# How to Automatically Fulfill Orders for Digital Products

## How to Automatically Fulfill Orders for Digital Products

Big Digital Downloads allows you to automatically fulfill Shopify orders that contain digital products. This is an optional automation designed to simplify order management inside Shopify.

**Important:** Automatic fulfillment does **not** control digital delivery.\
Digital files are always sent automatically once the order is **paid**, whether this option is enabled or not.

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### How Digital Delivery Works

To avoid confusion, it is important to understand the difference:

* **Digital delivery** → Managed by Big Digital Downloads\
  Files are automatically sent when the order is confirmed and paid.
* **Order fulfillment** → Managed inside Shopify\
  This only changes the fulfillment status of the order in Shopify Admin.

Enabling automatic fulfillment simply marks the order as fulfilled in Shopify. It does not trigger or affect file delivery.

Customers will still receive their digital products instantly after payment, regardless of this setting.

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### Why Use Automatic Fulfillment?

Automatic fulfillment helps keep your Shopify orders organized when you sell digital-only products.

#### Benefits

* ✅ Orders are automatically marked as fulfilled in Shopify
* ✅ Cleaner order management workflow
* ✅ No manual fulfillment required
* ✅ Accurate reporting for digital-only stores
* ✅ Reduced operational steps for your team

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### When We Recommend Enabling This Option

Enable automatic fulfillment when:

* Your Shopify product functions **only as a digital product**
* No shipping or physical handling is required
* You want orders to be completed automatically in Shopify

Example:

* Ebook store
* Digital templates
* Online courses
* Downloadable assets

In these cases, automatic fulfillment keeps your order flow fully automated.

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### When We Do NOT Recommend Enabling It

Do **not** enable automatic fulfillment when your product includes:

* A **physical product + digital product** combination

Example:

* A physical book that includes a downloadable PDF
* Merchandise with bonus digital content
* Physical kits that include digital instructions

In this scenario:

* The physical product should control the fulfillment process.
* The order should be fulfilled when the physical item ships.

👉 Even if automatic fulfillment is disabled, the customer will still receive the digital product immediately after payment confirmation.

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### Step-by-Step: Enable Automatic Fulfillment

1. From your Shopify admin, go to **Apps**.
2. Open **Big Digital Downloads**.
3. Navigate to **Settings**.
4. Locate **Auto fulfill digital products**.
5. Toggle the option **Yes**.
6. Save your changes.

<figure><img src="/files/TJBz5ppFTqc1jHyAqGS4" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

***

### Key Takeaway

* Digital products are always delivered automatically after payment.
* Automatic fulfillment only updates the Shopify order status.
* Use this feature for digital-only products to simplify operations.


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