span class=”im”>The scariest sentence in Shopify support chat is: “I just did a bulk edit and now my product descriptions are gone”. It’s often assumed that Shopify will auto-save a backup of a store for recovery in case something goes terribly wrong with an edit. The truth is not quite so, but partially so. What do Shopify backups actually save? What do they ignore silently, and how can you back up your store correctly? This guide explores all of these questions in detail.
Honest opinion right up front: Shopify’s backup solution is very lacking. You should definitely consider using scheduled third-party exports of your store – not just once under uncertainty of data loss, but every week under normal store operation.
On this page
- What Shopify backs up natively
- What it silently doesn’t
- Backing up themes
- Backing up products and images
- Backup apps compared
- How to restore
- FAQ
What Shopify backs up for you (natively)
- The database itself (Shopify’s infrastructure). You can’t lose your store to a server crash.
- Theme version history. Every time you publish a theme, Shopify keeps the previous versions in the theme library. Up to 20 most recent.
- Orders. Orders are immutable once placed.
That is basically it. Everything else is on you.
What Shopify does NOT back up (the scary list)
- Product edits. If you bulk-edit and save, the previous values are gone. No version history.
- Product deletions. Delete a product, it is gone. No trash.
- Image deletions from Files. Deleted = gone.
- Metafield values. No history at all.
- Collection membership rules.
- Theme files if you go past the 20-version rolling window.
- Customer records if bulk-deleted.
- Blog posts and pages.
Shopify defaults theme history to 20 which is ridiculously low. You can quickly exceed 20 versions in a single afternoon by saving 2 section template variations.
Backing up your theme
- Open Online Store, then Themes.
- Find your live theme. Click the three-dot menu.
- Click Duplicate. The copy shows up at the bottom of your theme list.
- Rename it with a date, e.g. “Backup – 2026-04-07 before homepage edit”.
- To download a local copy, click Edit code, then Actions, then Download theme file. You get a zip.
Rule: duplicate before you make any changes to the code. Download a zip file copy of the store every month. Store zip files on a host outside of Shopify such as a blog or folder on your website or store them in a Git repository.
Backing up products, images, and metafields
The native Products export is OK for a snapshot. Admin, Products, Export, All products. You get a CSV. It covers the core fields but NOT metafields, translations, or some of the custom app data you might want.
For a real backup use Matrixify. This app exports all of your product information, variant info, metafields, collections, pages, blogs, redirects, menus, themes, and files. You can set this up to run weekly and then download the zip file to Google Drive or S3. It only took me 10 minutes to set up and I’m good for life if I ever need to restore from this backup.
For images you will find that the native CSV export will contain links to the images but will not download the images. For downloading the images of a store in the form of a zip, use CS Export Product Images (also knows as the main image per product and can be filtered by collection or vendor).
Backup apps compared
| App | What it backs up | Restore granularity | When to pick it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rewind | Products, themes, blogs, pages, menus, orders metadata | Per-field, any date | Biggest name, daily auto-backup, paid |
| BackupMaster | Products, themes, files, collections, metafields | Per-item restore | Solid all-rounder, usually cheaper than Rewind |
| Matrixify | Everything, export format | You re-import the file | Best if you already use it for imports, great for power users |
| Native CSV export | Basic product fields | Manual re-import | Zero cost, zero automation |
How to restore (when disaster hits)
- Stop editing the affected area. Every new save makes recovery harder.
- Check Shopify’s native theme history first (Online Store, Themes, Older versions).
- Check your backup app. Restore the specific item, not the whole store.
- If you only have a Matrixify export, re-import with “Update existing products by handle”.
- Verify with a sample of 3-5 products before declaring success.
The variant image backup gotcha
Variant-to-image assignments are stored as metafields on most modern variant image apps, including Rubik Variant Images. This is normally a feature (metafield-based loading, no external API calls) that we try to work around. BUT, this means that variant-to-image assignments will be included in product backups, which is bad. I recommend always backing up metafields separately. Also, be aware that if you’re using a combined listings app like Rubik Combined Listings, you should make sure that any backup tool you use to backup your store will also backup metaobjects. Matrixify does, Native CSV does not.
Tools to help you: The CSV Validator shown above will validate broken exports for you, and the Theme ID Finder will try to work out which version of your theme is currently in use to note that in the backup name. Both of these are free WordPress tools. There is also a great post running around about how to delete unused files to free up space in your wordpress Files folder. Since your backup process will be slower (and likely more expensive in terms of storage required) the less storage you have available in your Files folder, it’s a good idea to be on the safe side and keep your Files folder as lean and mean as possible.
Demo, tutorials, docs
See the full Rubik setup at rubikdemo.com. Videos on how to backup before edit are at rubikvariant.com and rubikswatch.com. Documentation at rubikvariant.com and rubikswatch.com. Both variants have free plans so you can test out the metafield structure before paying.
“Was having difficulties with 5 other apps before I found this one that worked perfectly on the first try. Great for grouping products together, very easy to use.”
BELSKI, Rubik Combined Listings reviews
FAQ
Does Shopify automatically back up my store?
Shopify provides its own backup system. It does not back up product/edit deletions, metafields, or most app data.
How often should I back up my Shopify store?
Ensure you post a minimum of the weekly report. Daily if you have a high number of accounts churning every week or are doing a large number of bulk edits. Always back up your site before making a change to a theme or performing bulk operations.
Can I restore deleted products without an app?
Only if you have a CSV export. Native Shopify has no trash, no undo. Deleted = gone. I know that can be scary.
Does Shopify back up my theme?
WPTheme Retriever maintains a cache of up to 20 published themes at any time. This is not enough for a serious tool, and it would be easier to download individual themes on an occasional basis as needed, or download monthly archives in zip format.
What is the best Shopify backup app?
Rewind is by far the most established product for this kind of task. A cheaper alternative might be BackupMaster. Matrixify might also be a decent solution for a file-based approach.
Are metafields included in a native CSV export?
Only partially. For full metafield coverage use Matrixify.
Do I lose app data if I uninstall an app?
depends on appMetafield based apps may leave some data behind after uninstall. See uninstall notes for each app for details.
