LimeSpot is set up for your published (live) theme, and Studio always opens on it. You can't use Studio on a draft or preview theme. You can still test every LimeSpot change safely before shoppers see it, because Studio keeps your edits in a draft.
Availability
Plan: Growth Agents plan · Platform: SHOPLINE
Why unpublished themes don't work
Studio always opens on your live storefront, so it always shows your published theme. It doesn't open your platform's theme preview.
Studio's Preview mode and your platform's theme preview are different things. Studio's Preview mode shows your published theme with your LimeSpot draft applied, so you can click around like a shopper.
Test LimeSpot changes without going live
You don't need a separate theme to try LimeSpot changes. Edits in Studio stay in your draft until you click Publish.
Make your changes in Studio.
Click the power icon to switch to Preview mode and browse your pages like a shopper.
Use Mobile View to check phones, and Preview as anyone to check each audience. See Preview your store on desktop and mobile and Preview your store as an audience.
Click Publish when you're happy, or choose Discard Changes under Publish options to throw the draft away.
Test with a new theme
If you're building a new theme and want to see LimeSpot on it before launch, use a separate test store:
Create a development or test store on your platform.
Install a copy of your new theme there and publish it.
Install LimeSpot on the test store. Test and development stores use LimeSpot for free.
Open Studio on the test store and set up your boxes.
Note
Settings in your test store don't copy over to your live store. Use the test store to try layouts, then set them up on your live store after you launch the theme.
When you publish a new theme
Publish the new theme in your store admin.
LimeSpot keeps loading on the new theme. You don't need to reinstall.
Open Studio and review your LimeSpot setup on every page type with the page selector. A new theme often has a different layout, so boxes may need to move.
Go through AI onboarding again so the LimeSpot Assistant places your boxes for the new layout. See Set up your store with AI onboarding.
Move or re-add any boxes that still need it. See Add, move, replace and delete boxes.
If you use custom CSS or JavaScript, check it still looks right with the new theme. See Add custom CSS, JavaScript and templates.
Click Publish one more time.
Tip
Our Customer Success team can help you review your setup after a theme change. Email [email protected].
Troubleshooting
You see | Why | What to do |
No LimeSpot boxes in your platform's theme preview | LimeSpot is set up for your published theme only. | Use Studio's Preview mode on your live theme, or a test store. |
Boxes are missing or in odd places after a theme change | The new theme's layout moved the spots where boxes were placed. | Open Studio and place the boxes again on each page. |
"Loading Studio..." doesn't go away after a theme change | The LimeSpot script isn't loading on the new theme yet. | Wait a few minutes and reload. If it continues, contact [email protected]. |