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Using Rebuy preview mode
Using Rebuy preview mode

This article will demonstrate helpful ways you can use preview mode when setting up Rebuy products.

Jason Khan avatar
Written by Jason Khan
Updated over 5 months ago

Many merchants want to test Rebuy features internally before allowing customers to interact with them and there are 2 ways to achieve this.

The first method is to install Rebuy on a duplicate theme so that you can test the Rebuy products there first and once you're satisfied, implement the same features on your live theme.

Load Rebuy on Specific Themes

The second method is what we will discuss in this article, using Rebuy preview mode.

What is preview mode?

When a Rebuy product is in preview mode it is invisible to customers and can only be seen or interacted with when viewing the store in preview mode.

How do I enable preview mode?

There several ways to enable preview mode.

  1. Widget preview mode

    1. Automatic: From the Rebuy Admin > Dashboard tab, click "ONLINE STORE". This will open your stores live theme in a new tab and automatically place you in preview mode (if Rebuy is installed on your live theme).

      1. If Rebuy is not installed on your live theme, clicking "ONLINE STORE" will simply open your store in a new tab.

    2. Manual: Open your store browser, for a theme that has Rebuy installed and add /?preview=true to the end the URL.

      Example: if your base URL is https://try.rebuyengine.com then it should look like this to be in preview mode https://try.rebuyengine.com/?preview=true

    3. Confirmation: Done correctly your browser should now be in preview mode. At the bottom of your browser you should see the Rebuy preview bar for Widgets displaying. Similar to when you preview a different theme and the Shopify preview mode bar displays.

  2. Smart Cart preview mode

    1. From the Rebuy Admin > Smart Cart tab, scroll down to view your available Smart Carts. Only 1 can be live at a time, but you can have up to 9 created. To preview a Smart Cart that is not live, simply click the "PREVIEW" button. This will open your stores live theme in a new tab and place you in Smart Cart preview mode.

      1. If Rebuy is not installed on your live theme. You first need to preview the theme that has Rebuy installed, then click the Smart Cart "PREVIEW" button.

      2. If you haven't created any Smart Carts yet, click the "New Cart" button to do so.

    2. Confirmation: Done correctly your browser should now be in preview mode. At the bottom of your browser you should see the Rebuy preview bar for Smart Cart displaying. Similar to when you preview a different theme and the Shopify preview mode bar displays.

      Your URL will also show you as being in preview mode for that specific Smart Cart.

  3. Smart Cart and Widget preview mode

    1. Preview mode for widgets is separate from the Smart Cart preview mode. But you can combine the two in order to test a Smart Cart and a widget at the same time

      1. First, follow step 2 above to place yourself in Smart Cart preview mode.

      2. Now that you're in Smart Cart preview mode, follow step 1 above to combine the 2. Adding /?preview=true to the end the URL will combine the 2 preview modes.

      3. The URL will look like this for Smart Cart preview https://try.rebuyengine.com/?preview_smart_cart=8839 and you'll add /?preview=true to the end so the new link will look like this. https://try.rebuyengine.com/?preview_smart_cart=8839/?preview=true

    2. Confirmation: Done correctly your browser should now be in preview mode. At the bottom of your browser you should see the Rebuy preview bar for Widgets & Smart Cart displaying. Similar to when you preview a different theme and the Shopify preview mode bar displays.

Placing widgets and Smart Cart into preview mode

  1. Widgets

    1. When a widget is created, it is automatically in live mode. To place it in preview mode click on that widget to access it's settings and toggle off the Live Mode selector.

  2. Smart Cart

    1. When a Smart Cart is created, it is automatically in preview mode. If / when you want that cart to be live, simply toggle it on in the Rebuy Admin > Smart Cart tab.

Using the Toggle Highlight feature of Rebuy Preview mode

If you're unfamiliar with a store it can be difficult to quickly identify which features are Rebuy and which are native to the theme, or from a different app. To solve for this you can use the Toggle Highlight, this will display a colored border around any Rebuy products on the page.

Open your store browser, for a theme that has Rebuy installed and add /?preview=true to the end the URL.

Example: If your base URL is https://try.rebuyengine.com then it should look like this to be in preview mode https://try.rebuyengine.com/?preview=true

Example image:

Navigate to Rebuy Admin > Settings > Themes and scroll down to "Rebuy Element Highlight". From here you can select the color and the thickness of the Toggle Highlight border.

Demo here:

Example Image:

Limitations and Requirements

  • The widget must be installed in your Theme in order to use the Preview feature

    • NOTE: Toggling off live mode on a widget will hide it from customers without uninstalling the widget.

  • The widget preview tool is not available for select widget types:

    • Checkout Extensions (use Checkout Editor preview tool)

    • Post Purchase Offers (preview tools coming soon)

  • Smart Cart is global. If you have Rebuy installed on multiple themes and you set Smart Cart to live mode, it will be live on all themes. This is why we leverage preview mode.

Checkout extensions widget
Post Purchase Flow
Create a Smart Cart
Smart Cart settings

Related Articles
How To Split Test The Rebuy Smart Cart
How To Add Rebuy To A Native Cart Flyout/Drawer Or Modal
Load Rebuy Smart Cart & Widgets Faster
Manage Rebuy Theme
Integrating Rebuy with your Wholesale or B2B store
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