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The date picker

Date picker behaviour: auto-select, required dates, signatures

Updated 23 July 2026

Beyond where the picker sits and how it looks, Date selector → Date selection behaviour controls how it acts.

Automatically select a date

Automatically select a delivery date (on by default) pre-fills the earliest available date so most shoppers never have to open the calendar — they only interact if they want a different day.

  • Default to a later available date — offset the auto-selection (e.g. always pre-select the second available day) to give your team breathing room.
  • With shipping zones in date-first mode, auto-select can prefer specific shipping profiles — useful when you'd rather default shoppers onto your standard service than the fastest one.

Require a date before checkout

Require a delivery date before shoppers continue blocks progression until a date is chosen:

  • On cart/drawer/product setups, checkout buttons stay locked until the date is saved to the cart.
  • Hide express payment buttons until a delivery date is chosen closes the Apple Pay / Shop Pay shortcut, which otherwise skips the cart entirely.
  • At checkout (Plus), the block plus the server-side Delivery Availability & Date Guard enforce it — including for Shop app orders. See checkout validation.

If you'd rather dates were optional, leave this off — orders without a date simply arrive untagged, and you can add dates from the order page later.

What shoppers choose first

With shipping zones on, What should shoppers choose first? sets the flow:

  • Date first — shopper picks the day, then sees the shipping options valid for that day.
  • Rate first — shopper picks the service, then sees that service's available days.

Signature confirmation

Ask shoppers to confirm a delivery signature is required adds a mandatory checkbox under the calendar (text editable, default "I acknowledge that a signature will be required upon delivery"). Add-to-cart / checkout stays blocked until it's ticked.

Single shipping option tidy-up

Hide shipping method step when there is only one option skips the radio list when only one profile is valid, keeping the picker compact.