When a newer version of a theme from the Theme Store comes out, you get an update for the theme you already use. The update is prepared as a draft for you to look through. Your live store keeps showing your current theme until you publish it, and after you publish you can undo it with one click.
What an update does with your edits
An update starts from the new version of the theme and brings your work over to it:
- What you didn't change takes the new version.
- What you changed and the update didn't stays yours.
- What you and the update both changed is combined where that is possible. Where both changed the same value, yours stays.
- Parts you and the update both changed get a row on the review page, where you choose what each one should be. Your version is kept unless you say otherwise.
- Something the new version can't show any more, like a section it no longer has, is listed with the reason. Nothing disappears without being named.
If you have edits that you haven't published yet, they move onto the new version too.
Prepare an update
Open Online store and choose Themes. A theme with a newer version shows Update available.
Click the theme's name and choose Update theme.
Read what the update does with your edits, then choose Prepare update.
The update page opens. It shows Getting ready while we bring your edits into the new version and take pictures of your pages. The page refreshes by itself.
You can leave the page and come back: the theme's page shows Update ready with a link to it.
Review it
The update page shows:
- Summary: the version you have, the version you are moving to, what's new in it and whether it is a routine update or worth a careful look.
- Before and after: a picture of your pages with and without the update, for each page, language and device. The areas that changed are outlined, and the sections that changed are listed. Click a row to see its pictures.
- What happens to your changes: what was combined, what stayed yours, and what could not be carried over.
- Parts that need your decision: one row for each part you and the update both changed, named the way the theme names it, with pictures of the area it affects where we have them. Choose Keep my version (already chosen when you arrive), Use the new version (your changes to that part are lost), or Let Klea combine them. Klea opens in the assistant with your request filled in, and her combined version comes back as a preview with Accept and Reject. If your version didn't work with the new one, the row says so and the new version is used for that part. Developers can choose Open in code editor on a row. Parts you deleted that the update still uses come back with the update's version, and files such as images or fonts can't be combined, so the update's version is used; both are listed with a short note.
A few pages may be missing from the pictures, and the table says why in plain words: a page may be too long to compare, your store may not have a page like it yet, or we ran out of time. A very long page shows its top part, and the list of sections still covers all of it.
Choose Preview to see your own storefront with the update applied. Choose Discard to throw the update away. Nothing changes on your store, and you can prepare the update again later.
Publish
On the update page, choose Publish update.
If some parts have no choice yet, we list how many. Choose Publish anyway to use the update's version of them. Parts you have chosen use your choice.
If the new version connects to web addresses the old one did not, we list them. Approve them to go on.
The status changes to Going live, then Live. Shoppers see the new version once it is ready.
If your theme changed after the update was prepared, for example you published something else, the page asks you to prepare the update again so it is built on your latest version.
Undo
If anything looks off after the update is live, open the update page and choose Undo update. Your store goes back to the version you had before the update. Edits you made since are kept in your draft.
You will find the update in the theme's History as Theme updated to the new version, with an Undo link while it can still be undone. If you publish your theme again after the update, undoing it from the update page is no longer offered, because it would take back those changes too. Use the history to go back to an earlier version instead.
Updates that publish themselves
If your theme is set to update automatically, a routine update that keeps all your edits intact is prepared for you the same way, and we tell you when it will publish by itself. Until then you can look through it on the update page, choose Hold this update so it publishes only when you do, or publish it yourself. Let it publish itself again puts a held update back on its schedule. You can undo an automatic update like any other. To be asked before every update instead, choose Ask me before every theme update on the theme's page.
Your unpublished edits
If you had edits that weren't published when the update went live, they move onto the new version. Where one of them clashed with the update, the theme page says Your unpublished edits need a look and the update page lists where. Both versions are kept: the update's in your draft and yours in the history, as Before the theme update.
If something goes wrong
- The update stopped. The page says whether your store was changed. If it was not, choose Prepare again.
- Not applied. You published your theme again while the update was going live, so the update wasn't applied. Choose Prepare again.
- The update took too long, or could not be put live. We give it up. The page says so, nothing went live, and your store keeps the version it had. Choose Prepare again.
- The undo took too long, or could not be completed. We give it up. The update is still live and your store still shows the new version. Choose Undo update to try again.
- Going live or going back seems stuck. Choose Stop waiting. We give up on the step and the page says which version is live now. If the new version turned out to be live, the update is finished and you can undo it. If it did not go live, nothing changed. If an undo gave up, the update is still live and you can try the undo again. If the undo had gone through after all, your store is back on the earlier version.
- Another update was undone. An update that was waiting is ended with it. The page says so. If we can't tell whether it went live, it says that instead and points you to the theme page, which shows the version your store has.
- Another update step is running. Wait a moment and try again.