> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ecomelixir.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Moving your theme to a new store

> Carry your Elixir theme, licence, and page layouts from one Shopify store to another without losing your product pages

Rebuilding on a new store, or replacing a store you closed? The theme moves as a ZIP, the licence
moves from the dashboard, and the two are separate jobs. Most problems come from doing only one of
them.

<Warning>
  **Keep the exported ZIP.** It is the only copy of your page layouts. If product templates go
  missing on the new store, that file is what restores them, and support cannot recover them without
  it.
</Warning>

## The order that works

<Steps>
  <Step title="Export the old theme">
    In the old store, **Online Store → Themes → ⋯ → Download theme file**. Shopify emails you the
    ZIP. Save it somewhere permanent before you touch anything else.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Upload it to the new store">
    In the new store, **Online Store → Themes → Import theme → Upload ZIP file**. It arrives
    unpublished.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Move the licence">
    The key is still bound to the old store, so the new one will refuse it. Go to
    [app.ecomelixir.com/licenses](https://app.ecomelixir.com/licenses), open **Actions → Change
    Store** on that licence, and enter the new store's default `.myshopify.com` URL. The transfer is
    immediate. See [Transfer a license](/guides/transfer-a-license-to-another-store).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enter the key on the new store">
    Theme editor, **Theme settings → License**, paste, save. See
    [Activate your license](/guides/license-activation).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check your product template before publishing">
    This is the step people skip. See below.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  You do not need access to the old store for the licence transfer, and a store you have already
  deleted is fine. Export the theme **before** deleting a store, though, because you cannot get the
  ZIP afterwards.
</Note>

## "This license is already bound to another shop"

Expected. A licence is active on one store at a time, and uploading the theme somewhere else does
not move it. Submit the change of store request described above and the message clears.

It does not mean you need a second licence. You only need another licence if you intend to run both
stores at once.

## Your product pages are missing

The most common casualty of a store move. Symptoms:

* The theme editor's template dropdown shows **no templates for products**
* Product pages return **404** on the new store
* You cannot open a product page to edit it at all

The theme arrived without `templates/product.json`, so there is no product template for Shopify to
render or for the editor to open.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the exported ZIP">
    Unzip it on your computer and find `templates/product.json`. Open it in a text editor and copy
    everything.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create the file in the new theme">
    In the new store, **Online Store → Themes → ⋯ → Edit code**. Under **Templates**, choose **Add a
    new template**, pick **product**, and select **JSON**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Paste and save">
    Replace the contents with what you copied, then save.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Repeat for any other missing template">
    Check `templates/` in the ZIP against the new theme. Custom product templates such as
    `product.bundle.json` are separate files and each needs the same treatment.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>
  Without the ZIP, your layouts cannot be recovered. Support can install a generic product template
  so the page renders and you can edit again, but it will not be the page you built.
</Warning>

## What does not come across

| Travels with the theme | Does not travel |
| - | - |
| Theme settings, colours, fonts | Your licence binding |
| Section layouts in `templates/*.json` | Anything an app stores in its own account |
| Custom CSS entered in theme settings | App blocks whose app is not installed on the new store |
| Your custom code edits | Products, collections, pages, and media |

Bundles built in a third-party app are the usual surprise. A Kaching or Rapi bundle lives in that
app, not in the theme, so it has to be rebuilt on the new store or migrated using whatever that app
provides. Ask the app's support, not theme support.

Products and media belong to the store, not the theme. Move those with Shopify's own export and
import, or a migration app, before you judge the theme as broken.

## Troubleshooting

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="The theme editor says no templates found for products">
    `templates/product.json` did not make it across. Restore it from the exported ZIP using the
    steps above.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="A product page 404s but the product exists">
    Same cause. Shopify has nothing to render the product with. Restore the product template, then
    reload.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The theme still says License Required after transferring">
    Hard refresh the storefront first, since the theme caches the last check in your browser. Then
    confirm the Licenses page lists the new `.myshopify.com` URL and that the key in **Theme
    settings → License** has no trailing space.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Sections are empty or in the wrong order">
    A template JSON is missing or came from a different theme version. Compare `templates/` in the
    ZIP against the new theme and copy across what differs. See
    [Updating manually](/guides/manual-theme-update) for handling the save errors that can appear.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="I uploaded the ZIP and Shopify rejected it">
    Upload the theme ZIP itself, not a folder you zipped yourself and not an "unzip-me" wrapper.
    Shopify expects the file exactly as it was emailed to you.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="I deleted the old store and have no ZIP">
    Raise a ticket with your licence key and the new store URL. Support can move the licence and put
    a working product template in place, but your original page layouts are gone and will need
    rebuilding.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## If it is still not resolved

Raise a ticket with:

* The old and new `.myshopify.com` URLs
* Your licence key
* The exported ZIP, which support will ask for
* Which templates are missing


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