Countdown timer

Setting a return time, why every visitor sees the same one, and what happens if you run over.

The Countdown template counts down to the moment you expect to be back. The Notice template does not have a timer — it takes a free-text line instead, which is often the better choice. Which one to pick is the first question below.

Set the return time

1. Open Templates and click Customize on Countdown.
2. In the Content category, set Back online at to the date and time you expect to reopen.
3. Set Message once the time passes — or leave the default.
4. Save, then Publish if it is not already your published template.

Timezones

Type the time in your store’s timezone — the one in your Shopify admin under Settings → General. That is what the app assumes you mean.

The app converts it to an absolute moment before the page is rendered, so a return time of 9am in Denver counts down to 9am Denver time for a visitor in London, in Tokyo, and in Denver. Everyone’s timer hits zero together.

Daylight saving is handledThe conversion happens against your store's real timezone rules at the moment the page renders, so a return time that falls on the other side of a daylight saving change still lands correctly.

If your store’s timezone is wrong in Shopify, fix it there — the countdown follows it.

If you run over

The timer does not freeze at zero and it does not start counting upward. It disappears, and your Message once the time passes takes its place. The default reads:

We’re running a little over — thanks for bearing with us.

Change it to whatever fits. Something that acknowledges the overrun without promising a second time you might also miss tends to age best.

Write this line before you need itThis is the normal case, not an edge case — maintenance windows run over. It is worth writing this line properly when you set the timer, because by definition you will not be free to edit it at the moment it starts showing.

The timer does not reopen your store

Nothing happens automatically when the countdown ends. Your storefront stays closed until you untick Show the maintenance page to visitors on the Home tab yourself.

That is deliberate. A store that reopens on a timer while the work is still running is worse than one that reopens a few minutes late. See Closing and reopening your store.

Countdown or Notice?

Use the Countdown template when you can commit to a time — a scheduled migration, a supplier delivery, a shop that opens again at 9am Monday. A real timer is more reassuring than a sentence, and it keeps explaining while you are away from the keyboard.

Use Notice when you cannot. Its Expected return field is free text, so “later this afternoon” or “by Friday” is available to you — and being honestly vague reads far better than a precise timer you blow through.

A stale countdown is worse than noneA timer counting down to a date that has already passed is the worst version of this page. If you set a return time and the job slips by a day, either update it or switch to the Notice template — do not leave visitors watching a countdown you have already missed.

Styling the timer

The timer’s cards use the Accent and Accent text colours from the Appearance category, so it stays consistent with the rest of the page rather than carrying a separate palette. See The template editor.

Still stuck?

Email [email protected] with your store's .myshopify.com domain and what you were trying to do. Most replies go out within one business day; over a weekend it can take longer.