What to do if your Shopify store is not working
Marina S
May 15, 2023 • 5 min read
The unavailability of your Shopify store’s site is certainly a frustrating experience. Every minute it is offline represents a missed opportunity for business, as customers may navigate away to your competitors and not return. It is essential to promptly identify the cause of the Shopify site’s downtime and restore access to your store to minimize disruption and maximize sales.
What to do if your Shopify store is unavailable
1. Check if the Shopify platform has informed you of the issue through email. Additionally, you can check the status of the Shopify server. If the site experiences a problem at a system-wide level, it is the responsibility of Shopify to resolve it eventually.
2. If the issue with your store is isolated and the Shopify server is functioning normally, consider the events that occurred prior to the crash. There are several common causes that can result in the deletion or unavailability of your store, such as:
- Installing or integrating with an incompatible third-party app
- Uploading CSV files containing corrupted data
- Errors during theme code editing
- Accidental or intentional deletion of data
- Hacker attack or malware
By analyzing these potential causes, you can help identify the root of the problem, and using a previously saved store backup can be a fast and effective solution for it.
How to restore a Shopify store from a saved backup
There is no question that it’s essential to regularly back up your store. However, there are various methods for doing so.
Shopify possibilities for backups
Shopify’s backup options are limited, requiring manual effort from you. You can download CSV files containing some of your Shopify store’s data for later import. However, it’s crucial to regularly save the latest versions, and various data, such as products and themes, will be stored in separate files. Admittedly, this is not the most convenient approach.
Auto-backups and easy restore with the BackupMaster app
Installing a Shopify backup app will provide you with peace of mind, as it will automatically save daily copies of a Shopify store and keep them in the cloud, providing constant access to your data for easy Shopify store recovery. The backup app offers various restore options for different scenarios:
- Granular Restore for specific deleted or corrupted items (learn more about it here)
- Bulk Restore for your entire account
- Export/Import feature to transfer data to another account.
In the event of a full-account data loss or corruption, proceed as appropriate for the situation:
1. If your Shopify account is still active, you can easily recover your entire store using the Bulk restore option of the BackupMaster app. Learn how to restore the Shopify store with just a few clicks, selecting a date of your choice by reading the instructions.
2. To handle the situation where Shopify closes your store, BackupMaster offers an Export/Import features. By regularly downloading your store backups as a zip file to a hard drive, you will be able to effortlessly upload the data to your new store. Learn more about this solution in our guide.
We also suggest taking a look at an article on the 3-2-1 backup rule, which is considered the gold standard in backups and provides a reliable means of protecting your business from data loss.