New store development while existing store is live

[Malcolm11]

Hello. I wonder if anyone has any suggestions for the following problem. I look after the shopify store for our business. The time has come for a complete overhaul and refresh of style and content with a more up to date template with improved functionality 

My questions is, what is the best way to develop the new site while keeping the existing site live? We intend to use the same domain nane for the new site. Hopefully there is an straight forward solution for this.

Many thanks in advance.

Malcolm

[BobsMojo]

Hi @Malcolm11 

You can purchase a new theme or make a copy of your existing theme and continue working on/updating it without publishing it until it is ready. Just continue to keep your current theme published.

As you can see in my screenshot below, we have multiple different themes in our theme library (bottom of screen) in which we experiment with different layouts, functionalities, etc. You can customize these inactive themes in your library without affecting your live theme (top of screen).

If you want to keep your current theme but do a complete overhaul, you can click the 'Action' menu on the live theme, then 'Duplicate'. It will create a copy in your theme library that you can work on without affecting the live copy, which you can then publish when its ready.

If you purchase a new theme in the theme store, it will add it to your theme library without publishing it/making it live yet. You can then customize it and publish it when ready, and your current theme will remain unaffected in the meantime.

[LizW]

That's what I've done; however, when I changed the menu in the copy as a test to make sure I wouldn't affect my live store, it changed the menu in my live store. I don't know if it makes any difference, but my live store requires a password. I am trying to update my theme Debut, but since I have added an app and other customization, the them doesn't automatically update. What am I doing wrong?  Thank you!

[BobsMojo]

The navigation menu is not theme-specific. If you have a "Main Menu" in your navigation and you make changes to that menu, those changes will appear in every theme where that menu is inserted. You will need to do something similar with your menu(s) - create a copy of your "Main Menu" and assign this copied menu to the header in your work-in-progress theme. Then make whatever changes you need to make in the copied menu and leave the original Main Menu alone.

[LizW]

Thank you! that worked.  I need to add the Debut update and then I also have customization with the app Product Personalizer. Here are the next steps according to shopify? Pllease see my question in bold italics. 

1. Create a backup copy of your existing theme.  Done 

2. Visit the Shopify Theme Store and log in. For paid themes, it is important to log in to the account that you used to buy the theme. This will prevent you from being asked to buy the theme again.

3. Use the top bar search box to search for your theme.

4. On the search results page, click your theme.

5. ClickAdd latest theme versionorAdd theme.  Done

After you add an updated theme  How do you add an updated version of the theme. I see the theme added, but CUSTOMIZE is virtually starting from scratch. Surely this isn't the way?

After you have added an updated version of your theme to your online store, you can do the following:

• Customize your theme by using the theme editor.
• Publish your theme.
• Uninstall any apps that add code to a theme, and then re-install them from the Shopify App Store. If you're not sure whether an app needs to be re-installed, then contact the app developer for support. To contact the app developer, find the app on the Apps page of your Shopify admin, and then click Get support.

[BobsMojo]

I'm not sure if I 100% understand your question...

Are you saying that the customizations you've been working on were done on an old version of the Debut theme, and you want to update to the latest version of the theme in the theme store? 

[LizW]

Yes, I am running an old version with the addition of the app Product Personalizer. I just found out Shopify themes don't update if you have apps installed. So I have the new updated theme loaded & a copy of my store in the old version. So my question is how do I get all my pages, pictures, products, etc. on the new update without virtually started from scratch? In the same way, I understand needing to add Product Personalizer to the updated them, but will I also have to go through all the steps to get it the same as my current store?

Thank you for your help.

[BobsMojo]

When you publish the updated theme, all of the following will carry over into the new theme automatically:

• Collections
• Products
• Pages
• Menus/Navigation
• Blogs/Blog Posts
• Shipping Settings
• Discounts/Discount Codes

All of these things are not dependent on your theme, they're in a different...."bucket" so to speak. Your theme is just the layout/appearance/functionality of your store.

[LizW]

Oh, thank you. Is there a way to preview it before it's published? I would also want to add the app and make sure it's working.

[BobsMojo]

Yes! If you go to your theme library and click the Actions dropdown menu, there is a 'Preview' option available.

[AKPANDA]

Hello, thank you for the info you are sharing. I am currently in the process of developing a new theme (Impulse) to use as our new website template in the near future. I am working on the Impulse theme hidden in our Theme Library as you discuss here.

It sounded like the Collections, Products, Pages, Menus/Navigation, Blogs, Shipping Settings, Discounts, etc. that stay in tact as you stated are what are defined in the live website. 

Questions:

- Will items that I create in my new Impulse Theme carry over to my live website when I publish it? 

       - For example: Collections I create in Impulse not already in my live website theme. Filters I create in Impulse that don't exist in my current live website theme. Newly designed pages, menu/navigation, etc. Will this transfer over to my live website when I publish the newly designed Impulse Theme? 

- If not, what is the protocol to do so? It seems a bit odd that I would have to publish the theme and then manually alter the menu, filters, pages, collections, etc to reflect how I designed the Impulse theme while it was hidden. Doing all these changes to a live website seems a bit sketchy. Let me know what is best practice.

Hopefully my questions make sense. Appreciate your help. Thank You. 

[cglaspell]

AKPANDA

How did your upgrade to new theme work out? I am wanting to do the same thing. but afraid to build in the background, while my current site stays up and working.

[waronfud]

So I have a similar problem but have an App installed (book that app) and need to make changes to a lot in there as well. Is my only real option to launch a completely new store and then transfer over the domain once I get it to my liking? We're looking to do a full relaunch including changes to our product offerings. 

[jdc87]

Hello, 

Did you find a solution for this? We are currently initializing a project that is live and they want a complete design change (new theme) with new features and product offerings as well introducing new apps. What is the best way to develop this while being able to access new products, apps, etc without affecting the live site?