Where your documents live

2026-08-04

Docket does not treat an old document as a request to render current Shopify data. Documents are stored records, not live re-renders.

What happens at generation

When a document generates, Docket fetches its current Shopify source data for an order, refund, or draft order. It normalizes and renders the data in memory, then stores immutable PDF and HTML versions. The render input is not stored, and Shopify is not consulted when that finished version is reopened.

What that means in practice

An invoice keeps the prices captured in its stored version. Edit products, change prices, or update Docket settings and the PDF already generated does not move while Docket remains installed.
Each version-specific hosted link is one stored document. The link shown for a version inside Docket points at that exact PDF.
A notification-email link points to the latest stored version. It never renders live Shopify data, but the same notification URL can resolve to a newer stored version after Docket creates one.
What you show an auditor is what was issued. For EU merchants this is the difference between a records system and a printing utility.

Reopening and re-printing

Open any stored document in Docket to view its hosted PDF and version history. Opening or printing that PDF does not regenerate it.

Enabled Shopify events can fetch current source data and generate new document versions automatically. Regenerate also fetches current Shopify data and applies current template settings to a new immutable version. In both cases, the previous stored version remains available instead of being overwritten.

Billing cancellation does not delete your documents

If billing ends while Docket remains installed, the archive is retained and existing public customer links keep working. Full app access and new document writes require an active subscription, but the Documents screen remains available so you can request a complete archive containing every stored PDF. Docket emails the verified store owner a private download link that expires after 30 days. Resubscribing restores full access to the retained archive.

Retention

Documents are kept as long as the app is installed. There is no billing-cancellation retention timer or archive tier that ages records out. Uninstalling Docket triggers deletion of the shop archive and export artifacts, former public links return not found, and no archive download remains available after uninstall.

The trade-off, stated flatly

A record that never changes also never updates. If a customer’s address was wrong when the version was generated, it remains wrong in that PDF and HTML. Correcting Shopify data can produce a new version when a supported update event arrives or an authorized user regenerates it. The old version remains part of the stored history.