You can move off the Atlas theme onto any Shopify theme and keep using every Atlas feature, because Atlas now builds pages into whatever theme you already have rather than supplying the theme itself. Do it in this order and your storefront never breaks: build into the new theme first, check it, switch, and only then remove the old one.
In this article:
Before you start
Nothing here is urgent. The Atlas theme still works and is not being switched off, so you can take this at your own pace. See About the Atlas theme.
You will need a theme to move to. That can be one you already have in Online Store, then Themes, or a new one from Shopify's theme store.
Step 1: Choose the theme you are moving to
Pick the theme and add it to your store, but do not make it live yet. It sits in your theme library alongside the Atlas theme.
Newer themes work best with Atlas. If you are choosing fresh, see Choosing a theme that works well with Atlas.
ℹ️ You do not have to move to a new theme at all. If you already have another theme you were using before Atlas, that works just as well, and its settings and content are still there.
Step 2: Switch on the Atlas extensions
Atlas extensions are enabled per theme, not per store. Switching them on for the Atlas theme did nothing for your new one, so this has to be done again.
At minimum you need the Atlas Page Builder app embed, because no Atlas page renders without it. See How to enable the Atlas Page Builder app embed.
If you use Bundle Deals or Cart Upsells, those need their own extensions on the new theme too. Which Atlas extensions your theme needs lists all three and what each one powers.
Step 3: Build your pages into the new theme
Generate the pages you want and publish them to the new theme rather than the live one. Atlas asks which theme to publish into every time, so nothing is published to your live store by accident.
Work through your important products first. You do not need to recreate everything before switching.
Step 4: Check the new theme before switching
Preview the new theme from Online Store, then Themes, and look at it as a customer would.
Check that:
Your Atlas pages render, on desktop and on mobile
Your header, footer, navigation and policies are right
Bundles appear on product pages, if you use them
The cart drawer opens and behaves, if you use it
You can add to cart and reach checkout
⚠️ Check the cart and checkout specifically. A theme change is the most common moment for a bundle or cart drawer to stop working, and it is the one problem that costs you orders rather than just looking wrong.
Step 5: Make the new theme live
When the preview is right, publish the new theme in Online Store, then Themes.
Your storefront changes at this moment. The Atlas theme stays in your theme library, unpublished and intact, which is your way back if anything is wrong.
Step 6: Remove the Atlas theme
Only once the new theme has been live long enough for you to trust it. There is no rush, and an unpublished theme costs you nothing to keep.
Atlas cannot delete it for you. Remove it the same way you would any Shopify theme: Online Store, then Themes, find the Atlas theme in your library, and delete it from its actions menu.
⚠️ Deleting a theme in Shopify cannot be undone, and it takes the customisations and content stored on that theme with it. Only delete the Atlas theme once your new theme is live and you are confident in it. If you are unsure, leave it. An unused theme does no harm.
What you keep and what you lose
What happens | |
Your products, orders, customers | Untouched. These live in Shopify, not in a theme. |
Your Atlas subscription and usage | Untouched. Moving theme does not change your plan or your allowances. |
Your projects, research, personas | Untouched. These live in Atlas. |
Your bundles and cart drawer settings | Kept in Atlas, but their extensions must be switched on for the new theme. |
Pages already published to the Atlas theme | Stay on that theme. Publish them to the new theme to carry them across. |
Customisations made to the Atlas theme | Belong to that theme and do not transfer. Redo them on the new theme. |
ℹ️ Pages do not migrate between themes on their own. Publishing a page to the new theme builds it there fresh, which is why step 3 comes before step 5.
If something looks wrong after switching
Switch back first. Make the Atlas theme live again from Online Store, then Themes. Your storefront returns to how it was, and you can sort the problem out without losing orders.
Then work through the likely causes:
An Atlas page not rendering is almost always the Atlas Page Builder app embed being off. See How to enable the Atlas Page Builder app embed.
Bundles missing, or the cart drawer not opening, is their extension not being switched on for the new theme. See Which Atlas extensions your theme needs.
A page that looks different from its Atlas preview is usually the theme's own styling. See Why does my published page look different from the preview?.
If you are stuck, contact support from the chat bubble in Atlas, or at support@helloatlas.io, with your store URL, the theme you moved to, and what is wrong. Say that you have moved off the Atlas theme, because that narrows it down quickly.