What Actorly records about themes.
Actorly records which theme is published and what each theme is called. Publishing a different theme replaces your whole storefront at once, so that change is dated and kept, with the old value and the new value.
Shopify notifies Actorly of a theme change, and Actorly reads the record again to capture exactly what changed.
What it does not do.
| Topic | Answer | Whose limit |
|---|---|---|
| Compare the files in a theme | No. Actorly does not compare the files inside a theme. | Not offered |
| Say who published a theme | No. The change shows as Unknown from the start. Actorly can tell you what changed and when, but not who. | Shopify's limit: its activity log has no entry for this kind of record, so Shopify gives no app a way to learn who changed it. |
| Put a theme back | No. Theme restore was withdrawn. | Shopify's limit: Shopify lets an app change a theme only with an exemption that Shopify grants, and Actorly does not hold one. |
On Actorly Watch, Actorly does not keep a copy of your theme files. On Actorly Restore it does, as described in the next section.
Theme file backup on Actorly Restore.
On Actorly Restore, Actorly saves a copy of the files of your published and unpublished themes on a schedule, and you download a theme as a ZIP from the Data room. Development, demo and archived themes are not backed up.
The first backup builds after Actorly's first scheduled check. Until then a theme reads Not backed up yet, and Download appears when its backup is complete.
It is a download, not a restore. Actorly only reads your themes and does not change your live theme.
What Shopify gives you for theme code.
Shopify's help page on editing theme code says a modified theme file can be restored to a previous version from the Timeline view for that file. Restoring replaces the whole file contents, it works one existing file at a time, it cannot recover deleted files, and Timeline history is finite. Asset files, such as images, CSS, JavaScript and fonts in the assets folder, have no Timeline history.
The same page recommends duplicating your theme to create a backup copy before you edit, which makes it easy to discard your changes and start again.
Where Actorly fits.
Use Shopify's duplicate and Timeline for the code you edit. Use Actorly for the question "which theme was live, and when did that change?" It shows the date a theme was published and the name of the theme, so you can line it up with something that changed on your storefront. It shows timing, not a cause.
The record starts the day Actorly is installed. It cannot show what your store looked like before that.
Seeing is free. Actorly Watch costs $0 and keeps three months of change history and one restore a month. Actorly Restore is $29 a month or $240 a year, with unlimited history while you stay on Restore, unlimited single-field restores and export. Shopify bills it on your usual invoice, never per change. There is no trial: Watch is the free plan, with no clock. See pricing.
Questions.
Can Actorly restore my Shopify theme?
No. Theme restore was withdrawn: Shopify lets an app change a theme only with an exemption that Shopify grants, and Actorly does not hold one.
Can Actorly tell me who published a theme?
No. Shopify does not record who published a theme, so Actorly shows Unknown, and it does not change that later.
Does Actorly show what code changed in my theme?
No. It records which theme is published and what each theme is called, not the files inside a theme.
Does Actorly back up my theme?
On Actorly Restore, yes: Actorly saves a copy of the files of your published and unpublished themes on a schedule and you download a theme as a ZIP. The first backup builds after Actorly's first scheduled check. Actorly Watch keeps no copy of theme files. Shopify's own help page also recommends duplicating a theme before you edit it.
How do I go back to an earlier version of a theme file?
In the code editor, open the file, use its Timeline view and restore an entry. That is Shopify's own feature, described on its help page.