Switching to the New Multi-Recipient Checkout

Step-by-step guide to migrating from the original multi-recipient checkout to the new version. Transfer your settings, update your theme, and go live with the upgraded checkout experience.

The new multi-recipient checkout is a ground-up rebuild of the storefront checkout experience. It's faster, more flexible, and adds capabilities that weren't possible in the original version: discount codes, per-recipient product selection, real-time inventory tracking, product customization fields, and a redesigned layout with collapsible recipient cards and a sticky order summary.

This guide walks you through switching from the original checkout to the new version. The process takes about 15 minutes, and your customers won't see any changes until you save your theme at the end.

Before You Start

Make sure you have:

• An existing multi-recipient checkout running on your storefront (the original version)
• Access to your Shopify theme editor
• A few minutes to compare and transfer your current settings

tip

The new checkout uses its own settings and theme block, so your existing checkout stays fully functional until you swap the blocks in your theme. There's no risk of downtime during the switch.

Step 1: Enable the New Checkout

1. In the Send To Many app, go to Settings.
2. You'll see a new Multi-Recipient Checkout section. Click Enable.

Clicking Enable creates a few meta object definitions on your store that the new checkout needs. It does not turn anything on or change anything on your storefront. Your existing checkout continues to work exactly as before.

Step 2: Transfer Your Settings

The new checkout has its own configuration, separate from your original checkout settings. Settings don't copy over automatically, so you'll need to go through each section and match your existing configuration.

Use Chrome split-tab view for easy comparison

Chrome's split-tab feature makes this easy. Click the split-view icon in the address bar (the small box with a line through it) to open two tabs side by side. Put your original checkout settings on one side and the new checkout settings on the other.

Order settings

Review these settings and match them to your existing configuration:

• Order value: Dollar value or calculated orders
• Shipping notifications: Whether to send order confirmations to recipients
• Inventory handling: Whether to take from inventory and how to handle out-of-stock items
• Order tags: The tag applied to recipient orders (this setting has moved further down the page in the new version, but it works the same way)

Recipient fields

The recipient fields work the same way. Go through your existing list and enable the same fields: name, address, email, phone, company. Click into each field to confirm whether it's set as required or optional.

New option: Apartment/Suite. The new checkout adds a dedicated apartment/suite field that shows alongside the address. In the original checkout, apartment numbers were only entered through the address autocomplete or the edit modal. If your customers frequently ship to apartments or suites, consider enabling this field so it's always visible.

Gift message

Gift messages are now their own dedicated section rather than being bundled with other recipient fields. Configure these options:

• Show gift message: Choose whether the gift message field always shows, or whether shoppers toggle it on with a "This is a gift" checkbox.
• Storage: Select where the gift message is saved (order notes, additional details, etc.) to match your existing setup.
• Max length: Set the character limit for gift messages. Check your original settings for the value you're currently using.

note

If you use the "This is a gift" checkbox option, note that checking the box adds a line item property to the order indicating the order is a gift. This shows as an additional detail on the order in Shopify. If you use order additional details for other purposes (like fulfillment workflows), be aware of this so it doesn't create confusion.

Shipping and delivery

Your existing shipping rate configuration carries forward. If you're using calculated rates, custom rates through Zapiet, or our Custom Shipping API, those integrations will continue to work.

The new checkout adds delivery date options that you may not have had before:

• Global vs. per-recipient: Choose whether all recipients share one shipping date or each recipient gets their own date picker.
• Blackout dates: Set holidays or other days when you don't ship.
• Day-of-week rules: Control which days of the week are available for shipping.

If you weren't using shipping dates before, you can leave these turned off.

Discounts

This is an entirely new section. The original checkout didn't support discount codes, so there's nothing to transfer here. But you may want to configure these options for the new checkout:

• Discount codes: Enable a discount code field in the checkout. Codes are validated and applied per recipient based on Shopify's discount rules. You can choose whether the discount field appears per recipient or at the overall checkout level.
• Automatic discounts: Shopify automatic discounts (like free shipping over a certain amount) work automatically per recipient. No configuration needed.
• Volume discounts: Set up tiered discounts based on order value or recipient count. For example, 5% off orders over $1,000. You can add multiple tiers, customize the promotional message shoppers see, and control when that message starts appearing (e.g., only show it once the cart reaches $500).

Product customization

Another new capability. If you offer customizable products (logo uploads, custom card messages, engraving text), you can configure those fields here. There are two scopes:

• Global: Set once by the shopper and applied to all recipients (e.g., a company logo).
• Per-recipient: Editable within each recipient card (e.g., a personalized card message).

If you don't offer product customization, skip this section.

Inquiries

The new checkout includes an optional inquiry button that lets shoppers submit their in-progress send as an inquiry instead of checking out. This is useful for corporate gifting workflows where the customer wants a quote before committing. If you don't use the inquiry workflow, leave this turned off.

Step 3: Update Your Theme

With your settings configured, it's time to swap the checkout blocks in your theme.

1. Open your Shopify theme editor (Online Store → Themes → Customize).
2. Navigate to the page where your existing multi-recipient checkout lives. This is typically a dedicated page, not your homepage. If you're not sure which page it's on, check your cart page or look under Pages in the theme editor navigation.

3. In the left sidebar, find the Apps section. You'll see your existing Send To Many checkout block listed there.
4. Click Add block and select Multi Recipient Cart v2 from the app blocks list.

5. Click into the new v2 block to open its settings. The main setting to transfer is your accent color:
   • In the original block, this was called Selected card color.
   • In the new block, it's called Accent color.
   • Copy the hex color value from the old block to the new one. The accent color controls primary buttons, links, focus states, and the selected card highlight.

tip

If you still have your original block visible, click into it to see its settings, then copy the color value over to the new block. This is another place where Chrome split-tab view comes in handy if you want both block settings visible at the same time.

6. Once you've transferred your theme settings, delete the original checkout app block from the Apps section.

warning

Don't leave both the old and new checkout blocks on the same page. Having both active can cause the checkout to fail. Always remove the old block after adding the new one.

7. Click Save in the theme editor.

Step 4: Test Your Checkout

Before promoting the new checkout to customers, run through a quick test:

1. Visit your storefront and add a product to your cart.
2. Navigate to your multi-recipient checkout page.
3. Add a test recipient with an address, and verify that:
   • Address autocomplete is working
   • Your recipient fields match what you configured
   • Gift message options appear correctly
   • Shipping rates are calculating (if using calculated rates)
   • The accent color and styling look right
4. If you configured discount codes or volume discounts, test those as well.
5. Proceed through to the Shopify checkout page to confirm the handoff works.

You don't need to complete the purchase. Once you've confirmed the checkout page loads correctly and settings are applied, you're good to go.

What's New in This Version

Once you've switched, your customers will notice several improvements:

Per-recipient product selection. Instead of selecting products at the top and applying them to all recipients, each recipient card now has its own product picker. If there's only one product in the cart, it auto-adds to each recipient with no extra clicks.

Faster page loads. The new checkout uses Liquid rendering, so the page loads almost instantly instead of waiting for a server request.

Collapsible recipient cards. Completed recipients collapse to show a summary with product thumbnails, keeping the page manageable even with many recipients.

Sticky order summary. The order total, recipient count, and line item breakdown stay pinned on the right side of the page as shoppers add recipients.

Discount codes. Shoppers can enter discount codes that get validated and applied per recipient.

Real-time inventory. The checkout tracks inventory as recipients are added, preventing overselling and showing sold-out or low-stock indicators.

Product customization. If configured, shoppers can upload logos, enter custom text, or fill in other product-specific fields per recipient or globally.

Multiple configurations (Pro and higher plans). You can create multiple checkout configurations and assign them to different products or pages. This is useful if you sell different product lines that need different recipient fields, gift message options, or shipping setups.

Customizing the Look and Feel

The new checkout offers extensive styling options:

• Theme editor settings: About 20 settings are exposed directly in the theme editor, including accent color, button styles, and layout options.
• CSS variables: Over 100 CSS variables let you control virtually any visual component. Add custom CSS in the theme editor's custom CSS field for the app block. Note that some CSS variable names have changed from the original checkout, so existing custom CSS won't carry over directly. See Customize multi-recipient cart v2 with CSS variables for the full list of available variables and how they map to the original version.
• Working around CSS length limits: Shopify's theme editor has a character limit on the custom CSS field for app blocks. If you have extensive CSS customizations that exceed this limit, split your CSS between the app block's custom CSS field and the section-level global custom CSS field. Both are applied to the checkout, so you can use them together.
• Text and translations: All customer-facing text in the checkout is fully customizable through the Send To Many app under Text & Translations. This includes button labels, field placeholders, error messages, and instructional text. If you've customized button text or other labels in the original checkout, re-enter those in the Text & Translations section. Multi-language translations are also supported if your store serves multiple languages.

Need Help?

If you run into any issues during the switch, reach out to our support team. We're happy to walk you through the migration or help troubleshoot.