How to add photos to a Shopify draft order quote

Why Shopify doesn't do it on its own

Draft orders work well for quotes and custom orders. But a custom item is a one-off line, not a product, and Shopify shows it without an image or a clickable title. Drafts also have no end date for a quote. Shopify only deletes a draft after a year with no activity (for drafts made on or after 1 Apr 2025), and any edit resets that clock. A year is far too long for a quote on made-to-order work.

The free way

1. For pieces you want pictured, create a product for each one and add its photo. Products show their image in a draft order; custom items don't.
2. To keep it out of your shop, you can set the product to Unlisted, which hides it from store search and collections. Check it still shows when you search for it in the draft before you rely on it.
3. Go to Orders › Drafts › Create order and add that product instead of a custom item.
4. Or keep the custom item and email the photos to the customer yourself.
5. Send the invoice. In the invoice message, write how long the price holds, for example "Valid until 20 October".
6. Put a reminder in your calendar to follow up before that date, and delete the draft by hand if the customer says no.

Where the free way falls short

• Your product list fills up with one-off pieces you have to clean up later.
• Photos in a separate email get lost. The customer sees the price in one email and the pictures in another.
• Nothing ends the quote on its date. The draft sits there until you remember it.
• Reminders and clean-up are all by hand, quote by quote.

The easier way: RNS Quote Photos

Questions

Sources

• Creating draft orders (checked 6 Oct 2026)
• Draft orders purged after 1 year of inactivity (checked 6 Oct 2026)
• Unlisted product status (checked 6 Oct 2026)