Changelog

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 A couple of outdated third-party scripts have been retired along the way.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

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

Autumn is the season when warehouses start bracing for the busiest stretch of the year, and this release of Helm is shaped accordingly. The focus is on getting the details right before the volume arrives: cleaner customs data, a calmer Packing Terminal, quicker returns lookups and fewer small frictions in the places your teams touch a hundred times a day.

There is also a good deal of quiet groundwork here, from a more capable Public API through to tidier product records, all of it designed to keep your operation moving without anyone having to think about it.

Customs Data Ready For The November Deadline

Most couriers will require item-level manufacturer and barcode data from 1 November 2026, and Helm is now ready for it. Products have gained a new MID ID field for the Manufacturer Reference ID, and both this value and the existing Barcode #1 value are mapped into the item data sent to Voila when a shipment is created. This clears the errors that services such as FedEx Cross Border have been returning on shipments missing those fields, and it means the deadline should pass without drama.

The same two values now also appear against the relevant product lines on the default commercial invoice templates generated by Helm. Your paperwork and your courier data tell the same story, which is exactly what customs officers and carriers like to see.

Sharper Visibility And Smarter Touches On The Packing Terminal

Assigning items across multiple boxes on the standard Packing Terminal now works the way packers expect. Previously every line was locked to the first parcel as soon as it was scanned, which left the item assignment window with nothing to distribute. Items can now be scanned and allocated smoothly across a second, third or fourth box without anyone having to unpick Box 1 first, so multi-parcel orders move at the same steady rhythm as single-box ones.

Multi-parcel shipments with long tracking data are also handled properly. Where an order carried a large number of parcels, the combined tracking reference could previously exceed the field limit and lose its final entry, which caused marketplaces such as Temu to reject the fulfilment. Tracking information is now passed through in full, so every parcel is recognised and fulfilments complete first time.

Quicker Returns

Returns can now be searched directly by the Shopify order number and filtered by client. Returns very often arrive with nothing but the marketplace reference on them, and until now that meant looking up the matching Helm order number first, then searching again. That two-step hunt is gone, which is a welcome saving on every single return that comes through the door.

Cleaner Records And Clearer Visibility

Product location data is now shown in full for every user who should see it. Fulfilment client users and supervisor-level users on non-fulfilment accounts previously saw only part of the location list against a product, which made stock look thinner on the ground than it really was. The complete picture is now visible to both, with no impact on the permissions that keep each account's data properly scoped.

Product records are also tidier. A rare situation that allowed an active and an archived inventory record to coexist under the same SKU has been resolved, so stock figures sit against a single, unambiguous record and nobody has to work out which of two identical-looking entries is the real one.

The Jobs page has gained proper filtering and search. You can now narrow jobs by type, by date, by model and by ID, which turns what used to be a long scroll into a direct answer. Billing job records have been made dependable to match: every billing job is now recorded with a clear outcome, so a job can no longer sit invisibly between success and failure when you go looking for it.

On the home dashboard, your warehouse selection is now remembered. For anyone working across multiple sites, the dropdown holds the choice you made rather than resetting to the warehouse you happened to log in to.

A More Capable API

The Public API now supports requested packaging against an order. A dedicated set of authenticated endpoints allows requested packaging to be added, updated and removed, and requested packaging is now returned in order detail responses. Because this is handled at model level, packaging requested through order creation, create order with shipment, and add inventory to order all behave consistently across the system.

Everything in this release is aimed at the same quiet goal: fewer interruptions between your team and the work in front of them, and fewer surprises when the busiest weeks arrive. Thank you for trusting us with your operations. We will keep refining the small things so the big days look after themselves.

Your team at Helm