How To Update Shopify Theme Without Losing Customization?
Shopify is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms used by small, medium, and big stores to sell their products online. It is also a good platform for you to build your online store. With so many great add-ons and customization options offered by Shopify, it can get difficult to find one that fits your needs. Here are helpful tips to help you How to update Shopify theme without losing customization.
How To Update Shopify Theme Without Losing Customization? A Step-By-Step Guide
Updating your Shopify theme can be a bit of a delicate process, as you risk losing any customizations you have made to your theme if you do not do it correctly. However, with careful planning and attention to detail, you can update your theme without losing customizations. Here is a step-by-step guide for how to do it:
Step 1: Backup Your Theme
Before you do anything, it is a good idea to back up your current theme. In this way, if something goes wrong during the update process, you can restore your theme to its current state. To make a backup, go to your Shopify admin, click “Online Store,” and click “Themes.” Find the theme you want to update, and then click on the three dots next to the theme’s name and select “Duplicate.”
Step 2: Create A Child Theme
A child theme is a theme that is based on another theme (called the “parent” theme). You can customize your theme without modifying the original theme files by creating a child theme. In this way, your customizations will be preserved when you update the parent theme.
To create a child theme, go to your Shopify admin, click “Online Store,” and click “Themes.” Find the theme you want to update, and then click on the three dots next to the theme’s name and select “Create a new theme.” Give your child theme a name, and then select the parent theme from the dropdown menu.
Step 3: Make A List Of Your Customizations
Before you update your theme, list all the customizations you have made to your theme. It might include things like custom fonts, custom colors, custom layouts, etc. You will need this list later to help recreate your customizations in the new theme.
Step 4: Update The Parent Theme
Now that you have a child theme and a list of customizations, you can safely update the parent theme without losing your customizations. To update the parent theme, go to your Shopify admin, click “Online Store,” and click “Themes.” Find the parent theme you want to update, and then click on the three dots next to the theme’s name and select “Update.
Step 4: Recreate Your Customizations In The Child Theme
After the parent theme has been updated, you will need to recreate your customizations in the child theme. To do this, go to your Shopify admin, click “Online Store,” and click “Themes.” Find the child theme you created earlier, and click on the “Customize” button. Use the list you made earlier to guide you as you recreate your customizations in the child theme.
Step 5: Test Your Store
After recreating your customizations, test your store thoroughly to ensure everything works as expected. It might include checking your product pages, cart and checkout, order confirmation pages, and any other custom pages or features you have added to your store.
Step 6: Publish Your Child Theme
When you are satisfied that everything is working correctly, you can publish your child theme to make it live on your store. To do this, go to your Shopify admin, click “Online Store,” and click “Themes.” Find the child theme you created earlier, and click on the “Publish” button. It will make your child theme the active theme on your store, replacing the old parent theme.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can You Switch Between Shopify Themes?
Yes, you can switch between Shopify themes. Shopify makes it easy to customize and switch between themes to find your online store’s perfect look and feel. To switch between themes, follow these steps:
- Go to the “Themes” section of your Shopify admin.
- Click on the “Customize theme” button next to the theme you want to edit.
- Click on the “Actions” button in the top right corner of the theme editor, and then select “Duplicate” from the dropdown menu. It will create a copy of your current theme that you can customize without affecting the original theme.
- Click the “Actions” button and select “Edit HTML/CSS” from the dropdown menu. This will open the theme editor, where you can change the theme’s HTML and CSS code.
- Make any desired changes to the theme’s code or design.
- Once satisfied with your changes, click the “Save” button in the top right corner of the theme editor.
- Click the “Actions” button to activate your new theme and select “Publish” from the dropdown menu. It will make your new theme the active theme for your store.
Remember that your store’s layout and design may be affected when you switch between themes. You may need to adjust your store’s content and settings to ensure everything is displayed correctly with the new theme.
What Happens When I Update My Shopify Theme?
When you update your Shopify theme, your changes will be applied to your store’s live theme. Any updates you make to your theme will be immediately visible to your customers.
Carefully test and preview your theme updates before publishing them to your live store, as you want to ensure that the updates do not cause any issues with your store’s layout or functionality.
Does Changing Shopify Theme Affect SEO?
Changing your Shopify theme should help your store’s search engine optimization (SEO). Switching to a more optimized theme for SEO could improve your store’s ranking in search results. That being said, there are a few things to consider when changing your theme to ensure that your store’s SEO is not impacted negatively:
- Make sure that the new theme you are using is mobile-friendly. Google now uses mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor, so it is essential to have a theme optimized for mobile devices.
- Check that the new theme has no errors or issues with its code. It can negatively impact your store’s SEO.
- Use redirects to ensure that any pages or URLs that have changed with the new theme are properly redirected to the new location. It will help prevent broken links and ensure that search engines can correctly crawl and index your store’s pages.
- Update any internal links on your store to point to the new URLs. This will ensure that search engines can easily crawl and index your store’s pages.
Overall, changing your Shopify theme should not significantly impact your store’s SEO as long as you take the necessary precautions to ensure that your store’s pages are properly redirected and indexed.
Final Words:
Updating a Shopify theme is often a quick and straightforward process. Make sure to check out the instructions for updating before doing anything else. And if you are worried about losing the customizations you have made, be sure to make a complete backup before upgrading.
