After you publish a layout, some content may be managed in Shopify rather than in Instant. Understanding this split helps you avoid confusion when an edit in one place does not appear in the other.
Two places to edit content
Instant is your design tool — you build layouts, style elements, and control structure. Shopify holds product data, translations, and theme editor content. For some layouts, content fields become editable in Shopify after publish, and changes you make there take precedence over what you set in Instant.
Sections: managed in Shopify
Sections always manage content in Shopify after publishing. On the Advanced tab of section settings, a Manage content in Shopify note explains:
Content for sections is managed within Shopify. Content changes in Instant won't be reflected unless manually overwritten from here.
To push your Instant design back to Shopify, use Overwrite Shopify content on that tab.
Layouts built with Instant AI
On a layout the Agent built, the content merchants manage in Shopify is defined in the layout's code as settings. For a section, its texts, images and links become theme editor settings automatically, so the same section can carry different content on every page it is placed on. For other layouts, ask the Agent to make the texts translatable and it adds the settings — there is no toggle to turn on and no plan requirement. The Shopify Markets switch on the Advanced tab is disabled for these layouts and only reflects whether the code has settings.
Editing copy: ask the Agent to change it — the note on the Advanced tab reads Ask the agent to change the copy in Instant. Settings-backed text can't be edited directly on the canvas.
Images and links: the design shows the Agent's image or link as a fallback; a merchant can replace it per placement in the theme editor.
Presets: in the theme editor's Add section picker, every Instant section is listed under the Instant category. A section normally appears once, under the layout's name (Shopify shows at most 25 characters, so keep layout names short). When the Agent gave a section several variants (for example a grid and a carousel version of a testimonials section), each variant is its own entry, and a Preset dropdown appears in the right panel with the section selected so you can preview each one.
After publishing: the store keeps the values and translations set in Shopify until you use Overwrite Shopify content. The Manage content in Shopify note and the overwrite option only appear once the layout's code has settings.
Shopify Markets
For pages, blog posts, and other full layouts, you can enable Shopify Markets on the Advanced tab of layout settings. When enabled, the layout's content can be translated and managed per market in Shopify, and Instant edits won't appear on the storefront until you overwrite Shopify content.
Enabling Shopify Markets on full page layouts requires the Business plan. Sections always behave as if Shopify Markets content management is on. See Shopify Markets localization.
Overwrite Shopify content
When Shopify holds the authoritative content, use Overwrite Shopify content to replace it with your Instant design. You can do this two ways:
From layout settings (Advanced tab):
Open layout settings for a published layout.
Go to the Advanced tab.
Click Overwrite Shopify content. (The button is disabled until you publish — its tooltip reads You need to publish first.)
During publish:
Click Publish and expand Advanced options.
Check Overwrite content in Shopify.
Confirm the publish.
Overwriting reverts all Shopify content for the layout to what you set in Instant. Any translations added in Shopify are deleted and cannot be recovered.
Shopify navigation is separate
Pages and blog posts also have a Shopify navigation control on the General tab. This toggles whether your theme header and footer appear on the page — it is unrelated to content overwrite.
Open the Shopify theme editor
The Advanced tab includes Open Shopify theme editor, a direct link to your Shopify theme editor. Use it to edit section content, check placements, or verify how your published layouts appear.