Troubleshooting

Most snags in Formtoro come down to a handful of causes. Here are the common ones and how to fix them fast.

My form isn't showing on the storefront

The most common one. Walk the going-live checklist first — it covers the status badge (On, not Draft, Off, or Paused — limit reached), the theme app embed, launcher forms, allowed domains, audience, and frequency. Two causes that deserve extra depth:

You already count as subscribed

Until subscribed is the default frequency for new forms — and it stops showing forms to you surprisingly easily. The moment a visitor submits a step containing an email or phone on any of your forms, that browser is marked subscribed for your store for about 6 months, and every form set to Until subscribed stops appearing there. So if you tested any form with your own email last month, your own popups won't show you anything today. That's the feature working: never nag someone who already gave you their contact.

The fix for testing is a private/incognito window — it starts with no subscribed, seen, or dismissed state. Closing a form's teaser or completing the form also stops re-shows, so incognito is the reliable reset for all of it.

Your audience rule excludes you

If the form targets "new visitors on the homepage" and you're a returning visitor on a product page, it correctly won't show. Run your exact situation through the audience tester — it tells you which rule passes or fails — or temporarily widen the audience.

My launch button isn't showing

Launcher buttons stay hidden until Formtoro confirms the visitor is eligible, so an Off form or a non-matching audience hides the button itself. The launch buttons guide walks through every cause.

My inline form is invisible on the page

An inline form that isn't eligible renders nothing — the block collapses and the surrounding content closes the gap, so there's no empty box to spot. Check, in order:

1. The Formtoro Form block is added to that page's section with the correct form ID (setup).
2. The form is On.
3. You match the form's audience — an excluded visitor (say, a recognized Klaviyo subscriber) sees the section as if the block weren't there.

Frequency caps don't apply to inline forms — a merchant-placed section never vanishes because you've "already seen it" — so if it's missing, it's one of the three above.

My discount isn't applying at checkout

• For a magic discount, the reward applies automatically — confirm the form actually has it attached, check the status panel on the Discounts page shows the reward active, and run the Testing and diagnostics panel to simulate a checkout against your exact cart.
• For a static code, the code auto-applies to the cart once the shopper subscribes — but the matching code must exist and be active in Shopify. The builder's issues panel flags a code that doesn't exist in Shopify.
• If you just created or changed the discount, give Shopify a moment and re-test.

My consent links are blank or wrong

Policy links are compiled into a form when you save a version. If you set or changed your Terms of Service / Privacy Policy URLs (Settings → Legal & compliance) afterward, save a new version of the affected forms so the live copies pick up the new URLs. Also make sure your consent copy still contains the {{terms}} and {{privacy}} tokens — without them, there are no links to render.

I changed a setting but the storefront didn't update

Two different causes, two fixes:

• Your form edits aren't live yet. The builder autosaves your draft, but the storefront serves the last saved version — that's why the badge reads On + Unsaved changes. Click Save version to push the draft live. See saving and versions.
• You changed a shared setting (policy URLs, consent copy, a theme you want reflected in an already-live form). Those compile in at save time, so save a new version of each affected form.

Preview looks different from the live form

The builder's Preview renders your current draft with the same engine as the live widget — so if the storefront disagrees with it, the storefront is almost certainly serving an older version. Check the badge: On + Unsaved changes means exactly that. Save version and the two will match again.

"Modified elsewhere — reload" while editing

A form has one shared draft. If a teammate — or you, in another tab — edits the same form, the builder stops autosaving and shows Modified elsewhere — reload so nobody's work is silently overwritten. Reload the page to pick up the other changes; your unsaved edits since the divergence are lost, so if you have work you want to keep, copy it somewhere safe before reloading. Agree on who's editing, or work in one tab at a time.

A form shows once and never again

That's your display frequency working as configured. Until subscribed (the default), Until form completed, Once ever, and Once per session all intentionally stop re-showing — closing the teaser counts as a stop signal too. To see the form again while testing, use a private/incognito window, or set the frequency to Every visit temporarily. See how often a form shows.

I can't find where to rename a field's "key"

Field names (the keys your answers are stored under, like email or shopping_interest) are assigned automatically and aren't edited in the inspector. You can freely edit a field's visible label. See the fields reference.

I'm looking for a control that isn't there

A few options exist in the data model but aren't surfaced in the builder yet — for example min/max selections on choice questions and min/max dates on a date field. If you can't find a control, it may be a planned addition rather than a hidden setting. The fields reference lists what's configurable today.

A dashboard number shows "—"

A dash means that figure's source is briefly unavailable — store-wide numbers come from Shopify and update on a delay. Your Formtoro numbers still show. If the whole dashboard is empty, it just needs traffic. See Analytics.

My AI client won't connect

• Double-check you used the exact server URL https://mcp.formtoro.com/mcp.
• For Claude Desktop, restart the app after editing the config file.
• The client must prompt you to sign in to Formtoro and approve — complete that step. See AI access & API keys.

Still stuck?

Most surprises come down to three things: the storefront serves the last saved version (not your draft), you're testing as a visitor who's already subscribed or ineligible, or a shared setting needs a new version saved. Re-check those — in an incognito window — before anything else.