Enable and Customise Cart Drawer
Essential Cart Drawer replaces your theme’s default cart with a slide-out cart drawer. This lets customers stay on the same page while viewing and updating their cart.
This article shows you how to turn it on and customise how it looks and works.
1️⃣ Publish the Cart Drawer in the App
First, open Essential Cart Drawer in your Shopify admin.
On the main page, click your cart drawer.
Then click Publish in the top right corner.
What happens after you publish?
Your cart drawer is ready in the app.
To show it on your storefront, you also need to enable it in your theme.
2️⃣ Enable the Cart Drawer in Your Theme
Go to Online Store → Themes in your Shopify admin.
Next to your active theme, click Customize.
In the theme editor, open App Embeds from the left sidebar.
Find Essential Cart Drawer, turn it on, then click Save.
What happens after you enable it?
Your cart drawer becomes visible on your storefront.
If you use more than one theme, you need to enable it separately in each theme where you want it to appear.
Customising Your Cart Drawer
You can customise your cart drawer inside the app.
The editor is split into tabs. Each tab controls a different part of the cart drawer.
Settings Tab
The Settings tab controls the main behaviour and content of your cart drawer.
Position
Choose whether the cart drawer opens from the left or right side of the screen.
Open on add to cart
Turn this on if you want the cart drawer to open automatically when a customer clicks an Add to Cart button.
Turn it off if you want customers to open the cart manually.
Header
You can change the title shown at the top of the cart drawer.
You can also use the {item_count} variable to show the number of items in the cart.
Example: Your cart (3)
Empty cart
This section lets you customise what customers see when their cart is empty.
You can:
- add a message
- upload a custom icon
- change the icon size and colour
- show a button
- change the button text
- add a button link
This is useful if you want to guide customers to a collection, product page, or another part of your store.
Design Tab
The Design tab controls how your cart drawer looks. You can set design options separately for desktop and mobile using the device toggle at the top of the Design tab.
Other Tabs
You can also turn other cart drawer sections on or off depending on what you want to show.
Line Items
Control how product details appear, including variants, compare-at prices, and quantity selectors.
Announcement Bar
Show a message bar at the top of the cart drawer.
You can also add a countdown timer.
Spend Tiers
Show spending goals that unlock rewards like discounts or free products.
Subtotal
Customise the subtotal label and styling.
Checkout Button
Change the checkout button text, colours, border, and spacing.
Discounts
Let customers enter discount codes in the cart drawer.
Payment Icons
Show payment or trust icons above the checkout button.
Order Note
Add a field where customers can leave notes with their order.
Upsells
Show recommended products inside the cart drawer.
Placement
Choose where the cart drawer should appear.
Saving Your Changes
When you make changes, a SaveBar appears at the top of the screen.
Click Save to apply your changes.
Click Discard if you want to remove unsaved changes.
Last updated: March 2026