Bakery order tracker in SharePoint

Short answer: keep one SharePoint list named "Bakery Orders" with one row per order. Each row holds the pickup date, the customer, the deposit status, the design notes and a Picked up flag (Yes or No). Then save a view named "Today's pickups" that shows orders due today that are not yet picked up. The list does not take payments and does not set your prices. It records what you type. The exact names of menus and buttons may differ from what is written here, because Microsoft changes its screens from time to time.

Why notes, texts and paper slips break down

A cake order arrives as a text, a call or a note on the pad by the register. Two days later the customer wants lemon instead of vanilla and a 10 AM pickup instead of 9. Whether the deposit came in lives in someone's memory.

What goes wrong:

The newest pickup date is in a reply that is hard to find.
Nobody can say if Order 12 paid its deposit.
The design notes are on a paper slip, and the person who took the call is off today.
On Saturday morning someone copies the day's pickups onto a sheet by hand.

Put each cake on its own row in one shared list and those questions have one place to be answered: pickup time, design and deposit sit side by side.

What you are building

The finished list has seven working parts:

A row for every order, so a Saturday rush is never a pile of loose slips.
A pickup date with the hour, which lets the list put the next handoff first.
Deposit columns, one for the amount and one for the status.
A tall notes field for the cake details, plus Bake day, Cake type and Allergy note columns the kitchen reads.
A Picked up flag that removes finished orders from the daily screen.
The saved view "Today's pickups" that the counter keeps open.

If you are new to lists, see "Replace a spreadsheet tracker with a SharePoint list". For a similar order build with a client list and a kitchen view, see "Catering order tracker in SharePoint". This guide does not repeat those steps.

Plan before you build

A bakery order carries two dates, and the list has to hold both. Decide these before you open SharePoint.

Bake day and pickup day. A cake picked up Saturday at 9 AM may need baking Thursday. Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: store both dates, so the oven plan and the counter plan each read their own column.
What counts as a row. Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: one cake per row. Order 12 with a tiered cake for Friday and a sheet cake for Sunday is two rows, because each has its own dates.
Tiered or sheet. Add a Choice column for the cake type, for example 1 Tiered, 2 Sheet, 3 Cupcake box. These are examples, so use your own menu.
Allergy note. A Multiple lines of text column that stores what the customer said to staff. The list does not check it, judge it or advise on it.
Contact details. A first name and one phone or email line. Leave card and bank numbers out.
Access. A saved view only changes what appears on screen, and anyone who can open the list can switch views. Ask your admin who gets access.

Step 1. Create the list

Microsoft's help page on creating a list describes a blank list this way: "Choose to start a list from scratch." Go to https://www.microsoft365.com, open your SharePoint site, select "+ New", then "List", then "Blank list", add the name "Bakery Orders" and select "Create". Exact names may differ.

The same page says: "A blank list opens with a standard "Title" column on the left." The Title column is required by default. Use it for the order name, and rename it to "Order". You can also turn off the Require setting in the column settings. Type a short name such as "Order 12, birthday cake". Do not leave it empty.

Step 2. Add the columns

Select "Add column" for each one below.

Customer (Single line of text). A first name and one way to reach them. Type it the same way every time.
Pickup (Date and Time, with time). A cake order needs the hour, not only the day. Add Bake day (Date only) beside it.
Item (Choice). Use numbered choices so the order stays the way you want it: 1 Cake, 2 Cupcakes, 3 Cookies, 4 Bread, 5 Other. SharePoint sorts these by the words, so the leading digit is what keeps Cake at the top.
Design notes (Multiple lines of text). Flavor, size, writing on the cake, colors and anything the customer sent. One item per line.
Price (Number). The total you quoted. Use a Number column. Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: keep money in a Number column and write the currency in the column name, such as "Price (USD)".
Deposit (Number). The amount received so far.
Deposit status (Choice): 1 Not asked, 2 Asked, 3 Received, 4 Refunded.
Order status (Choice): 1 Inquiry, 2 Confirmed, 3 Baked, 4 Closed, 5 Cancelled.
Picked up (Yes/No). Set the default value to No in the column settings. Staff change it to Yes at the counter when the customer takes the order.
Allergy note (Multiple lines of text). Whatever the customer told staff, in their words.
Cake type (Choice): 1 Tiered, 2 Sheet, 3 Cupcake box.
Owner (Person). The staff member who took the order. Add this if you want to filter by owner.

Microsoft's page on filtering a view lists "Yes/No" as a supported column type for filtering. That is why a Yes/No flag is the right tool for the daily view: once a row says Yes, it drops out.

Step 3. Enter an order

Take the order at the counter or on the phone, then open "Bakery Orders" and select "New". Fill the order name, customer, bake day, pickup date and time, cake type, design notes, allergy note, price and deposit status. Save before the customer hangs up. Later changes go into the same row, so the row shows the latest pickup time and the latest allergy wording.

Step 4. Build the counter view for today

This is the screen the counter keeps open: every cake due out today that is still on the shelf.

Open "Bakery Orders". Open the view menu, then choose "Edit current view" to open the classic view editor.
Under "Filters", choose "Show items only when the following is true".
Pick Pickup, then "is equal to", and type [Today].
Add a second filter with "And": Picked up is equal to No.
Show the columns Order, Customer, Pickup, Bake day, Cake type, Design notes, Allergy note, Deposit status and Picked up. Sort by Pickup, ascending. Save the view with the name "Today's pickups".

Microsoft's help page on filtering a view says: "It is not possible to use the [Today] or [Me] filters when filtering using a column header." It also says: "You must use the classic view editor to filter columns using these keywords." And it says: "The [Today] keyword works on date-based columns."

Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: set blank and "is not equal to" filters in the classic view editor too.

An order not picked up yesterday will not show in "Today's pickups", because its date is no longer today. Step 6 covers that.

Step 5. Build a view for deposits

Add one more view, named "Deposits to chase", for the person who handles money questions.

Open the classic view editor and start a new view.
Filter on Deposit status is equal to 2 Asked, so only unpaid requests appear.
Add an And filter, Order status is not equal to 5 Cancelled, so dropped orders stay out.

Open it at the start of each shift. Order 31 sitting here for a week is a sign someone should call. Nothing in the list sends a message on its own.

Step 6. Catch missed pickups

A "Today's pickups" view shows only today. To catch an order that was never picked up, create a third view named "Not picked up".

In the classic view editor, filter Picked up is equal to No.
Add a second filter: Order status is not equal to 5 Cancelled.
Sort by Pickup, ascending. The oldest date is at the top.

Because of the Picked up flag, a finished order leaves this view as soon as someone sets it to Yes. Without the flag, every old order would stay in the view forever. Anything with a pickup date in the past that is still here needs a phone call.

For the list to color late rows, see "Turn overdue rows red in a SharePoint list".

Step 7. Check the bake week

Before a Saturday rush, sort the default view by Bake day and read down the column. Each tiered order needs complete design notes and a Received deposit. Each row needs a filled Allergy note, even if it only says none given. Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: sort the default view by Pickup, so the next handoff is always on top.

What to avoid

Do not keep the pickup date in a text thread and the row both. One of them will be stale on a busy Saturday.
Do not leave Bake day empty on a tiered order. The oven plan reads that column.
Do not read a view as a lock. Anyone with access to the list can open every view.
Do not type card or bank numbers into any column.
Do not allow a blank Order status. Set 1 Inquiry as its default value in the column settings.
Do not drop the Picked up flag. The "Not picked up" view relies on it.
Do not treat the Allergy note as a safety record or a labeling check. It stores typed text only.
Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: set Order status to 4 Closed after handoff and filter closed rows out of the daily views.

Honest limits

The list stores what staff typed. It cannot confirm that a deposit arrived, charge a card, or verify an allergy statement.

It also cannot see your oven. A tiered cake and a sheet cake due the same hour look alike in the Pickup column. Someone has to read Cake type and Bake day and judge the workload.

When a customer moves a pickup and nobody edits the row, the list is wrong. Begin with one list and one view, then add the others after the first is in daily use.

When to get help

You can build all of this yourself in Microsoft 365. If you would rather have it built and tested for your team, I do that. A tracker like this is a fixed price: $5,000 for one, built in 2 weeks. See "What a SharePoint tracker costs to build". Bring one example of the problem to a free call.

Tell me what's still manual

I am Al Davies. I run 250 High Street LLC and build SharePoint trackers and Power Automate flows for operations teams. I work remotely. The first call is free, and I will not try to sell you anything.

See trackers I built: Tools I built

FAQ

Can the list show only today's pickups?

Yes. Use the classic view editor, open Filters, and set Pickup to is equal to [Today]. Microsoft says you must use the classic view editor for the [Today] keyword.

Why add a Picked up column?

So finished orders drop out of the daily and missed-pickup views. Filter Picked up is equal to No, and a row leaves the view when staff change it to Yes.

Can I hide the deposit amount from some staff with a view?

No. A view only changes what is shown. To limit who can open the list, use permissions, and ask your admin which groups to use.

Why is the Title column called Order?

A new list has a Title column, and it is required by default. Rename it to Order so staff know what to type there, or turn off the Require setting.

Will the list tell me when a deposit is late?

Not by itself. Use the "Deposits to chase" view and check it each day. A reminder needs a person or a separate automation.