Going live

Building a form is only half the job — this page covers getting it live on your storefront and what to check when it doesn't appear.

Publish: save a version, turn it onCopy Anchor Link

Publishing is two steps in the builder's title bar:

1. Save version snapshots your draft as an immutable version (with a readiness checklist and an automatic changelog). If the form is already on, saving updates the storefront immediately; if it's off, Formtoro asks whether you want to turn it on after saving.
2. Turn on / Turn off flips the form live or off at any time, without creating a new version.

A form's status badge is one of:

• Draft — never turned on; only you see it in the builder.
• On — live and eligible to show on the storefront (On + Unsaved changes means your draft has edits the live version doesn't).
• Off — turned off; not shown to anyone.
• Paused — limit reached — the form is on, but your plan's monthly submission limit was hit; it resumes when the limit resets or you upgrade.

See Saving, versions, and going live for the full save model. Publishing makes a form eligible to show — but a few things have to line up for a shopper to actually see it.

Schedule turning on and offCopy Anchor Link

Holiday and promo forms usually need to appear at a set time and come down at another, often while you're asleep. Instead of flipping the switch yourself, schedule it.

Scheduling is rolling out gradually. If you don't see Schedule in the builder yet, it isn't enabled for your store.

1. Open the form in the builder and click Schedule in the title bar.
2. Switch on Turn on automatically, Turn off automatically, or both, and pick a date and time for each.
3. Check the Timezone. It defaults to your store's timezone, and the times you pick are read in that zone, daylight saving included.
4. Click Save schedule.

The two steps can go in either order:

• Turn on, then off runs a promo window, for example on at 12:00 AM on Black Friday and off at 11:59 PM on Cyber Monday.
• Turn off, then on pauses a live form, for example during a site migration, and brings it back afterwards.
• Just one step schedules a single turn-on or turn-off.

Each step runs within a few minutes of the time you chose. Steps must be at least 5 minutes apart and no more than a year ahead. Until then, the Forms list shows a Scheduled badge with the next step underneath (for example "Turns on Nov 28, 12:00 AM EST").

What turns onCopy Anchor Link

Turning on shows your form's latest saved version, exactly like the Turn on button. You need at least one saved version to schedule a turn-on, and edits you haven't saved aren't included. Save a version before the scheduled time if you want them to show.

Changing or removing a scheduleCopy Anchor Link

Click Edit schedule in the title bar to change the times, or Remove schedule to cancel it. Removing a schedule never turns the form on or off by itself. If a step has already run, it stays done when you change the other one, so you can extend a promo that's already running without re-running its start.

You can still turn the form on or off by hand at any time. That doesn't cancel the schedule: the next step still runs at its time, and if the form is already in that state, the step is simply skipped. Archiving a form removes its schedule.

When a step doesn't runCopy Anchor Link

If a step can't run, the form's badge turns red with the reason:

• Schedule didn't run. The step was blocked, for example because your plan's published form limit was reached, the form was archived, or it's a variant in a draft experiment. Fix the cause, then pick a new time for the step and save the schedule. The builder shows the same message at the top of the form until you do.
• Schedule delayed. The step is more than 15 minutes past its time and hasn't run yet.

A turn-on that ends up more than an hour late is skipped rather than run, so it can't override a change you made by hand in the meantime. A turn-off still runs late, because taking a promo down late is better than leaving it up.

Turn Formtoro on in your theme (one time)Copy Anchor Link

Popups are delivered by a theme app embed that Shopify keeps switched off until you enable it. Until you turn it on, published popups won't appear on your storefront.

1. From the Forms list (or an open popup form), click Activate in theme editor. Or go to Online Store → Themes → Customize → Theme settings → App embeds.
2. Find Formtoro Popups and toggle it on.
3. Click Save in the theme editor.

That's it — popup, slide-in, and full-page forms can now render. You only do this once per theme; switching themes means turning it on again in the new theme.

Turning the embed off (or never turning it on) means popups don't appear anywhere on your store, even when a form is turned on.

Inline forms use a separate blockCopy Anchor Link

If your form's placement is Inline (embedded directly into a page, not floating), it uses the Formtoro Form app block instead of the app embed. Add it where you want the form to appear:

1. In the builder's Embed panel, copy the form ID and click Open theme editor.
2. In a section that accepts app blocks, Add block → Formtoro Form.
3. Paste the form ID into the block, then Save.

The app embed (above) powers popup/slide-in/full-page; the app block powers inline. A form needs whichever matches its placement.

Add a launch button (App Launcher block)Copy Anchor Link

Sometimes you don't want a form to appear on its own — you want the shopper to open it by clicking a button you place exactly where it makes sense. That's the Formtoro Launcher app block: a native-looking button (or your own custom style) that opens a popup or expands an inline form on click. It pairs with a form whose trigger is On click (launcher) and works even when the app embed is off.

It's a fundamental piece of how Formtoro forms reach shoppers, so it has its own guide: Launch buttons — setup, popup vs. inline mode, placement advice, styling, and troubleshooting.

Allow your storefront domainCopy Anchor Link

Live forms only load from domains you've allowed — this stops other sites from loading your forms just by knowing a form ID. In Settings → Storefront domains:

• Your Shopify shop identity is recognized automatically.
• Add every custom storefront host you sell from — for example www.brand.com — one per line. You can paste hostnames; https:// and paths are normalized for you.

If you run your store on a custom domain and haven't added it here, forms won't load there yet.

"I published, but my form isn't showing" — checklistCopy Anchor Link

This is the most common question. Work down the list:

1. Is the form On? Draft and Off forms never show, and Paused — limit reached means your plan's monthly submission limit was hit. Check the status badge in the builder or the Forms list. A Scheduled form isn't live until its turn-on time.
2. Is Formtoro turned on in your theme? For popups, Online Store → Themes → Customize → App embeds must have Formtoro Popups toggled on. For an inline form, the Formtoro Form block must be added to a section.
3. Is it a click-to-open form? If the form's trigger is On click (launcher), it's supposed to stay hidden until a shopper clicks its launcher button. Confirm the button is placed, the Form ID matches, and you're an eligible visitor.
4. Is your domain allowed? If you use a custom domain, add it under Settings → Storefront domains.
5. Does the visitor match the audience? If the form targets "new visitors on the homepage" and you're a returning visitor on a product page, it correctly won't show. Use the audience tester to confirm your rule, or temporarily widen the audience.
6. Have you already seen it? Your display frequency may have been satisfied — e.g. Once ever or Until completed won't show again on the same browser. Try a private/incognito window, which starts fresh.
7. Did you change settings but not republish? Some settings (like consent policy links) are baked in at publish time — republish the form.

Quick test: open your store in a private/incognito window that matches the audience. That bypasses any "already dismissed/seen" state and is the fastest way to confirm a form is live.

Republish after changing shared settingsCopy Anchor Link

A few things are compiled into a form when you publish it, so changing them later requires republishing the affected forms to take effect on the storefront:

• Terms of Service / Privacy Policy URLs and consent copy (see Settings → Legal & compliance).
• Brand/theme changes you want reflected in an already-published form.
• Custom fonts — the font files a form loads are resolved when you save a version, so a newly uploaded font (or a newly added weight) reaches the storefront on the next save.

If your consent links are blank or point to the wrong place, the usual cause is a changed URL without a republish.

Test before (and after) you publishCopy Anchor Link

• Preview in the builder to click through the form on each device.
• The audience tester confirms who's eligible.
• Test mode lets you try a saved version on your live store at a #ft-test link before shoppers can see it.
• The logic simulator checks your routing rules.
• The anonymous /try builder lets you experiment without affecting live forms.

Next stepsCopy Anchor Link

• Audience filtering — control exactly who's eligible.
• Display modes & triggers — how and how often it appears.
• Troubleshooting — more fixes for common snags.