I’m planning to deactivate my store for a few months rather than the pause & build option, but I still don’t quite understand what happens after that. After I cancel our subscription to apps as well as deactivate the store, will I be able to restore the data if I log back in after a few months. By data, I mean the site design, products, descriptions, past orders, etc.? Or will these be deleted along with the deactivation?
Hi @Zoe17 ,
As far as I know, if you choose to deactivate your store, your online storefront will be temporarily offline, and you won’t be able to access the Shopify admin until you select a new plan. However, Shopify assures that your merchant data will be preserved for up to 2 years after deactivation. This means that if you decide to log in and choose a new plan within this period, you can still access all your store’s information. Nonetheless, Shopify advise you to export and download any data you might require in the future before proceeding with store closure in their manual.
Hope it is helpful to you, thank you!
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Thank you for clarifying this!
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Hi @Zoe17 ,
Thank you for reaching out and I am sorry to hear that you are closing your account.
I appreciate that you need to do what’s best for you and your business, and sometimes that means closing down shop for the time being. With that said, if there are any roadblocks you’re experiencing that are driving this decision, I’m happy to help out any way I can.
If closing the store is definitely the direction you’re heading at this time, I agree that losing all your data would not be ideal. When you close a store, you should see a message stating that “The shop information will be stored for 2 years.” This is in case the user decides to re-activate their account.
To save your data for longer than 2 years after the account is cancelled, you’ll need to export it and keep it saved externally from Shopify. Our Help Center has a section which covers the backups and the duplication of data.
Keep in mind, some things like orders and financial data can be exported, but not imported into a new store in the future. Our Help Center covers these areas in more detail.
I wish you all the best in your future business endeavors.
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Thank you so much for clarifying this Iris. I’m only planning to stop operations for less than a year, but also want to minimize or zero out any unnecessary costs as much as possible. Since the data will still be saved, I think I’ll push through with the deactivation. Thank you again!