Build & optimize a delivery round

What it is

A "delivery round" is simply one driver's trip for the day: a list of stops, in the best order, starting from where they pick up the goods. You build it right on your dashboard. You tick the orders you want, tell Routella where the driver starts and when they leave, and Routella draws the route on the map and figures out the smartest order to visit each stop so the trip is as short as possible. When you save it, Routella gives you a shareable delivery link to send to your driver, plus an arrival time for every stop.

Why it matters

Sorting stops by hand is slow and easy to get wrong, and a bad order means wasted fuel, longer days, and customers waiting. Routella does the sorting for you in seconds, even taking rush-hour traffic into account, so your driver covers fewer miles and gets home sooner. You also get a clear arrival time for each customer, which means fewer "where is my order?" calls and a smoother day for whoever is running dispatch.

Step by step

1. 1
   Open your orders list and pick the ones for this trip

   On the dashboard you'll see your orders in the side list. Tick (select) each order you want in this round. As you select an order, its pin appears on the map so you can see every stop. To grab a whole batch at once, use the "Select all" button at the top of the list, and "Clear" if you want to start the selection over. The counter shows how many orders are currently selected.
2. 2
   Choose what each map pin shows

   Order number is the default. To show customer names instead, open the map display menu on desktop or Map tools on a phone, then under "Show on map" choose "Customer name." Routella saves the choice for the account. If an order has no customer name, its pin still shows the order number.
3. 3
   Show all orders, orders waiting for a route, or the current route

   When a current route is on the map, open the map display menu on desktop or Map tools on a phone. Under "Orders shown," choose "All orders," "Waiting for a route," or "Current route." Waiting for a route shows a count and keeps only orders that are not on the current route visible. Current route keeps the route stops visible. When the visible boxes for any orders shown on the map touch as you zoom out, Routella joins them into one colored group. If one box touches a second and that second touches a third, all three join the same colored group. This also keeps numbered route labels from covering nearby order text; the route number returns when you zoom close enough for the labels to stay apart. Select a group and Routella goes to the first zoom level where the order labels can safely stay apart. If the orders still cannot separate at the closest available zoom, selecting the group opens a "Choose an order" list instead. These map choices only change what you see; they do not assign an order or change the route.
4. 4
   Set who delivers, where they start, and when they leave

   On a computer, open "Route setup." On a phone, tap the route summary at the bottom of the map — the row with the departure and arrival times — to open the same setup. Choose the departure date and time, the Start address, an optional End address, the Driver, and an optional Vehicle. The departure time matters because Routella uses it when working out the route, so set it to when the driver will actually head out.
5. 5
   Let Routella find the smartest stop order

   As soon as you've selected stops and set a starting point, Routella starts working out the best order to visit them and draws the driving line on the map. The stops get renumbered in the order the driver should follow. On a phone, the bottom route card shows whether Routella is working, needs a start point or corrected address, or could not build the route. Use "Build best route" or "Rebuild best route" there when you want to run it again. If Smart Routing is available for the account, the same card also shows the Live traffic switch.
6. 6
   Check the route summary — total time, distance, and each stop's arrival time

   On a computer, the route summary appears above the route. On a phone, it stays in the card at the bottom of the map. It shows when the driver departs and arrives, the number of physical stops, total drive time and distance, and the number of products and units. Each stop also gets an estimated arrival time. "Unloading time per stop" (how long the driver spends dropping off at each address) is built into these times — you can tap it to change it, and every arrival time updates to match.
7. 7
   Bring one route or pending order into view on the map

   In the route review, click or tap the body of an order card under Your route or Pending orders. Routella brings that order's pin into view and highlights it. On a phone held upright, the pin stays in the visible map above the lower review sheet; resizing the sheet keeps the map center and zoom you chose. On a phone held sideways when the screen is short, the review sits beside the map instead. Checkboxes, Products, drag handles, and the other buttons keep their own actions. An order without a usable map location and an ordinary custom stop cannot be focused this way.
8. 8
   Adjust the stop order by hand if you need to

   Routella's order is a starting point, not a cage. Use the visible handle to drag an existing stop directly to its new place with a mouse, touch, or pen; long lists scroll while you hold the stop near an edge. With a keyboard, focus the handle and use the arrow keys, Home, or End. The up and down buttons remain available as a precise fallback. On a phone held upright, the current route and Pending orders share the lower sheet over the live map. Pull the handle at the top of the sheet upward for longer lists or downward for more map. Tap that handle to expand the sheet, then tap it again to return to the lower view; with a keyboard, focus it and use Arrow Up, Arrow Down, Home, or End. On a phone held sideways when the screen is short, the review sits beside the map and does not show the sheet-resize handle. At the top of Pending orders, tap the magnifying glass to search and use Suggested or All to change which waiting orders appear. Custom stop stays at the top of that scrolling list. Drag a pending order's handle into an exact route slot, or use the nearby "Place in route" control and choose Start, After a stop, or End. With a keyboard or screen reader, Enter or Space on the pending-order handle opens those same choices, then keyboard focus moves to the order in Your route. You can also drop a pending order directly on an ordinary route card to replace that one stop, or drag a route stop into Pending orders to take it out of the route. A pickup-and-delivery job stays together, so place another order in a slot beside it instead of replacing just one of its two legs. Once the driver completes either leg, both legs become read-only in the route review. The floating card names the exact result before you release. After a change, Routella keeps your place in both lists while it renumbers the stops, redraws the route line, and recalculates the arrival times. A new route waits at Ready for you to save it; an existing saved route moves from Saving to Saved as Routella stores the change. If the route or pending list changes in the background while you are still holding a card, Routella removes the old floating card, cancels that old drop safely, and asks you to refresh the list and try again. Cancel returns the whole review to how it was when you opened it, including moved, removed, or replaced stops and any driver, vehicle, date, or time you changed. On a phone, pressing Escape leaves the review with the same full reset as Cancel. If recalculating or saving the new stop order fails, use Try again in the bottom bar without starting over.
9. 9
   Use the review toolbar to check every change

   Use Undo and Redo to step backward or forward through route-review changes. Open Changes to see a receipt of stops you added, removed, or moved, plus changes to the schedule, start or end point, locked stops, estimated distance, and estimated driving time. Open Route checks — shown as Issues when something needs attention — to review missing locations, stops placed far from the start point and the other stops (often a wrong map pin), duplicate stops, pickup-and-delivery order, completed or locked stops, required schedule choices, vehicle capacity and missing product measurements, and time-window warnings. A blocking issue keeps Save route unavailable until you fix it. Each issue includes a button that takes you to the stop, schedule field, or capacity detail that needs attention.
10. 10
    Pick several pending orders from the map or give one list more room

    Open Map tools (⋯) in the route-review toolbar and choose Select pending orders on the map. Then drag a box around pending-order pins or choose Select visible. Check the count and choose Confirm selection; those orders become selected in Pending orders so you can place them in the route. Use the expand button above Your route or Pending orders when you need more room to read one list. Starting a drag returns the two lists to their equal-width layout so every drop area stays available.
11. 11
    Save a custom stop you use often

    Open Custom stop, enter a short label, choose its map location, and set how many minutes the driver will spend there. Choose Save as template to reuse it later. Routella keeps up to eight custom-stop templates for this account in this browser. A template keeps only the short label, map coordinates, and time at the stop — not the street-address text or customer information. You can use or remove a saved template from the Custom stop card.
12. 12
    Recover unfinished review work without replacing a newer route

    If the review closes before you save, Routella can offer Restore draft in the same browser for up to 24 hours. The browser draft keeps only the route plan needed to recover your work; it does not keep customer names, phone numbers, notes, addresses, products, or the arrival-time text shown on screen. A draft from an older route version cannot overwrite the newer saved route. If another dispatcher changes the route while you are reviewing it, Routella keeps changes that do not overlap. For any stop or setting changed in both places, choose Keep my changes or Use latest changes before you continue.
13. 13
    Remove a stop safely if plans change

    Open the saved round, take the order out of the stop list, and save again. Routella removes it from that round and puts it back on the active order board so you can route it again, unless another round already proves that order was delivered. This route edit changes Routella's route only: it does not cancel or reverse a Shopify fulfillment. If Shopify's fulfillment record also needs changing, handle that separately in Shopify.
14. 14
    Save the round and get the driver's link

    Choose "Review route & save" on a computer or "Review & save" on a phone. A route that is already saved and open on the map uses the same button and opens the same review, so you can add pending orders or change its stops and schedule before you save; that save updates the same route instead of making a new one. If the latest route is still being worked out, Routella waits for the line and arrival times that match your current stops, start, end, schedule, driver, and vehicle before opening the review. On a phone held upright, the same dashboard map stays visible and the route review opens as a lower sheet. On a phone held sideways when the screen is short, the review sits beside the map instead. Open its Schedule row if you need to change the driver, vehicle, date, or start time. In the review, open Products on a route stop to see the item names and quantities saved with it; a stop with no saved product list does not show that control. The "Save route" button shows "Updating route..." and stays unavailable while a current change is being calculated. If that calculation fails, the cards stay on screen and the button changes to "Try route again." If Routella still needs the route's starting point, it changes to "Set the start point." Continue to the final approval, then save or use the option to text the driver. Routella automatically gives every newly saved route its next permanent number. You can also add an optional route name of up to 80 characters. The number and optional name appear in Routes (on both the Active and History tabs) and on the signed-in printable route sheet, but not on the public driver link. The saved route has a delivery link your driver can open for every stop in order with the map, addresses, and arrival times.

Tips

• Set the departure time to when the driver really leaves, not just "now." Routella allows for rush-hour traffic by the hour, so an honest start time gives you honest arrival times.
• If a stop has no pin on the map, its address probably didn't get located (geocoded) properly. Fix or confirm that address first, or the stop can't be added to the route.
• Selecting the same set of orders again updates the round you already made instead of creating a duplicate, so you can safely tweak a round and re-save it.
• The automatic order is traffic-smart, but you're the boss — use the drag handle, keyboard keys, or arrow buttons to put any stop where it needs to be for time windows, fragile items, or a VIP customer.
• If the phone review says "Updating route...", wait for it to finish. That short pause makes sure the line and arrival times belong to the exact stops and route settings now on screen.
• If a store connection changed after a saved route was made, Routella leaves the route open and keeps any stops that already finished successfully. Choose Mark them cancelled for the unfinished stops, refresh your orders, then add those stops to a new route.
• While Active is open and the page is visible, Routella quietly checks the saved route list about every 30 seconds. After a saved delivery-company action, it checks again shortly afterward. For Delivered and Not Delivered, a finished route leaves Active and its count when the server's list confirms it; 100% displayed progress alone does not close a route.

Common questions

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