Install & update

Lapels installs from the Shopify Theme Store and stays unpublished until you choose to go live. You can set up and preview the whole theme on your real catalog without changing anything your customers see.

This page covers adding the theme, the difference between Customize, Preview, and Publish, and how to move to a newer version later. For the full first-time walkthrough, continue to the Setup guide.

Install Lapels

1. 1 Add from the Theme Store
2. 2 Find it in your library
3. 3 Preview before publishing

1 Add from the Theme Store

Open the Lapels listing and add the theme to your store from the Shopify Theme Store. The theme is added to your store, but it is not made live yet.

2 Find it in your library

In your Shopify admin, go to Online Store → Themes. Lapels appears in your Theme library. That is the list of installed themes below your live theme.

3 Preview before publishing

Lapels stays unpublished until you choose to publish it. This is deliberate. You can set up and preview the whole theme on your real catalog without changing the storefront your customers see.

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Tip

Keep your current live theme in place while you set up Lapels. Publishing later swaps the live theme, but it never deletes the old one. You always have a way back.

Customize vs. Preview vs. Publish

These three actions sit next to Lapels in your Theme library. They do different things.

Action	What it does	When to use it
Customize	Opens Lapels in the theme editor, where you edit theme settings, sections, and blocks. Your changes save to this unpublished copy only.	Throughout setup. This is where you spend most of your time.
Preview	Opens your storefront rendered with Lapels, using your real products and collections, in a new tab. It does not make the theme live. Reach it from Actions → Preview.	To check the theme on real pages before publishing.
Publish	Makes Lapels the theme your customers see. Found under Actions → Publish next to the theme.	Only after you finish setup and run the go-live checklist.

To open the editor at any time, go to Online Store → Themes, find Lapels in the Theme library, and click Customize.

Update Lapels

Theme updates for Lapels are free. When a new version ships, you can install it at any time without buying the theme again.

Shopify never updates an installed theme for you, so moving to a newer version is a deliberate step you take when you are ready.

1. 1 Duplicate your current copy
2. 2 Install the latest version
3. 3 Carry over your settings
4. 4 Preview, then publish

1 Duplicate your current copy

Before anything else, duplicate the copy of Lapels you are running. Go to Online Store → Themes → Actions → Duplicate. The duplicate keeps every setting and every piece of section content exactly as it is today, so you have something to copy from and something to fall back to.

2 Install the latest version

Add the latest version of Lapels to your Theme library from the Shopify Theme Store. It installs alongside your current copy, so nothing changes for shoppers yet.

3 Carry over your settings

Re-apply any theme settings and section content you customized. Your customizations live on the old copy, so open the two side by side and carry over your brand assets, color schemes, fonts, menus, and section setup.

4 Preview, then publish

Preview the updated copy on your real catalog, run the go-live checklist again, then Publish when it looks right.

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Caution

Never update by overwriting the theme you are live on. A new version ships with its own default templates and section content, so replacing in place can wipe the homepage you built. Install the new version as a separate copy, carry your settings across, and publish only once you have previewed it.

Check the Changelog to see what changed in each release before you update.

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Related: Setup guide · Theme settings · Changelog · Lapels support replies within 12 hours.