CartSync Pro documentation / Get started
Getting started with CartSync Pro
Install CartSync Pro, turn on the Cart Sync app embed, and check that a signed-in customer's cart follows them from one device to another. About five minutes.
CartSync Pro saves a signed-in customer's cart to their customer record in Shopify and puts it back on every device they shop from. This guide takes you from installing it to watching a cart move from your phone to your laptop.
Before you start
- It's free. Cart sync and Cart Helper are both included at no cost. There's no plan to choose.
- You need an Online Store theme. Cart sync runs as a theme app embed you switch on in the theme editor. Headless storefronts aren't supported.
- Carts sync for signed-in customers. The cart is saved on the customer record, so a shopper needs a customer account and has to be signed in. A guest's cart stays in their browser as usual, and is merged in when they sign in. See How cart sync works.
- You need permission to install apps on the store.
Install CartSync Pro
- Open CartSync Pro on the Shopify App Store and click Install.
- Shopify lists the permissions CartSync Pro asks for. Review them and approve.
- Shopify opens CartSync Pro in your admin. Next time, you'll find it under Apps in the admin sidebar.
What each permission is for:
| Permission | Why CartSync Pro needs it |
|---|---|
| Customers | To save each customer's cart in a metafield on their record, and to find customers in Cart Helper |
| Themes (read only) | To show on the home page whether the app embed is on in your live theme |
| Products, inventory and locations (read only) | To pick products in Cart Helper and check stock at the locations your online store sells from |
| Orders (read only) | To empty a customer's saved cart when they order, and to count orders that came from restored carts |
| Discounts | To make free gifts added in Cart Helper free at checkout |
| Draft orders | To create a draft order from a customer's saved cart in Cart Helper |
Turn on the app embed
Nothing syncs until the Cart Sync app embed is on in your live theme.
- Open CartSync Pro. If the embed is off, the home page shows Cart sync across devices is off.
- Click Turn on in theme editor. The theme editor opens on App embeds with Cart Sync ready to enable.
- Make sure the Cart Sync toggle is on, and click Save.
- Come back to CartSync Pro and refresh. The home page now shows Cart sync across devices with an On badge and your theme's name.
To do it by hand: Online Store → Themes → Customize, click the App embeds icon in the left sidebar, and turn on Cart Sync.
The embed's settings (the restore notice and the idle timeout) work with their defaults. Cart Sync app embed settings covers each one.
Check it on your store
You need a customer account on your store and two devices, or two different browsers on one computer.
- On your phone, open your store and sign in to the customer account.
- Add two products to the cart.
- On your laptop, open your store and sign in to the same account.
- The two products appear in the cart, and a notice says Your cart has been restored! in the top right corner for 5 seconds.
- On the laptop, add a third product. Then, on the phone, open the cart page. It shows all three.
Back in the admin, open the customer's page. You can see the cart there too, in the customer's metafields, and in Cart Helper.
What's in the app
| Page | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Home | Whether cart sync is on, and once carts start moving, Insights: revenue from restored carts, what's waiting in saved carts, and what your team's carts, gifts and draft orders bring in |
| Cart Helper | For support and sales staff: find a customer, see their saved cart, add or remove products, give a free gift, clear the cart, restore an earlier version, or create a draft order from it |
Every staff member who can open the app can use both pages. There are no roles.
In the Shopify admin, each customer page also gets:
- Create Customer Cart, under More actions, which opens Cart Helper for that customer.
- A Customer's Active Cart block that shows their saved cart with products, variants and SKUs. Like any app block on the customer page, add it once from a customer page and it shows on every customer.
Next steps
- Read How cart sync works to know what's saved, when another device catches up, and what happens at sign-in and after an order.
- Set the restore notice's message, position and colors in Cart Sync app embed settings.
- Show your support team Cart Helper: build or fix a customer's cart, give a free gift or create a draft order, or restore an earlier version.
- See what restored carts bring in, and what's waiting in saved carts, in Insights and attribution.
- Make signing in easy: a visible account link in your header, and a line in the cart that signed-in shoppers can pick up on any device.
The CartSync Pro page gives an overview of every feature.