linked, Helm uses the product's primary supplier address instead.

CPSC Certifier ID

Products now have a CPSC Certifier ID field, which can be set on the product page, through imports and exports, and through the Public API. It is passed to Voila with your shipments, helping consignments into the United States carry the product safety details they need.

Clearer Splits & Smarter Order Rules

Split Orders, Clearly Linked

When an order is split, its page now shows a Split Orders panel listing every order created from it, along with the original order and any sibling orders. Deleted orders are clearly marked, and the order logs record each split. Following an order's journey after a split is now a matter of a single click.

Orders split by an order rule now name the rule in their log, so it is always clear why a split happened. Split Orders By Unallocatable Items now explains clearly when an order cannot be split this way, rather than leaving your team guessing.

Order Rules & Default Packaging

The Not Contains condition in order rules now behaves exactly as intended, so a rule set to skip orders containing a particular SKU will do just that. A product's default packaging is now preselected on the packing screen whenever an order has no standard requested packaging, even when an order rule has added an auxiliary item such as a leaflet.

Requested packaging on master orders now offers only packaging owned by the warehouse, keeping fulfilment client packaging reserved for that client's own orders, in line with the Public API and order rules.

Back Order Stock Count

A new Back Order Stock Count option under Settings > Stock Control lets you choose how stock is counted when back orders are checked. Leave it on All on-hand locations to keep today's behaviour, or choose Pickable locations only, so stock sitting in non-pickable locations such as Picked no longer moves back orders to Despatch Ready before they can actually be picked.

Very Large Orders On The Packing Terminal

The Packing Terminal now handles exceptionally large orders with ease. An order with thousands of items and over a thousand parcels opens in seconds and can be despatched from start to finish without the page slowing down.

Tidier Label Handling

Cancelling a pre-generated label from the order page now works smoothly in every pre-despatch status. The label is cancelled, the order keeps its status and the Cancel Label button clears straight away.

The bulk action formerly known as Cancel Pregenerated Labels is now simply Cancel Label, and it handles batch labels as well. Orders with a batch label that have not yet been despatched are returned to Despatch Ready, ready to be batched again, and a summary shows any orders that could not be cancelled and why.

Stock & Reporting You Can Rely On

Moving batch-numbered stock between locations now records the correct quantities in both the Batch Logs and Location Logs. Everything that draws on those logs, including the Stock Logs screen, the Stock Transaction export, the Stock History Report and stock history on the Mobile App, now shows the right figures.

The Batch Deliveries Report now includes every batch delivery, including those booked in on a handheld, so it lines up with the Purchase Order Report for the same period and client.

Removing a line from a purchase order now updates the gross total straight away, so the total always matches the lines that remain.

The Jobs pages now have working date pickers again, making it quick to filter jobs by date.

Plugin Enhancements

The Stock Value History Report plugin now calculates available stock accurately for batch-numbered products, so historical On Hand and Available figures line up with your stock logs.

On the Multi Pick Pack Terminal, switching off Show Group Info now hides bundle details on the order lines as well. Pickers and packers see just the products and quantities they need, keeping the screen clear and the picks accurate.

Every change in this release is about firmer foundations: safer accounts, an API your integrations can lean on, and figures you can trust as the busy season arrives. Thank you for trusting us with your operations. We build every release to make your working day a little smoother, and if anything here raises a question, the team behind Helm is always happy to help.

Your team at Helm