Translate draft themes

Prepare theme translations on unpublished or development themes before you go live.

Written By Floris de Vries

Last updated About 4 hours ago

OO Translations can translate theme content on your live theme and on draft or development themes. That lets you prepare translations before you publish a new theme.

What you can translate per theme

Theme-scoped content types include items such as:

  • Locale content (theme translations)

  • JSON templates

  • Section groups and section settings

  • Theme settings categories

  • App embeds

Translate a draft theme

  1. Open Translate.

  2. Choose a target language.

  3. Select a theme content type (for example Locale content or JSON templates).

  4. Use the Theme dropdown to pick the draft or development theme. Live themes are labeled (Live); unpublished themes are labeled (Draft).

  5. Translate fields manually or with AI, then save.

Tips

  • Translations are stored per theme. Preparing a draft does not change the live theme until you publish that theme in Shopify.

  • After you publish a draft theme, its translations stay with that theme.

  • Scheduled jobs use the theme selected for the job (or the live theme when none is set). For a draft-only rollout, translate the draft in the editor first.

  • Manual locks still apply: fields you save yourself are not overwritten by automatic jobs.