Help center and going live

Before you open your shop to customers, give them answers and choose where you sell. Your help center groups articles under subjects, on your storefront's help page. The countries you activate decide where your storefront answers, each with its own languages and currency. When you are ready, you put the shop online and connect the domain your customers will type. To save time, your workspace can also write product descriptions and search-engine texts for you.

Create a help subject

A subject is a shelf of your help center: it groups articles under one title.

1. Open the main menu and, under Store builder, click Documentation.
2. On the Overview tab, in the Subjects card, click Add a subject.
3. In Name, enter the subject's title, for example Delivery.
4. Leave Web address empty to derive it from the name, or enter your own using letters, digits and dashes.
5. Click Save.

The message The subject has been created. appears. A new subject is shown on your storefront straight away.

Tip — To take a subject and all its articles off your storefront without deleting anything, click Detail on its row in the Subjects tab, click Hide, then Hide again to confirm.

Write a help article

1. Open the main menu and, under Store builder, click Documentation.
2. On the Overview tab, in the Articles card, click Add an article.
3. In Subject, choose the subject the article is filed under.
4. In Title, enter the article's title.
5. In Body, write the article. A blank line separates paragraphs, ## opens a sub-heading and - opens a list item.
6. Click Save.

The message The article has been created. appears. The article is born as a draft: put it online once it is written (see the next task).

Put a help article online

1. In Documentation, click the All articles tab, then click Detail on the article's row.
2. Click Put online.
3. Click Put online to confirm.

The message Article status updated. appears and the article is shown on your storefront, under its subject.

Note — An article is shown only while its subject is shown. To change the order of the articles, use the up arrow (Move up) and the down arrow (Move down) in the All articles list.

Tip — Your help center comes with ready-made articles marked Standard text. Once you edit one it becomes Customized; click Restore the standard text on its page to go back to the original.

Choose the countries you sell in

1. Open the main menu and, under Store builder, click Publication.
2. Click the Countries tab. The table shows your activated countries, with their Delivery zone, Payment gateway, Languages and Currency.
3. To find a country to add, open the list above the table (set to Activated countries), choose the country's region, then click Filter.
4. On the country's row, click Activate.
5. Click Activate the country to confirm.

The message The country is activated for your shop. appears. Your storefront now serves visitors from this country, in its languages and currency.

Note — To stop selling in a country, click Disable on its row, then Disable the country. Your shop always keeps at least one country: if it is the last one, the message This is your shop's last active country: activate another one first. appears.

Put your shop online

Your shop first opens on its web address under your workspace's zone, before it has a domain of its own.

1. Open the main menu and, under Store builder, click Publication.
2. On the Overview tab, in the Development address card, click Manage.
3. Check the Web address shown, then click Put online.

The message Your address is being prepared. It opens within a few minutes. appears and the Status reads Preparing, then Online once the address answers.

Note — To change the word in that address, click Manage in the Domain card and edit Boutique address before you put the shop online: the address can't change while the shop is online or preparing. To stop serving the shop, click Take offline on the same screen. Nothing is deleted, and you can put it back online at any time.

Important — While an invoice of your service is overdue, your shop is suspended: its addresses can't be changed and the message The shop is suspended until its overdue invoices are settled. Open Billing to review them. appears. See Billing.

Connect your own domain

Use your own domain name (for example myshop.com) in three steps: declare it, prove it is yours, then point it at your shop.

1. Open the main menu and, under Store builder, click Publication.
2. On the Overview tab, in the Domain card, click Manage.
3. In Domain name, enter your domain, for example myshop.com, then click Save.
4. Under Prove the domain is yours, add a TXT record at your domain provider with the Name and Value shown (click Copy to copy the value).
5. Come back to the screen and click Verify.
6. Once the domain shows Verified, under Point the domain at the boutique, add the A record shown at your domain provider.

The message Ownership proved. appears after step 5, and The domain points at the boutique. appears once the A record is found. In the Overview tab, the Domain card shows Ownership as Verified.

Note — A DNS change can take a few minutes to travel. If the message The record was not found yet. appears, wait a few minutes and click Verify again. Proving the domain records that it is yours; it does not put the shop online on it yet. Your development address keeps answering in the meantime.

Important — Entering a new domain name starts the proof over: the record you published for the previous domain no longer counts.

Generate a product description automatically

1. Open the main menu and, under Catalog, click Products, then open the product.
2. Click the product's Description tab.
3. Click Generate with AI.
4. Click Generate.

The message The description has been generated. appears. The description is written only from the facts the product's record holds.

Note — Generate with AI appears only once the AI engine is ready; you can check it in the Connection card of AI app, under Store builder. Content you wrote yourself is never overwritten: only AI-generated content can be replaced. You can do the same for a category from its Description tab.

Generate search-engine texts automatically

1. Open the product, then click its SEO tab.
2. Click Generate with AI.
3. Click Generate.

The message The search-engine text has been generated. appears. The product's SEO title and SEO description are filled in for search engines.