I think I understand the confusion.

The database table, ac_addresses, has a column for Email and this gets populated during the checkout process, along with any other new shipping addresses.

If I modify the order's (billing) email address, this data does not change. What changes is the ac_orders table, BillToEmail field.

I don't think the Email column in the ac_addresses field is being used, but I need to confirm with a developer.

I did test an order by changing the email for the billing address and found that everything is working fine.

- emails are sent to the updated address
- the new email is shown for the order admin
- the customer can see the updated email when viewing the order

The customer cannot change the email address for the order though. That can only be changed by the admin.

Also, and this is a bug, the display of email address for the order's shipment information does display the original email address used for the order placement. So, if an admin changes the order's email address, the shipment shown ONLY on the retail side does not reflect the change.

AbleCommerce doesn't use email addresses for each shipment even though the database seems to look that way. The only email address used for order notifications, shipping notifications, etc. is the order email. I tested to be sure.

I believe the proper fix is to remove the email address displayed per shipment. We don't support having multiple email addresses per order, so it doesn't make sense to show it per shipment. Instead, it is shown properly with the billing address section on the customer invoice.

In the admin, the shipping address does not display with its own email address. That's why you can't edit it.

Why it's in the database is a mystery to me...but the software is going on 28 years of development, so it's possible the column was added a long time ago.