--- title: "Enable STOQ on your theme" description: "Turn on the app embed so the Notify me and Preorder buttons appear on your storefront, and keep it working across themes." url: https://help.stoqapp.com/general/enable-stoq-on-your-theme/ product: "General" section: "Setup and themes" last_updated: 2026-09-21 --- # Enable STOQ on your theme > Turn on the app embed so the Notify me and Preorder buttons appear on your storefront, and keep it working across themes. STOQ adds its buttons to your storefront through a Shopify **app embed**, a theme extension that injects the "Notify me" and "Preorder" buttons onto your product pages. If the app embed is off, the buttons don't appear even though everything else is set up. This is the first thing to check when buttons are missing. ## Before you begin - STOQ must be installed. - You (or your staff) need the **Themes** permission in Shopify. - The app embed is enabled **per theme**. It doesn't carry over when you switch or duplicate themes, so enable it on each theme where you want STOQ buttons, including a draft theme you want to preview before publishing. ## Check the status from STOQ When the app embed is off on your live theme, STOQ tells you in three places: - A **Turn on app embed** badge next to the page title on STOQ pages. - On the **Home** page, the **Back in stock** and **Preorders** status cards show **App embed is not enabled** with an **Activate** button. When it's on, they show **App embed is enabled** with a green check. - An **App embed is disabled** banner on the **Settings** tab of **Back in stock alerts** and on the **Offers** tab of **Preorders**. ## Turn it on from STOQ 1. **Open the guide** Click the **Turn on app embed** badge next to the title of any STOQ page. The same guide also opens when you click: 1. **Activate** on the **Back in stock** or **Preorders** card on the **Home** page. 2. **Enable app embed** on the banner on the **Settings** tab of **Back in stock alerts** or the **Offers** tab of **Preorders**. [Image: The STOQ Home cards with the Activate button](https://help.stoqapp.com/images/general/j11.png) 2. **Open the theme editor** In the **Turn on the app embed** window, click **Open theme editor**. The Shopify theme editor opens your live theme in a new tab, with the **App embeds** panel already open. [Image: The Turn on the app embed window with Open theme editor](https://help.stoqapp.com/images/general/j12.png) 3. **Turn on STOQ and save** In **App embeds**, make sure the **STOQ** toggle is on, then click **Save** in the top right corner of the theme editor. [Image: The theme editor App embeds panel with the STOQ toggle and Save](https://help.stoqapp.com/images/general/j13.png) 4. **Go back to the STOQ tab** Switch back to the STOQ tab. The window shows **Waiting for you to save in the theme editor** and checks every few seconds. Once it confirms, it shows **App embed is on** and closes itself, and the badge goes away. You don't need to refresh. To check right away, click **Check now**. [Image: The window confirming App embed is on with the Close button](https://help.stoqapp.com/images/general/j14.png) > **Note** > > STOQ's Home cards reflect your **published** theme only. To check another theme, enable the embed in that theme's editor directly. ## Enable it manually in Shopify 1. **Open your live theme** In your Shopify admin, click **Online Store** in the left menu bar to open the Themes page, then click **Edit theme** on your live theme. [Image: The Online Store Themes page with Edit theme on the live theme](https://help.stoqapp.com/images/general/j15.png) 2. **Open App embeds** In the top-left of the editor, click the third icon, the blocks icon, to open the **App embeds** panel. [Image: The App embeds icon in the top-left of the theme editor](https://help.stoqapp.com/images/general/j16.png) 3. **Turn on STOQ and save** Find **STOQ** in the list, toggle it on, and click **Save** in the top right. Refresh your storefront to confirm the buttons appear. ## Which themes work All **Online Store 2.0** themes support the app embed and are recommended. **Vintage (Online Store 1.0)** themes generally don't support app embeds; on those, the **App embeds** section may be missing and STOQ may need an alternative placement. Heavily customized themes can also interfere with button placement. ## Troubleshooting ### The buttons don't appear on my storefront The most common cause is the app embed being off. Enable it in **Online Store** > **Edit theme** > **App embeds**, save, and hard-refresh the page (Ctrl+Shift+R or Cmd+Shift+R). ### There's no App embeds section or no STOQ toggle You may be on a vintage theme that doesn't support app embeds, or the install didn't finish. Switch to an Online Store 2.0 theme, or reinstall STOQ. ### The buttons disappeared after I switched themes The app embed is per-theme and doesn't carry over. Enable STOQ on the new live theme. ### The guide says it could not confirm the app embed STOQ keeps checking for about 5 minutes after you open the theme editor. If it can't confirm by then, it asks you to check again. Go back to the theme editor tab and make sure: 1. The **STOQ** toggle in **App embeds** is on. 2. You clicked **Save**, and you saved your live theme, not a draft. Then click **Check again** in the STOQ window. If you closed the theme editor tab, click **Open theme editor again**. ### The Home card says the app embed could not be checked STOQ couldn't read your live theme, so it doesn't know whether the embed is on, and the badge next to the page title doesn't show. Click **Activate** on the card to open the guide, or check it yourself using the steps in Enable it manually in Shopify above. If the card keeps showing this, contact support. ### Buttons still missing with the embed on Confirm the feature is on (signups collecting for back in stock, or an active preorder offer for that product) and that the product's status actually calls for the button. See [Where the Notify me button shows](https://help.stoqapp.com/back-in-stock/notify-me-product-eligibility/) and [Troubleshoot the preorder button](https://help.stoqapp.com/preorders/troubleshooting-preorder-button-display/). ## FAQ ### Does the app embed slow my store down? No. It's lightweight and only loads on the product pages where it's needed. ### Does disabling the embed delete my data? No. It only stops the buttons showing. Your waitlist, offers, settings, and history stay intact. ### Why is there a Turn on app embed badge next to my page title? It means STOQ checked your live theme and the app embed is off, so customers can't see your Notify me or Preorder buttons. Click the badge to open the guide and turn it on. ### Do I need to refresh STOQ after I save in the theme editor? No. Keep the STOQ tab open. It checks every few seconds and confirms by itself once you click **Save** in the theme editor. ### I turned the app embed off, but STOQ still says it's on. Why? STOQ reuses an "on" result for up to 10 minutes. After that, reload STOQ and the badge comes back. ### Can I preview the button on a draft or unpublished theme? Yes. The app embed is per-theme, so enable STOQ on the draft theme too: in Shopify admin go to **Online Store**, click **Edit theme** on the draft theme, open **App embeds**, turn **STOQ** on, and **Save**. Use the theme editor's page selector to preview an out-of-stock product. When you publish that theme, the embed stays on. ## Related guides - [Set up back in stock alerts](https://help.stoqapp.com/back-in-stock/set-up-back-in-stock-alerts/): The end-to-end guide to turning on restock alerts. - [Set up preorders](https://help.stoqapp.com/preorders/set-up-preorders/): Create your first preorder offer. - [Troubleshoot the preorder button](https://help.stoqapp.com/preorders/troubleshooting-preorder-button-display/): Fix a preorder button that isn't showing. - [Add the button to other pages](https://help.stoqapp.com/back-in-stock/notify-me-button-on-store-pages/): Show buttons on collection and home pages.