How to Safely Edit, Test, and Publish Shopify Themes Without Affecting Your Live Store
When working on customizing your Shopify store with themes like Atlas, you may want to make changes, test new designs, or even prepare a theme before making it live. This article will guide you through some best practices and reassure you about the non-destructive nature of theme editing on Shopify.
Hiding or Managing Your Current Live Theme
If you want to edit your current theme without it being visible to customers, the best practice is to publish a different theme temporarily. This will make your in-progress theme non-live but still fully editable. When your changes are complete and ready, you can publish your updated theme again to make it the active one. Steps:
Navigate to the Themes section in your Shopify admin.
Publish an alternative theme. This action makes it the active theme while leaving your in-progress theme in the background as editable.
Continue editing your theme in the editor.
When ready, re-publish your in-progress theme to make it live.
Saving Your Changes to Avoid Data Loss
While working on your theme, your changes are safe as long as you save them. Shopify preserves saved changes even if the theme isn't live. Always click "Save" after making updates to ensure your edits are not lost.
Testing a New Theme Without Impacting Your Store
Shopify allows you to manage and experiment with up to 20 themes per store. This means you can add a secondary theme like Atlas and test it without affecting your live store or existing themes. Benefits:
Non-Destructive Testing: Generating or adding a new theme doesn’t modify or delete your existing themes.
Simultaneous Management: Maintain and test multiple themes safely.
Steps:
Go to the Themes section in your Shopify admin.
Click on “Add Theme” and choose a new one to test.
Customize and preview the new theme before deciding to go live.
Summary
Customizing, testing, and publishing themes on Shopify is a safe and straightforward process. Whether you’re editing an existing theme, saving changes, or testing a new one, Shopify provides robust tools to ensure your live store remains unaffected until you're ready to publish your updates. For additional details, visit the Shopify Help Center.