--- title: "How do I turn on the app embed?" description: "The Pre-order & Back in stock app embed shows the Pre-order and Notify me buttons. How to turn it on, and what happens when it's off or you change themes." url: "https://smart-preorder.com/help/general/enable-the-app-embed" updated: "2026-11-02" product: "SMART Preorder & Back in stock" section: "Help center / General" --- # How do I turn on the app embed? On the app's Home, click **Activate** on the **App embed** card. Your theme editor opens with the **Pre-order & Back in stock** embed switched on: click **Save**. Without it, the Pre-order button and the Notify me button don't show on your store. Payment customizations work without it. ## Turn it on from the app 1. Open the app's **Home**. The **App embed** card shows **Active** or **Inactive** for your published theme. 2. Click **Activate**. The same button is in Home's setup guide (**Activate app embed**) and in the banner **The app embed is inactive** on the Back in stock and Pre-orders pages. Your theme editor opens in a new tab with the embed already switched on. 3. Click **Save** in the theme editor. Nothing changes on your store until you save. 4. Back in the app, click **Refresh status**. The card now shows **Active**. ## Or turn it on by hand 1. In your Shopify admin, go to **Online Store > Themes** and click **Edit theme** on your theme. 2. In the sidebar, click the **App embeds** icon. 3. Turn on **Pre-order & Back in stock** with its toggle. 4. Click **Save**. These are Shopify's steps for any app embed ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/themes/theme-structure/extend/apps)). There's no theme code to edit. ## What the embed does - Shows the Pre-order button, badge, countdown and payment details on product pages and product cards ([Pre-order button, badge and countdown](https://smart-preorder.com/help/preorders/preorder-button-badge-countdown)). - Makes sure an item added to the cart from those pages carries its pre-order. - Shows the Notify me button and signup form on sold-out products ([Set up Notify me](https://smart-preorder.com/help/back-in-stock/set-up-notify-me)). - Applies the custom CSS from **Settings > Theme compatibility**, if you added any. Payment customizations run inside Shopify checkout and never need the embed. If you only use payment rules, an **Inactive** embed card on Home is fine. ## When the embed is off - The Pre-order button, badge and countdown don't show, and neither does Notify me. - Variants that a live campaign set to Continue selling can still be bought with your theme's normal button, as regular orders at full price: no deposit, no fulfillment hold, and they aren't tracked as pre-orders. - Payment customizations keep working. > **To pause pre-orders, deactivate the campaign** Turning off the embed doesn't stop sales of sold-out items. Deactivate the campaign instead, so the app puts Continue selling back. ## When you change or publish a theme App embeds are switched on per theme. Shopify notes that when you change your published theme, you need to turn your apps on again in the new theme, because they aren't on by default. - Turn the embed on and save in the new theme before you publish it. - If you publish a theme with the embed off while you have an active campaign or back in stock on, the app emails the store owner once, with a link that opens the theme editor with the embed switched on. - Home's App embed card checks your published theme only. - If you set app embeds per market in the theme editor, check that the embed is on for every market that sells pre-orders or uses Notify me. Changes made without picking a market apply to the store default. ## On, but nothing shows? - For Notify me: back in stock is **Active** and the variant is sold out. See [which variants show it](https://smart-preorder.com/help/back-in-stock/set-up-notify-me). - For pre-orders: the campaign is active and covers the product. See [Set up a pre-order campaign](https://smart-preorder.com/help/preorders/set-up-a-preorder-campaign). - Hard-refresh the product page, and make sure you're looking at the published theme, not a preview of another one. - On a heavily customized theme, the button can land in the wrong place. Contact us by chat or email and we'll fix it with the **Theme compatibility** settings ([Get support](https://smart-preorder.com/help/general/get-support)). **One switch for pre-orders and Notify me** Install SMART Preorder & Back in stock, turn on the app embed, and your store is ready. [Install SMART Preorder & Back in stock on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/smart-preorder-back-in-stock). ## Frequently asked questions ### Do I need to edit my theme code? No. Everything the storefront needs comes from the app embed. You turn it on in the theme editor and save. ### I published a new theme and pre-orders stopped showing. Why? App embeds are on per theme, and a newly published theme starts with them off. Turn on Pre-order & Back in stock in the new theme's App embeds and save.