Troubleshooting

Most problems on a Fine Print store have a short list of causes. Start by finding out where the problem comes from, then check the common problems below. If you still need help, contact support with the details listed at the end.

First steps

A problem on your storefront can come from the theme, from an app, or from code someone added. Finding out which one saves time, because each has a different fix and a different person who can fix it.

Check a fresh copy of Fine Print

In your Shopify admin, go to Online Store.
Add a fresh copy of Fine Print from the Shopify Theme Store. It arrives in your draft themes.
Preview the fresh copy and look at the same page.

If the problem is gone in the fresh copy, it comes from a change made to your copy of the theme: a setting, an app or edited code. If the problem is there too, it’s likely in Fine Print, and we’ll help.

Turn off app embeds

Apps add code to your theme through app embeds, and that code runs on every page.

Duplicate your theme, so your live store stays as it is. Shopify explains how in Duplicating themes.
Open the copy in the theme editor and click the App embeds icon in the sidebar.
Turn the embeds off one at a time, saving and checking the page after each.

If the problem goes away when you turn off an embed, contact that app’s developer. Shopify’s guide to app embeds covers the switches.

Check the right theme and the right market

Make sure you’re editing your published theme, not a draft. Changes in a draft don’t show on your live store until you publish it.
Click Save in the theme editor. Unsaved changes show only in the editor.
Open the page in a private browser window, which skips your browser’s saved copies of old files.
Edits made with a market picked in the theme editor’s market selector show only to shoppers in that market. To change what every shopper sees, switch the selector back before you edit. Shopify explains theme customizations for markets.

Common problems

Specs or the how-to don’t show on a product

Spec rows and how-to steps read product metafields, and they show nothing for a product whose metafield is empty. In the theme editor they show a placeholder instead, so a block can look set up there and still be missing on the storefront.

Check that each Spec row has its Value connected to a metafield with the dynamic source button, and that the product has a value in that metafield in Shopify admin.
A Key facts block, a Spec group and the whole Product specs section disappear when none of their rows has a value.
The How to block needs Steps connected to a rich text metafield. Each paragraph or list item in it becomes a step.
The spec line under product titles, on product cards and in the register comes from the product subtitle metafield (descriptors.subtitle). Products without one show no spec line.

Shopify explains metafield definitions.

Filters don’t show

Fine Print shows filters on collection and search pages whenever the store has filters. There is no theme setting to turn them on. Filters are created in Shopify’s free Search & Discovery app, under Filters. If the app has no filters, the theme has none to show. See Shopify’s guide to Search & Discovery filters.

The subscription plans don’t show

The Subscription plans block shows only for a product with selling plans, which a subscription app creates. Check in your subscription app that the product, and the variant the shopper has chosen, are part of a plan. Without plans the product page shows the normal add to cart. See Subscriptions.

The finder shows “No exact match”

The Finder opens its collection filtered by each answer’s Filter value. The shopper sees all the collection’s products with a “No exact match” note when:

no answer’s Filter value matches a filter value of the collection, as it reads in the collection’s filters. Capitals and spaces at the ends don’t matter, but the spelling has to match.
the answers match filters, but no product in the collection has all of them.

When only some answers match, the finder applies those and lists the rest as “Not applied”. In the theme editor, an answer whose Filter value the collection doesn’t offer shows a warning naming the value and the collection. An answer with Price up to needs a price filter on the collection. See Finder.

A build-a-set step is missing products

Each step of a Build a set section shows up to 12 products of its collection. A step whose collection has no products shows nothing on the storefront, and products that can only be bought by subscription are left out. See Build a set.

A section is empty or missing

Some sections remove themselves on the storefront when they have nothing to show, while the theme editor keeps a placeholder you can select:

Product recommendations and Complementary products show what Shopify recommends for the product. A new store, or a product without complementary products set in the Search & Discovery app, may have none. See Shopify’s guide to product recommendations.
Recently viewed products lists the products this shopper viewed before, so it’s gone on their first product page.
A Video section without a video, and a Finder set to First question as the opening without questions, show nothing.

The Promo popup shows nothing, in the theme editor too, until it has a Discount code, or a Button label with a Button link. With Show after set to Scrolling past the first screen, it opens only once the shopper scrolls that far. Once a shopper closes it, it stays closed for them for 7 days.

The hero shows a still image instead of the video

A video shows only with Layout set to Split or Full bleed in the Hero. With Stacked, the hero shows its image.
A shopper whose device asks for reduced motion, with Reduce motion on iPhone and Mac or Animation effects turned off on Windows, sees the poster image until they press play.
A shopper who paused the video keeps it paused on that page.

Sections don’t fade in, or cards don’t show a second image

Enable animations in Theme settings > Layout must be on.
The second image on hover also needs Show second image on hover in Theme settings > Product cards, and a product with at least two images.
Shoppers whose device asks for reduced motion, and shoppers in the Instagram, Facebook and TikTok in-app browsers, see neither.
The theme editor never fades sections in, so you always see every section while you edit.

The language or country selector doesn’t show

The selectors in the Header and Footer show only when Show language selector or Show country/region selector is on and there is something to choose: more than one published language in Settings > Languages, or more than one country in your markets. See Shopify’s guide to languages.

Shoppers see a password page

Your store is in private mode, so visitors see the password page instead of your storefront. Shopify explains how to open it in private mode. The page shoppers see is Fine Print’s Password section, which you can edit in the theme editor.

Contacting support

If none of this fixes the problem, write to us through the support form. Include:

your store URL, such as yourstore.myshopify.com
a link to the page where the problem happens
the steps that make it happen, and what you expected to see
a screenshot that shows the problem
whether it also happens on a fresh copy of Fine Print or with app embeds turned off

The more of this we have, the fewer messages it takes to fix. Support explains what we help with.