1. Overview
1.1 What is PayDrop Licenses?
PayDrop Licenses — License Dashboard showing KPI cards, the License Activations trend chart, Licenses by Product, and Recent Device Activations
PayDrop Licenses is a Shopify-embedded app built by The Shop Ninjas that lets merchants generate, distribute, and manage software license keys for the products they sell. A license key can be created by the store admin at any time for a Shopify product or for any custom, non-Shopify product.
The app supports assigning licenses to existing Shopify customers or to a custom name and email address, giving merchants the flexibility to license software sold both inside and outside of their Shopify catalog.
PayDrop Licenses is capable of the following:
- Creating license keys for a Shopify product or a custom product title
- Assigning licenses to a Shopify customer, or to a custom email and name
- Configuring device activation limits and license key formats: UUID, Alphanumeric, or Segmented
- Setting an optional expiry date, or issuing lifetime licenses that never expire
- Extending, renewing, regenerating, or revoking a license after it has been issued
- Automatically emailing the license key to the customer
- Providing a self-service storefront portal where customers can view and copy their license keys
- Tracking licensing performance through a built-in analytics dashboard
1.2 Navigation Overview
PayDrop Licenses appears in your Shopify Admin under Apps then PayDrop Licenses. Once inside the app, you will find the following pages in the left sidebar:
Licenses: View and manage every license key that has been issued, with options to view details, extend, renew, regenerate, or revoke individual licenses.
Products: Manage licensing settings for your Shopify store products, controlling which products issue a license when purchased.
Orders: View Shopify orders linked to licensed products, with search, date filtering, and CSV export.
Customers: View a per-customer summary of licensing activity, consolidated across orders and manually issued licenses.
Settings: Manage your billing plan and generate the customer-facing My License Keys storefront portal.
Documentation: Access the app’s help documentation directly from within Shopify Admin.
Support: Reach out to The Shop Ninjas support team for assistance.
2. License Dashboard
The License Dashboard is the first screen you see when you open PayDrop Licenses. It gives you a real-time summary of licensing activity, activations trend, and store performance statistics.
2.1 KPI Cards
At the top of the Dashboard, five summary cards display your most important metrics for the selected time period.
Total Users: The number of customers who have been issued a license.
Active Licenses: The number of license keys that currently have Active status.
Active Activations: The number of devices currently activated across all licenses.
Total Revenue: The cumulative revenue value associated with licensed orders.
Total Licenses: The total count of license keys that have ever been issued.
2.2 License Activations Trend Chart
Below the KPI cards, the License Activations chart shows the volume of device activation activity over time as a line graph. You can change the date range using the dropdown in the top right corner of the chart — for example, Last 30 Days shows a daily breakdown of how many devices were activated each day. This chart helps you monitor licensing activity and spot unusual spikes or gaps in activation volume.
2.3 Licenses by Product
The Licenses by Product panel shows a donut chart breaking down all issued license keys by the product they belong to, along with the percentage share each product represents out of the Total Keys issued.
2.4 Recent Device Activations
At the bottom of the Dashboard, the Recent Device Activations table lists the most recent devices activated against a license. Each row displays the license key, the product, the originating order, the customer’s email, the hostname of the activated device, and the activation time. Click Manage keys to navigate to the full Licenses page.
3. Licenses
3.1 Licenses List
PayDrop Licenses — Licenses page listing every issued license with status, product, customer, activations, and expiry
The Licenses page shows a complete list of every license key that has been issued by PayDrop Licenses, whether generated from an order or created by the admin. To access it, click Licenses in the sidebar. You can search by license key or product using the search bar, filter by status, and sort the list, for example by Newest First.
Each row in the list displays the license key, its status, the product it belongs to, the customer it is assigned to, the originating Order # (or a dash for manually created licenses with no order), the current Activations used out of the activation limit, the Expires date, and how long ago the license was Created.
3.2 License Status Meanings
Active: The license is valid and can be activated on devices, up to its activation limit.
Expired: The license’s expiry date has passed. It can no longer be used to activate new devices.
Revoked: The license was manually revoked by the store admin and is permanently disabled. The Extend and Renew actions become unavailable once a license is revoked.
Use the Create License Key button on this page to open the manual license creation form, described in Section 4.
4. Creating a License Key
In addition to licenses generated automatically from Shopify orders, store admins can create a license key at any time from the Licenses page using the Create License Key button. This opens the Create Manual License form, which adapts based on two independent choices: the Product Type and the Customer Type.
4.1 Product Type — Shopify Product
Create Manual License modal — Shopify Product selected, assigned to an existing Shopify Customer
Choose Shopify Product to issue a license against a product that already exists in the store’s catalog. Select the specific product from the Select Product dropdown.
4.2 Product Type — Custom Product Title
Create Manual License modal — Custom Product Title selected, assigned via Custom Email & Name
Choose Custom Product Title to issue a license for a product that is not listed in the Shopify catalog, for example software sold outside of Shopify, or a bundle. Enter a free-text name in the Custom Product Title field that appears.
4.3 Customer Type — Shopify Customer or Custom Email & Name
Shopify Customer: Assigns the license to a customer who already exists in the store’s Shopify customer list. Pick the customer by name from the Select Customer dropdown.
Custom Email & Name: Assigns the license to someone who is not a Shopify customer record, for example a manually invoiced client. Enter the recipient’s Customer Email and Customer Name directly.
4.4 License Settings
Regardless of the product or customer type chosen, every manual license shares the following settings:
License Key Format: The format used to generate the key string. Options include UUID (e.g. 123e4567-e89b-…), Alphanumeric, and Segmented.
Activation Limit: The maximum number of devices that can be activated using this single license key.
Expiry Date (Optional): The date the license stops being valid. Leave this field blank to create a lifetime license that never expires.
Once all fields are completed, click Generate Key to issue the license. The customer is then automatically emailed their license key — see Section 10.1.
5. Managing an Individual License
5.1 License Details Overview
License Details page showing the full license record and the Extend, Renew, Regenerate Key, and Revoke actions
Clicking View Details on any license from the Licenses list opens the License Details page, which shows the full record for that license: the License Key, Product, Customer (name and email), originating Order, current Activations, Expires date, Renewal Type, and when the license was Created.
Two additional tabs are available on this page: Activations, a log of each device that has activated this license, and Renewals, a history of renewal actions applied to this license.
5.2 Extend
Extend License dialog — adding days on top of the current expiry date
Extend adds a specified number of days directly on top of the license’s current expiry date, without resetting the renewal history. Enter the number of days to extend by and click Extend.
5.3 Renew
Renew License dialog — extending the license by a renewal period from the current expiry date
Renew extends the license by a renewal period, counted in days from the current expiry date, and is intended for recurring or subscription-style renewal cycles. Enter the Renewal period in days and click Renew.
5.4 Regenerate Key
Regenerate License Key confirmation dialog
Regenerate Key issues a brand-new key string for the same license record, invalidating the old key immediately. This action cannot be undone. Use it if a key has been compromised or shared inappropriately.
5.5 Revoke
Revoke License dialog with an optional reason field
Revoke permanently disables the license. Once revoked, the license’s Extend and Renew actions are disabled, and the license can no longer be used to activate devices. An optional Reason can be entered before confirming, for internal record-keeping.
6. Licensed Products
6.1 Licensed Products List
Licensed Products page listing products configured for automated licensing
The Products page controls licensing and the default rules applied to those licenses. To access it, click Products in the sidebar.
For each configured product, the list shows the Key Format used, the default Activation Limit, the total Keys Issued so far, the number of Active Devices currently activated, and the Status (Enabled or disabled) for automatic licensing.
6.2 Enabling Licensing for a Product
Enable Licensing for Product dialog
Click Enable Licensing to configure a new Shopify product for licensing.
Shopify Product: The product from the store catalog that this rule applies to.
License Key Format: The format used to generate keys for this product, for example UUID.
Device Activation Limit: The default number of devices a license for this product can be activated on.
Expiry Type: Controls whether generated licenses expire. Lifetime (Never Expires) issues permanent licenses; other expiry types can be selected to apply a fixed term.
Once saved, every future order for that product automatically generates a license key using these settings. Use Configure on an existing row to change these settings later.
7. Orders
Orders page listing Shopify orders linked to licensed products
The Orders page lists Shopify orders that are linked to a license product, giving a combined view of sales and licensing activity. To access it, click Orders in the sidebar.
Each order row shows the Order #, Customer, the licensed product purchased, Date, Location, Total, and Status. The list can be searched, filtered by date range, and exported to CSV using the Export CSV button for offline reporting.
8. Customers
Customers page showing licensing activity per customer
The Customers page provides a per-customer summary of licensing activity, consolidated across all of that customer’s orders and manually issued licenses. To access it, click Customers in the sidebar.
For each customer, the list shows the following:
Total Orders: The number of orders placed by the customer.
Licenses: The total number of license keys issued to that customer.
Recent License: The most recently issued license or product for that customer.
Last Activity: How long ago the customer last interacted with a license, such as an activation.
Location: The customer’s location, where available.
Use View All Orders to drill into a specific customer’s full order history. Customers created via the Custom Email & Name option in Section 4.3 still appear here even though they are not Shopify customer records, provided a license has been issued to them.
9. Settings
Settings page showing Your Plan and the My License Keys Portal section
The Settings page is where you manage store-wide app configuration for PayDrop Licenses. To access it, click Settings in the sidebar.
9.1 Your Plan
The Your Plan section shows your current billing plan, for example Free, along with its limits such as the number of download products included. Click Upgrade to Pro to view available plan options and unlock higher limits.
9.2 My License Keys Portal
The My License Keys Portal section generates and syncs the storefront page where your customers can log in to view and manage their own software license keys. Click Create Customer Portal Page the first time, and Update Portal Page afterward to refresh it if plan features change.
A confirmation banner reading “Customer portal page created successfully!” appears once the portal page has been generated, along with a View Page shortcut to open it.
10. Customer-Facing Experience
This section describes what your customers receive after a license key is issued to them, whether automatically from an order or manually by the admin.
10.1 License Key Email Delivery
License key delivery email received in Gmail — showing the product, license key, status, activation limit, and expiry
Immediately after a license key is generated, PayDrop Licenses automatically sends it to the customer’s email address. The email is sent on behalf of your store name and arrives with a subject line such as Your software license key for Acme Software Suite.
The email body greets the customer by name and confirms that a new license has been created for them. It includes a table showing the Product, the License Key, the Status, the Activation Limit shown as current usage over the limit, and the Expires date. A link to the My License Keys portal invites the customer to view and manage all of their licenses at any time.
10.2 My License Keys Customer Portal
My License Keys customer portal, showing product, license key with Copy button, status, expiry, and activation usage for each license
Customers can access a self-service storefront page — linked from their license email and from the store’s navigation where they can view every license key issued to them without contacting the merchant.
For each license, the customer can see the following:
- Product name
- The license key, with a Copy button to copy it to the clipboard
- Status — Active, Expired, or Revoked
- Expiry date
- Activations used versus the activation limit
- Source — whether the license was created automatically from an order or added manually by the store admin (Manual Key)
A separate Profile tab on the same portal allows the customer to manage their basic account details.
11. Support & Resources
If you need help with PayDrop Licenses, the following resources are available to you.
Documentation: Click Documentation in the PayDrop Licenses sidebar inside Shopify Admin, or visit https://theshopninjas.com/docs
Plans & Pricing: Navigate to Apps then PayDrop Licenses and click Settings, then click Upgrade to Pro to view available plans.
Support: Click Support in the PayDrop Licenses sidebar, or visit https://theshopninjas.com/contact-us
Website: https://theshopninjas.com
PayDrop Licenses is a product of The Shop Ninjas — helping Shopify merchants deliver secure, professional software licensing at every order.
