Getting started: install, activate the app embed and confirm it works (Essential Preorder app)

This article walks through the first ten minutes after installing Essential Preorder & Back in Stock: the Setup Guide on Home, turning on the app embed in your theme, and checking the button shows on your store. It is for new merchants and for anyone whose button never appeared after install.

The Setup Guide

Home shows a Setup Guide with three steps and a progress counter. You can dismiss it at any time with Dismiss.

1. Create a preorder or back in stock campaign

Click Create preorder campaign or Create back in stock campaign. A campaign holds the products, the button text and design, and the rules. Save it as Live to show it on the store. Guides: How Preorder Campaigns Work and Enable Back in Stock notifications.

2. Activate app embed in Shopify

The button is drawn by a small script called an app embed. Shopify keeps app embeds off until you turn them on in your theme.

1. Click Activate. Shopify’s theme editor opens with the Essential Preorder app embed already switched on.
2. Click Save in the theme editor.
3. Back in the app, click I’ve done it.

The App status card on Home shows Active once the embed is on, or Inactive with an Activate button if it is not. The app embed has no settings of its own in the theme editor. Everything is configured in the app.

If you use more than one theme, the embed is per theme. Activate it again after switching or publishing a new theme.

3. Confirm app is working properly

Open a product from a live campaign on your store. You should see the Preorder or Notify me button instead of Add to cart. Then click Everything is great, or Contact support if something is off. Support can adjust the button to your theme for free.

What you get for free

The Free plan includes 25 preorders and 300 Back in Stock notifications a month, with every plan feature except those listed in Plans and billing. You do not need to pick a plan to start.

Need a hand?

Home also shows Book an onboarding call with a founder. Use Book a call for a screen-share setup, or Contact support for chat.

The button still does not show

Work through Preorder button not showing: the full checklist. The most common causes are the app embed being off, the campaign saved as Draft, and the product not being out of stock for a “When out of stock” campaign.

Still stuck?

Contact support from the app with a link to the product page. We answer around the clock.