Stuck with the Shopify preview bar on my live theme even after publishing it—still showing as preview mode despite clearing cookies and resetting the preview link
Reproduction steps
I’m facing an issue with the admin preview bar that’s stuck on my Shopify store, even after I published the theme.
I took a preview link for one of the themes (which was in preview mode) and shared it. Visitors could see the admin bar (image #1).
After that, I published the theme as the main theme for the store.
Now, even after the theme is live, the admin preview bar won’t go away, and it still shows as “Preview” mode. (image #2)
When I inspect the page, I can see that the code is still referencing the preview state, and there’s no way for me to fallback to the live theme. Hiding the bar or using pb=1 will just hide bar, but doesnot fall back to the non-preview live theme.
I’ve tried clearing cookies, publishing new themes, and resetting the preview link, but the bar still persists. Previously, I would duplicate the preview theme, publish the duplicated version, and then delete the original theme, which solved the issue. Now not working
In this example, I had the same preview bar as you until I clicked on the button. The previous tab you opened seems not to be able to switch to the live preview bar according to my tests.
Hi @teamdijon,Thanks for your prompt response. I appreciate it.
The problem here I see is not just on my browser, but a much bigger level. Let me tell you.
We conducted a split A/B test comparing the live theme with the preview theme.
2. Half of the visitors saw the live theme, while the other half of them were redirected to the preview theme. To hide the preview bad, we added CSS to the preview theme. These sorts of theme-level A/B tests have been done for a long time.
3. The preview theme performed better with respect to the conversions. So we published it as the live theme. However, those who saw the preview earlier are now seeing this preview bar.
Earlier deletion of the preview theme would have made it fall back to the live theme implicitly. Now that is not working
Please suggest how to clear the cache or make all those visitors who are seeing this bar fall back to the live theme properly (not just hiding the bar)
Hi @Misha Thanks for the response.But problem here is not just on one device.
We did a split test of 50-50%. I mean for 50% of our visitors were redirected to this preview link (of course we hide the preview bar using CSS).
Earlier when we were deleting the preview theme it was falling back to the original theme.
Now when we delete the preview theme or making this theme live, it’s falling back to the live theme but with the preview bar shown
Earlier, when we deleted the preview theme, browsers reverted to the live theme. Now, they load the live theme, but the preview bar is shown to about 50% of the visitors on the website, which means they are not excited from the preview mode.
