Updating to Capital 37

Capital 37.0.0 is a rebuild of the theme, not an update to 36. It has a new design system, a rebuilt settings surface and a new set of sections. Settings, templates and section content from 36 do not carry over.

This article explains how to move to 37 without losing your store. If you are installing Capital for the first time, none of it applies: install it and go.

Do not use the Update button in your admin

When 37.0.0 is available you will be offered an update in Online Store > Themes. Please do not take it.

On a rebuild, that button installs a copy of 37 with your 36 settings only partly applied. Because the underlying settings and templates changed, what you get is not your store rebuilt in the new theme, and it is not a good starting point to work from either. Your published theme is not modified, so nothing breaks on your live store, but the copy it creates is not usable.

Install 37 alongside your current theme instead

1. Go to the Shopify Theme Store and add Capital to your theme library again. Because you already own Capital, there is no second charge.
2. Shopify adds 37.0.0 to Online Store > Themes as an unpublished theme. Your current theme stays published and untouched.
3. Choose a preset when you set it up. Each preset arrives with the layout, copy and palette of its demo store, so you are starting from a finished design rather than a blank theme.
4. Work through your settings, pages and sections in the new theme. Preview as you go.
5. Publish 37 when you are happy with it. Until you do, your store keeps serving your current theme.

Because your old theme is still in your library, you can go back to it at any point by publishing it again.

What does not carry over

• Theme settings. The settings surface was rebuilt and reduced, so most settings have no direct equivalent to copy into.
• Section and block content. Homepage sections and other page content need setting up again in 37.
• Custom code. Anything added directly to the theme files has to be re-applied, and may need reworking for the new markup.
• App embeds and app blocks. Re-add these through each app's normal install flow rather than copying code across.

What is unaffected

Everything held in your Shopify admin rather than in the theme is untouched: products, collections, pages, blog posts, navigation menus, customers, orders, discounts, and your apps and their data. You are rebuilding the storefront, not the store.

Staying on 36

You do not have to move. Capital 36 keeps working and we will continue to apply critical fixes to it. New features go into the latest version only, so 37 is where the theme develops from here, but the timing is yours.

Need a hand?

If you are not sure whether to move, or you want to talk through what rebuilding your store in 37 involves, get in touch and we will help you plan it.