Install a theme

Installing a theme never changes your live store. A new theme always arrives as a draft in your theme library, and nothing a customer sees changes until you choose Publish.

Try before you buy

Every paid theme in the Shopify Theme Store can be tried for free, for as long as you like, in your own store:

1. Open the theme’s page in the Shopify Theme Store.
2. Pick the preset (style) you want to start from — you can switch it later.
3. Choose Try theme. The theme is added to your theme library as a draft.
4. Open it in the theme editor with your own products, collections and menus.

A theme you are trying can be customised, previewed and shared, but not published. Everything you set up while trying it is kept when you buy.

Buy and publish

When you are ready, open Online Store → Themes, find the theme in your library and choose Buy. After the purchase, the Publish button replaces it.

A theme is licensed to one store. If you run several stores, each needs its own licence; development stores used by a Shopify Partner are the exception.

Where your themes live

Online Store → Themes shows the theme customers see (your current theme) at the top, and your theme library below it. A store can keep up to 20 themes in its library, so it is normal to keep an older theme or a copy for a while.

From the … menu beside any theme you can preview, rename, duplicate, download, edit code or delete it. Deleting the theme you bought is reversible only by adding it again from the Theme Store, so duplicate first if in doubt.

Next

• The theme editor — finding your way around.
• Your theme’s own guide: Getting started with Strata.