Appearance
Why content is missing
Documentation scope: Guild 0.1.x pre-release builds. The exact public release version will be confirmed in the changelog before Theme Store publication.
When a Guild section or block is visible in the theme editor but content is missing on the storefront, check the content source before changing code. Most missing-content cases come from Shopify data, the current preview context, a visibility condition, or an app/provider dependency rather than from the layout itself.
Use this order
- Confirm the source data exists in Shopify Admin and is available to the Online Store.
- Confirm you are editing and previewing the correct template, product, collection, page, blog, or article.
- Confirm the section or block points to the intended source and is not hidden by a display or conditional-visibility setting.
- Check feature-specific prerequisites such as Search & Discovery configuration, Markets, published languages, pickup locations, metafields, or browser history.
- If an app, Custom HTML, Custom Liquid, or edited theme file owns the output, test an unpublished unmodified Guild copy when practical before changing built-in theme settings.
The Theme Editor can show setup previews or placeholders for some components. A preview proves that the component can be styled; it does not create the Shopify data required by the live storefront.
Common missing-content checks
| Missing content | Check first | What Guild expects |
|---|---|---|
| Header or Footer menu items | Shopify menus and the menu selected in the Header or Footer | Guild renders the selected Shopify menu. Empty or incorrectly nested menu data cannot be created by the theme. |
| Product or collection cards | Product/collection publication, availability, selected source, and collection membership | The selected Shopify resources must exist and be available to the storefront. |
| Collection filters | Shopify Search & Discovery filter configuration and product data used by those filters | Guild renders Shopify-provided storefront filters; it does not create filter definitions or values. |
| Related products | The current product and Shopify recommendation data | Shopify controls the related-product recommendations returned for the product. |
| Complementary products | Complementary-product assignments in Shopify Search & Discovery | Guild renders complementary products when Shopify returns configured recommendations. |
| Recently viewed products | Same-browser product-view history and browser storage availability | A first visit, cleared storage, or blocked storage can correctly leave the list empty. |
| Country selector | Shopify Markets with more than one country or region available to the Online Store | The selector can remain hidden when Shopify provides only one valid choice. |
| Language selector | More than one published storefront language | The selector can remain hidden when only one storefront language is published. |
| Metafield or dynamic-source content | Compatible metafield definition, value, resource, and dynamic-source connection | Guild can render compatible Shopify data but does not create the definition or value. |
| Product shipping | The configured product metafield and, when enabled, the configured selected-variant metafield | Empty source data hides the storefront output. Variant data can override the product-level fallback when Update by variant is enabled. |
| Product pickup | Pickup-enabled locations and selected-variant pickup availability in Shopify | Guild renders Shopify's pickup data for the selected variant; the theme does not create pickup locations or availability. |
| Search or predictive-search results | A real storefront query, searchable/published content, and the configured Search/Main search blocks | Theme Editor preview content can be synthetic. Live results come from Shopify search data for the current query. |
| Blog or article content | Published articles, the selected/current blog, article tags, and the template being previewed | Guild cannot show articles that are unpublished, outside the selected blog, or absent from the current context. |
| Page content through Content source | The intended Page source and renderable page content | Current-page mode needs a page context. Selected-page mode needs a selected Page with content. |
| Popup or Newsletter popup | Section visibility, trigger/automatic-open settings, and any saved dismissal state | A configured popup can correctly stay closed until its trigger or automatic-open condition is met. |
| App block or app embed | The app installation, app configuration, and the app block/embed being enabled in the correct theme context | The app owns its data and output. Guild only provides supported app placement surfaces. |
For Shopify-managed setup, use Shopify's official documentation for menus and links, metafields, and Search & Discovery filters.
Check the preview context
A section can be configured correctly and still look empty when the preview does not contain the data that section needs. For example:
- preview Product content with a real product that has the variants, media, metafields, recommendations, pickup data, or selling-plan state the store actually uses;
- preview Collection controls with a real collection and enough products to exercise sorting, filters, and pagination;
- preview Search with a real query;
- preview Blog and Article content inside the intended blog/article context;
- preview Cart content with both a populated cart and the empty-cart state when relevant.
Do not add placeholder storefront data just to make a data-dependent component appear. Configure the real Shopify source or leave the feature unused.
Check visibility and layout conditions
If the data exists, check the owning Guild section or block for conditions that intentionally suppress output. Depending on the component, this can include responsive Display mode, Product conditional visibility, an empty dynamic source, a hidden section, or a layout-specific setting.
Use Theme editor workflow when you are unsure which layer owns the setting. Use Troubleshooting for symptom-specific steps.
When to contact Guild support
Contact Guild support when supported Shopify data exists, the documented Guild settings are correct, and the same output still fails in an unmodified Guild copy or otherwise appears inconsistent with the documentation. Include the affected URL or template, Guild version, expected result, actual result, and the smallest useful reproduction steps.
You do not need to prove the issue is a Guild bug before opening a support request. See Contact support and the Guild support policy.