Managing themes

Open Online Store > Themes to review and customize the store's appearance. Your account needs theme permissions. The page's Help banner opens this guide inside admin.

Review the current theme

The Current theme badge identifies the active storefront theme. Review its name, version, and desktop/mobile preview, then click Customize to open its editor.

The screenshots show the demo store's actual theme setup. No theme was activated, updated, saved, or published for this guide. Select an image to enlarge it.

The performance cards show the measurements returned for the selected period. No data yet means no measurements were returned for that view; it is not a successful speed test or a theme failure. Use the offered date ranges to review available data.

Explore other themes

Browse Popular free themes below the current theme. Review a theme's preview, name, and version before using its edit or activation action.

Activate theme changes the store's active theme. Review the candidate's configuration and intended storefront experience first. Do not use activation as a way to open an editor preview. The current library calls the activation action directly, so treat that button as a live storefront change.

If an update is offered, read its context and verify your store afterward. Updates and theme-specific page layouts need their own review; the screenshots do not demonstrate an update or guarantee that every customization transfers between themes.

Edit the intended template

Click Customize for the theme you want to work on. In the editor:

1. Use the page/template selector to choose the surface you intend to edit, such as Home page or a page template.
2. Open Sections to inspect the header, template content, and footer structure.
3. Select a section or block to inspect its settings. Use the offered add, move, hide, or remove actions when making changes.
4. Review the preview after each meaningful change and use Undo or Redo when needed.

The editor canvas can display preview or sample content. Check your store's actual published page and catalog as part of your final review. Changes to a shared header, footer, or theme setting can affect more than the current template.

Review theme settings

Open Theme settings for the options the theme provides, such as colors, typography, and other appearance controls. Available settings depend on the theme.

Shared brand controls can update store-wide branding when saved. Review the scope of logo, favicon, and brand-color changes rather than assuming that every control affects only one page. Connected app placements are managed through App embeds where supported.

Use Files or Creative Studio to prepare images before selecting them in the relevant setting. Verify image framing and text readability in the destination.

Check desktop and mobile previews

Use Desktop and Mobile in the editor toolbar to inspect the chosen template at each preview size. Review navigation, image crops, text wrapping, buttons, and page length.

These controls change the editor preview. Check the published storefront on representative devices as well. The editor's More actions > View opens the live storefront route for the current surface when available; it can show the previously published version while draft changes remain unpublished.

Understand Save, Publish, and Activate

For theme templates and theme settings, Save records draft changes. Publish releases the theme's saved changes; the current publish flow saves pending edits first. Review all pending theme-wide changes before publishing. Activate theme selects which theme the storefront uses.

Other editor surfaces have separate publication scopes:

• A custom page built with blocks uses Publish page for that page's template. See Creating and managing pages.
• Checkout branding uses its own checkout publish action. It applies to the store's checkout rather than being a normal theme page.

Publication badges such as Unpublished changes or Not published describe the current surface's saved publication state. The Save button separately reflects unsaved edits.

After publishing or activating, reopen the live storefront and check the affected pages, navigation, images, product/collection presentation, and checkout where relevant. The captures in this guide were read-only; those live changes were not exercised.

Get help from the editor

Choose More actions > Get support to open contextual Help. The editor opens the Pages guide for page templates and this Themes guide for other surfaces. You can open the article in Help Center from the panel's external-link button.

Troubleshooting