Install the theme

You install Alpha Start from the Shopify Theme Store. The theme is added to your theme library, where you can set it up and preview it before customers see it.

Try the theme before you buy

1. Open the Alpha Start page in the Shopify Theme Store.
2. If the listing offers several styles, choose the style you like. Each style starts with its own colors, fonts and settings, and you can change all of them later.
3. Click Try theme and log in to your store if asked. The theme is added to your theme library as an unpublished theme.
4. Customize the theme and preview it with your products. Customers don’t see an unpublished theme.

Buy and publish the theme

1. In your Shopify admin, open Online Store → Themes.
2. Find Alpha Start in the theme library. If you are trying the theme, buy it first: Shopify shows the purchase option next to the trial theme.
3. Click … next to the theme and choose Publish, then confirm.

Your store now uses Alpha Start. The previously published theme stays in the theme library, so you can switch back at any time.

Your content stays, your theme settings don't move

Products, collections, pages, menus and blog posts belong to your store, so they appear in Alpha Start right away. Settings and sections of your previous theme are not copied: set up the logo, colors, header and home page sections in Alpha Start.

What to set up first

1. Logo and favicon
2. Colors and typography
3. Catalog menu, which builds the main navigation
4. Header
5. Contact information and social media

Theme updates

When a new version of Alpha Start is released, Shopify shows a notice in your theme library. Updating adds the new version to your library as a separate theme with your theme settings and content. Changes made directly to the theme code are not carried over, so you can check the new version before you publish it.