How to Send a Collaborator Request in Shopify Without Confusion

Giving someone access to your Shopify store should be simple, but in practice it often isn’t. The collaborator feature is useful, especially when working with developers, designers, or agencies, yet many store owners get stuck the moment they try to set it up.

Buttons don’t show up. Help pages fail to load. The difference between staff access and collaborator access isn’t always obvious. This guide walks through how collaborator requests actually work in Shopify, what each side needs to do, and how to avoid the common mistakes that slow everything down.

What a Collaborator Is and Why Shopify Uses This System

A collaborator in Shopify is not the same as a staff member. That distinction matters more than most people realize.

Collaborators are always Shopify Partners. They access your store through their own Partner Dashboard, not through your admin login. This setup exists to keep access limited, track who is doing what, and avoid sharing full credentials.

There are a few important consequences of this:

• Collaborators do not count toward your staff limit
• Collaborators can only request access, not grant it
• Store owners stay in full control of permissions
• Access can be revoked at any time without affecting other users

If you are working with a developer, designer, agency, or marketing specialist who already has a Partner account, collaborator access is the safest option. If someone asks for staff access instead, that is usually a sign they either do not understand the system or are trying to work around it.

The Two Ways Collaborator Requests Actually Happen

This is where confusion usually starts.

There are two legitimate paths for collaborator access in Shopify:

1. The partner sends a request from their Partner Dashboard
2. The store owner enables a request code and shares it

Both methods end with the same result, but they behave differently and fail in different ways.

Understanding which one you are using saves time and prevents mismatched expectations.

How Shopify Partners Send a Collaborator Request

This is the most common and most reliable method, when it works.

Step 1: Log into the Partner Dashboard

The partner logs into their Shopify Partner account. This is not the store admin and not the same login as a staff account.

From there, they go to the Stores section.

Step 2: Choose “Request access to store”

Inside the Stores area, there is an option to add a store. One of the choices is “Request access to store”.

This is the correct option. Creating a development store is not the same thing and will not grant access to an existing client store.

Step 3: Enter the myshopify.com URL

This step causes more delays than it should.

The partner must enter the internal myshopify.com URL, not the custom domain. For example:

• correct: examplestore.myshopify.com
• incorrect: www.examplestore.com

If the partner does not have this URL, the store owner needs to provide it. It can be found in the store settings inside the admin panel.

Step 4: Select Permissions Carefully

The partner chooses what access they need. This is not just a formality.

Store owners often reject requests that ask for everything without explanation. On the other hand, partners sometimes select too little and cannot do their work after approval.

It helps to be specific and realistic here.

Step 5: Add a Short Message

This is optional, but skipping it often causes confusion.

A simple message explaining who you are and what you need access for makes approval faster. Store owners receive many automated emails and vague requests raise red flags.

Step 6: Wait for Approval

Once sent, the request goes to the store owner. Nothing happens until they approve it.

If approval takes time, it is usually because the email was missed or filtered, not because the system is broken.

How Store Owners Accept a Collaborator Request

From the store owner side, the process is simpler, but the interface is not always obvious.

Where Collaborator Requests Appear

Approved requests show up in the Shopify admin under:

Settings > Users and permissions > Collaborators

If the request does not appear there, it usually means one of three things:

• The request was never sent
• The wrong store URL was used
• The email notification was missed

Shopify does not always surface collaborator requests prominently, which is why people assume something went wrong.

Reviewing Permissions Before Approving

Before approving, the store owner can review the permissions requested. This is the moment to limit access if needed.

You can change permissions later, but it is better to start conservative and expand if required.

Approval Does Not Create a Staff Account

This point matters.

Approving a collaborator request does not add a staff user. The collaborator still logs in through their Partner Dashboard. If you are expecting to see them listed as staff, you are looking in the wrong place.

Using a Collaborator Request Code as a Store Owner

Shopify also allows store owners to control who can send requests by using a 4-digit collaborator request code.

This option is useful when you want to prevent random access requests.

Where to Find the Collaborator Request Code

In the Shopify admin:

Settings > Users and permissions > Collaborators

There is an option to allow only people with a request code to send a collaborator request. Once enabled, Shopify generates a 4-digit code.

You cannot customize this code. You can only regenerate it.

What the Code Actually Does

The code does not grant access.

It only allows someone to submit a request. You still need to approve it manually.

This is a common misunderstanding and a source of unnecessary worry for store owners.

When Using a Code Makes Sense

Using a request code is helpful when:

• You are working with multiple agencies
• You want to avoid spam requests
• You want tighter control over who can even ask for access

If you are only working with one trusted partner, the Partner Dashboard request method is usually enough.

Why the Interface Sometimes Looks Different

A lot of frustration around collaborator requests comes down to one simple thing: the Shopify admin does not look the same for everyone.

Shopify rolls out interface changes in stages. Depending on when your store was created, what permissions your account has, or whether certain features are being tested on your account, the layout can differ. Two store owners can follow the same instructions and still see different menus, buttons, or wording in the same section.

This is also why screenshots in help articles often feel outdated or confusing. They usually reflect one version of the admin, not every variation that exists in real accounts.

If you cannot find an option exactly where a guide says it should be, it does not mean you are missing something or doing anything wrong. In most cases, the setting still exists, just under a slightly different label or position.

Common Problems and What Actually Fixes Them

The Help Page Does Not Load

This is frustrating and surprisingly common.

In many cases, the issue is caused by being logged into multiple Shopify accounts in the same browser session. Shopify struggles with overlapping sessions.

The fastest fix is to open the admin in an incognito or private window and try again.

The Collaborator Option Is Missing

If you cannot find collaborator settings at all, check two things:

• Are you logged in as the store owner, not a staff member?
• Does your account have full administrative permissions?

Only the store owner or a full admin can manage collaborators.

The Partner Says the Request Failed

Ask them to confirm:

• They used the correct myshopify.com URL
• They are logged into the correct Partner account
• They are not already listed as staff on the store

If someone already has a pending staff invitation, Shopify may block collaborator requests until that is resolved.

Emails Never Arrive

Collaborator request emails often land in spam folders. This happens more than people expect.

If nothing shows up, checking the Collaborators section directly is more reliable than waiting for email notifications.

Collaborator vs Staff Access: Why This Argument Keeps Happening

It is common for developers to ask for staff access, especially if they are used to older workflows or have worked with stores that never used collaborator roles properly. Staff access itself is not wrong, but it comes with a few trade-offs that are easy to overlook.

Staff accounts count toward your store’s staff limit, require email-based invitations, and can become harder to manage when the same person works across multiple stores. Over time, this adds unnecessary friction, especially when outside partners only need limited, temporary access.

Collaborator access exists specifically for external partners. If someone insists on being added as staff without a clear reason, it is worth pausing and asking why, rather than defaulting to the more permanent option.

Removing or Changing Collaborator Access

Removing a collaborator is simple and immediate.

From the Shopify admin:

Settings > Users and permissions > Collaborators
Select the collaborator and remove access

The collaborator loses access instantly and no longer sees the store in their Partner Dashboard.

This does not affect any other stores they manage.

Practical Advice From Real-World Use

After dealing with collaborator access across many stores, a few patterns stand out.

• Always confirm the myshopify.com URL early
• Ask partners to include a message with their request
• Use incognito mode when things behave strangely
• Do not rely on help pages loading correctly
• Check permissions before approving, not after

Most collaborator issues are not bugs. They are mismatches between how Shopify expects the process to work and how people assume it works.

How We Help Shopify Teams Make Better Ad Decisions

At Extuitive, we work with Shopify brands that want fewer guesses and faster decisions when it comes to advertising. Our focus is simple: helping teams understand how their ads are likely to perform before real money is spent. No waiting for campaigns to fail. No burning budget just to “see what happens.”

We built Extuitive as a prediction engine that mirrors real-world outcomes. Our AI models are trained and validated against live campaign data, which means forecasts are grounded in reality, not assumptions. Shopify teams use us to identify winning creatives early, cut underperformers before launch, and scale what works with more confidence.

Because our platform is built for scale, teams can test and predict ad performance across large volumes of creatives in one place. We also surface clear signals around audience targeting, expected CTR, and ROAS, always benchmarked against historical performance. The goal is not more data, but clearer direction, so marketing teams can move faster once collaborators like agencies or performance specialists are inside the store and ready to act.

For Shopify brands that care about speed, accuracy, and predictable growth, we exist to remove uncertainty from ad decisions before they turn into costly mistakes.

Final Thoughts

Shopify’s collaborator system is powerful, but it is not intuitive the first time you use it. The biggest problems usually come from small misunderstandings, not from broken features.

Once you know where requests come from, how approval actually works, and why the interface sometimes feels inconsistent, the process becomes predictable.

If you treat collaborator access as a controlled workflow instead of a quick click, it does exactly what it is meant to do: give partners access without giving up control.

That is the goal, even if Shopify does not always make it obvious.

Frequently Asked Questions