When something is missing or looks broken, it almost always has one of these causes. Start here before writing to us.
Things that are hidden on purpose #
Several parts of the theme draw nothing at all rather than drawing an empty frame. If one of these is missing, this is almost always why:
| Missing | Because | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Star ratings | That dish has no reviews yet | Install a review app; ratings appear on their own |
| A Sale mark | No compare-at price is set | Fill in Compare-at price on the dish |
| Filters on a course page | No filters have been set up | Install the free Search & Discovery app and add them there |
| Collection details on a dish | No pickup locations exist | Settings → Shipping and delivery → Local pickup |
| Goes well with | Nothing has been paired with that dish | Pair them in Search & Discovery |
| Country or language picker | You sell in one country, in one language | Nothing wrong — add markets or languages if you want them |
| Allergens, calories or ingredients | That box is empty on that dish | Fill it in — see that chapter |
Common questions #
My chef photographs are grey squares. #
They are placeholders until you upload real ones. Open the Team band in the editor and add an image to each Person block.
A dish says “Choose options” and I want “Add to cart”. #
That dish has more than one size, or it has extras attached. Both need a choice before it can go into an order. Remove the extra sizes if you do not need them.
My dishes are in the wrong order. #
The collection is set to Automated, which sorts by date. Change it to Manual and drag them into the order you want.
My banner is cropping the wrong part of the picture. #
Set a focal point on the image — Content → Files, click the image, drag the point onto what must stay visible. See chapter 4.
The words on my hero photograph are hard to read. #
Raise Image overlay in that band’s settings. It darkens the photograph behind the words without changing the photograph.
Two bands run into each other and the page looks like one slab. #
They are using the same colour scheme. Alternate them — Dark, Forest, Dark — down the page.
An app’s block looks broken in the booking band. #
Set that band’s App block color scheme to Cream. Most apps assume a light background.
I changed something and it did not appear on my site. #
You are almost certainly editing a duplicate rather than the live theme. Online Store → Themes: the live one says Live. Either edit that one, or publish the one you were editing.
The site is slow. #
Nine times out of ten it is photograph sizes. Save yours at around 2000 pixels on the long edge before uploading. After that, look at how many apps are installed — each one adds code to every page.
Does the site work if somebody has JavaScript switched off? #
The important parts do: adding to an order, searching, filtering, sorting, paging, the contact form and the booking enquiry all work as ordinary forms. The slide-out panels need it, and fall back to a normal page.
Before you write to us #
Two checks that solve most of what reaches our inbox:
- Is the theme you are looking at the theme you edited? Duplicates are easy to mix up.
- Does it still happen on a fresh copy of the theme with your apps paused? If it stops, an app is involved.
Getting help #
If it is still wrong, write to us on the support form. It asks for the few things that let us answer in one reply instead of three:
- your store address,
- the page it happens on,
- what you expected, and what happened instead,
- a screenshot, if you can.
We answer within two business days.
One last thing
If you ever edit the theme’s code, duplicate the theme first. An edit to code cannot be undone from inside Shopify, and a duplicate is the only copy you will have.
