Shopify’s process for updating a theme varies based on several circumstances:
- Was your theme installed via the Theme Store repository? If not, updating is purely manual.
- If your theme Vintage (developed prior to Online Store 2.0 in June 2021)? If so, you must switch to a new theme.
- Is the theme update a security or bug fix patch only? In this case Shopify may apply the patch automatically.
- Did you or an App save changes to the theme’s Liquid sections and templates? If so, Shopify will merge these changes along with your settings and contents on demand into the new theme copy, but you must test before publishing.
- Did you or an App save changes to the theme’s Liquid code other than sections and templates? When Liquid code is modified aside from those two folders your changes will not be included in the new theme copy. You must manually merge the changes and test carefully.
Tip: You can see which files were edited by clicking into the Theme Code Editor and looking for the dots next to the file names containing changes. It’s also a good idea to download the theme files and compare to the new theme using DiffMerge or similar. The most commonly changed file is theme.liquid
So given the workload here, does it make sense to update a theme? Yes! Here’s the benefits of keeping your theme as up to date as possible:
- Get full support from the theme author.
- Get the latest in features and fixes from the theme author.
- Utilize Shopify latest core feature set as your theme permits.
- Incremental progress prevents a larger project down the road.
I’m a big proponent of customizing with the default theme Dawn.
Contact me for a free introduction discussing your theme project.
