Schedule a seasonal homepage

A homepage version is a complete homepage, with the site styles (colours, typography, buttons), that you prepare in advance. During its dates, your shop shows it; before and after, your customers see your usual homepage. You can prepare Christmas in November without changing anything on the live homepage.

Create a version

1. In Settings → Customise, edit the homepage as usual: sections, texts, photos, site styles.
2. Open the menu next to “Publish” and choose “Schedule…” to give it its dates right away, or “Save as a version…” to keep it without dates.
3. Give it a name, such as “Christmas” or “Summer sale”: it helps you find your way, and your customers don't see it.

Your changes go into the version: the live homepage stays as it is.

A version's dates

The start and the end are set in your shop's time zone. A version stays live for 92 days at most and can be scheduled up to a year in advance. Two versions can't be live at the same time: if your dates overlap another one, the editor tells you. At the end, your shop goes back to your usual homepage on its own.

Message and seasonal pattern

During its dates, a version can replace the announcement bar message, translated into your shop's languages, on every page that shows the bar. It can also add a pattern drawn by Winslor under the bar, in your shop's colours: Stars, Hearts, Moons, Flowers, Bunting, Tags or Pumpkins. The pattern shows on the homepage, collections and your content pages, never on product pages, the cart, checkout or the customer account.

Edit or reuse a version

In the editor, the “Homepage versions” panel shows on a timeline what your customers will see, then the list of your versions. Open one to edit it: “Save version” keeps your changes, and “Update live” changes your shop right away when the version is live. A version that has ended stays in the list: next year, “Schedule” suggests the same dates, one year later.

Go back to an earlier state of a version

Each time you save a version, its previous content is kept. When the version is open in the editor, “History” shows its last 20 saves, with their dates. “Restore” loads one of them into the version's draft: check the preview, then choose “Save version”, or “Update live” if the version is live. Until then, nothing changes in your shop. The history covers the homepage and styles: the pattern and message aren't part of it. A copy starts without the history of its source, and deleting a version also deletes its history.

Duplicate a version

In the “Homepage versions” panel, a version's menu offers “Duplicate”: the copy takes its homepage, pattern and message, without dates, under the name “… (copy)”, which you can change with “Rename”. Handy for preparing a variant, for example the summer sale from the winter one. A copy without dates doesn't count towards your plan.

Make a version your usual homepage

A version can also replace your usual homepage for good, with no end date. Choose “Publish as usual homepage…” in its menu, or in the editor's banner when it's open:

• Now: it becomes your usual homepage straight away.
• At a later date, within the coming year: your shop changes at the set time and doesn't go back, for example to launch a new collection on a Monday at 8 am. Until then, it counts as a scheduled version.

The previous homepage stays in the publishing history, where you can restore it. Pending changes to your usual homepage aren't lost: they're kept in a saved version, “Homepage draft” followed by the date. It's the saved version that gets published: save your latest changes into it first. Its pattern and message stay with the version: the usual homepage doesn't take them. If another version is live at that moment, it stays on show until it ends, then your shop shows your new usual homepage.

Share a preview of a version

To show a version to a partner or a photographer before its dates, choose “Share a preview” in its menu, or “Share” in the editor's top bar when it's open. The link, valid for 7 days, opens your shop with this version, its pattern and its message, without an account, even if your shop is in maintenance mode. It follows your changes: each one appears as soon as it's saved.

How many versions

Starter allows 3 versions scheduled at once; Business and Pro, no limit. A version saved without dates or already ended doesn't count: you can keep as many as you like. A version that will become your usual homepage on a date also counts, until that date. If your shop moves to the Starter plan with more than 3 versions scheduled, the 3 closest stay scheduled; the others are unscheduled, with a notice in the editor, and you receive an email listing them.

Got a question about homepage versions? Write to us from your Winslor account, under Support, and we’re here to help.