General Settings holds the text every customer sees in your drawer, whether or not you enable any upsell modules. By the end of this your drawer will read like part of your store rather than a default. Several fields accept variables, which is what lets the title show an item count and the button show a total.

In this article:

The text fields and their defaults

Field	Default	Where it appears
`Cart upsell name`	none	Internal only. Customers never see it.
`Cart Title`	`Your Cart {qty}`	Top of the drawer
`Checkout Button Text`	`Checkout • {total}`	The main button
`Empty Cart Message Text`	`Your cart is empty.`	When the cart has nothing in it
`Empty Cart Button Text`	`Continue Shopping`	Button on the empty state
`Subtotal Text`	`Subtotal`	The subtotal line

The variables you can use

Two fields accept a variable, and both help.

Field	Variable	Effect
`Cart Title`	`{qty}`	Inserts the number of items, per the help text `Use {qty} for the # items in the cart`
`Checkout Button Text`	`{total}`	Inserts the cart total, per `Use {total} for the cart total`

💡 Keep {total} on the checkout button. Customers who can see what they are about to pay abandon less often than those who have to click through to find out.

The free shipping line

When the subtotal line is switched on, a second line can sit beneath it reading Shipping FREE.

ℹ️ Its text is not in General Settings. The toggle that shows the line is here, but the words are set in the Progressive Gift module in the left navigation. Despite the name, that module contains nothing but these two fields.

Part	Default	Limit
`Label`	`Shipping`	50 characters
`Value`	`FREE`	50 characters

Preview in cart there shows how the pair will look.

⚠️ This is display text only. It does not make shipping free. The actual free shipping has to exist as a shipping rate or an automatic discount in Shopify. Showing "Shipping: FREE" to a customer who is then charged for shipping is the fastest way to lose the order at checkout.

Display toggles

Toggle	What it does
`Show Subtotal Line`	Shows the subtotal above the checkout button
`Show Strike-Through Prices`	Shows the original price crossed out where an item is discounted
`Use Product Compare-At Price`	Uses the product's compare-at price from Shopify as the crossed-out value
`Show Save Amount`	Shows how much the customer is saving

Show Save Amount enables Save Amount Text, which accepts two variables. The help text names both: Use {percentage} for percentage saved on cart item and {amount} for amount saved.

For example, You save {amount} ({percentage}) renders as something like You save $12.00 (20%).

ℹ️ Use Product Compare-At Price only shows something when your products actually have a compare-at price set in Shopify. If nothing appears, check the product rather than the setting.

The empty cart state

Easy to forget, and every customer who opens the cart before adding anything sees it.

Set Empty Cart Message Text and Empty Cart Button Text to something that moves them along. Your cart is empty. followed by Continue Shopping works, but naming where they are going works better: Browse best sellers, See what's new.

Use the Show empty cart toggle in the preview to check it before publishing.

Writing good cart copy

Be concrete on the button. Checkout • $84.00 beats Checkout.

Do not add friction. The cart is where people finish buying. Every extra line of text is a reason to pause.

Match your store's voice, and keep it consistent with your product pages. A formal store with a chatty cart reads as a bolted-on app.

Keep it short. Drawer width is limited, and long labels wrap awkwardly on a phone. Check the mobile preview for anything longer than a few words.

Setting your cart title, buttons and empty state