How to clone the entire store or export/import without losing everything?

[tsfm]

Hi,

I'm currently working with the following scenario: I do have 1 shop which acts like a master shop where I am using the dawn theme. I would like to duplicate this shop completely. Unfortunately this is not possible in a native way and export the theme and importing it is really akward in terms of merging the content in the new shop.

I have added a lot of customization to the dawn theme in terms of product pages, templates, code snippets and so on. When I export my theme and import it into a new created shop I am unfortunately not importing a lot. I am missing images, all code changes and then there is the update problematic. If there is a new version for dawn I can not update it due to losing all code changes again. To be honest: why is there no native possibility for such a case? When searching the community there are tons of topics so there is must be a need for such a functionality.

I would be happy if someone could provide a solution. The following things are being considered as a solution already:

- Several plugins like Matrixify which offer importing everything -> I tested it and a lot others and I am not happy with the results. I get errors, sometimes it adds the values, sometimes not. Not a clean solution.

- Adding the code changes manually is not a solution I want. I want something that works automatically as I do not want to update several shops because a) I need to update dawn or b) when I am updating my master shop, every other cloned shop needs to be changed again with the specific code

- I need a solution that integrates metafields and collections too, if possible

- I read a lot about using git but this seems very complex. Is there any easy tutorial how to succeed here in regard of using 1 master shop with several slave shops? Any tool or plugin?

- I dont see it as a solution to download (several) csv and merge them manually

I read that 1-2 people had the success to get direct clones of their shops but I think they were not on any basic shop and more on the plus side.

[RebekaMatrixify]

Hi @tsfm!

Sorry to hear that you had trouble cloning your store with the Matrixify app.

Could you please contact our Support so we can help you resolve the errors or any other issues that you had along the way?

[tsfm]

Hi, I contacted your support already. I wanted to import metafields too but this did not work unless they were created before and thats exactly what I mean. You need to do so many tiny steps to duplicate a shop and all this results in a lot of work when I am trying to scale on a bigger level. I can't create all metafields in every single shop again, then import everything step by step, import the theme again, insert all images because they are missing and everything else thats missing too.

[PaulNewton]

Hi @tsfm  👋 search app store for sync apps, migration apps/services, or search internet for external ERP software.

Keep in mind a store, it's theme,  and content data are three separate things be clear on which part is being talked about or it can lead to frustration from bad expectations as each have different export/import methods and behaviors.

For example exporting/importing a theme between stores does not bring the stores data with it, and thus things like content images or files, page content, etc will be broken if a theme was customized in such a way that such things were hardcoded without fallbacks.

 I read a lot about using git but this seems very complex. Is there any easy tutorial how to succeed here in regard of using 1 master shop with several slave shops? Any tool or plugin?

---

No it's a process you have to sit down and build often out of several different tools/apps and there will be a learning curve.

Or hire someone or a  service to manage everything. There are apps/services like 

Besides matrixify there's also ez-exporter and other data export ETL apps on the app store.

If you need to roll custom data sync's see usemechanic to script custom data automations between stores.

Example starting points https://tasks.mechanic.dev/?q=export 

[Elias]

Hey, @tsfm.

Thanks for reaching out and posting this question!

If the native methods for Backups and duplication or the Matrixify isn't meeting your expectations for duplicating the store, then you can also consider some third-party apps - such as Duplify or CopyCat. Should you need any support with these apps, then the app developers are always available to assist you. Simply reach out to the developer using the contact information found at the bottom of their app pages.

If you have any other questions on this topic, then don't hesitate to let us know.

[tsfm]

I tried both other apps you mentioned and they are not offering what I need. The experience I did with a lot of plugins are basically that you can export several data and import it but never a full backup. In your native methods you are linking to your import store app where the link in the help section does not even work.

Does Shopify by itself not offer a service to duplicate stores? For my specific case I want to create a lot of shops that are basically the same and I struggle to find a solution that scales.

Currently this is my solution:

• Export and import my theme (based on dawn)
• Duplicate / install all custom templates
• Export and import images
• Create all metafields
• Install and setup all plugins
• Export and import products
• Export and import collections
• Manually reconfigure all settings
• Rebuild store navigation

And this is not satisfying when you are trying to scale. I do not want to do this for high double digit shops and offering this solution to my customers is not optimal too. They expect more as I am expecting more from the worlds most popular e-commerce solution.

[Katstormphoto]

I'm not sure if this APP will help but it's what I use for copying my themes, it's called AClone

This APP allows me to duplicate themes, pages, collections, data, products, metafields, metaobjects, everything.

[Renars]

Hi @tsfm 

Seems like everybody is dropping apps for you here, but just to add a bit more context from Matrixify app side.

One feature that was released just last week in Matrixify is export and import of Navigation Menus, so you can also migrate those between Shopify stores.

Indeed one missing feature currently is to export/import actual definitions so we have added that to our Customer Needs list for future developments.

Some other details cannot be accessed by apps at all as Shopify API does not allow that, such as other apps/plugins and most of the store settings, so you will always need to do some manual setup when cloning stores.

From Matrixify app perspective the process for you currently could be:

1. Export / import stores theme and custom templates.
2. Create metafield definitions, locations and other settings.
3. Then you can export all entities with our app - Products, Collections, Files, Menus etc. If selecting all columns then this will also include Metafield values.
4. Set up any apps/plugins as needed.

We have a great tutorial on this here - How to clone / duplicate a Shopify store quickly and easily

If you have any questions or concerns along the way, we do suggest reaching out to our Support team directly.