Manifest: merchant setup guide

1. Getting started#

Install#

1. In Shopify admin go to Online Store > Themes.
2. Add Manifest from the Theme Store (or upload the theme ZIP) and select Customize.
3. Open Theme settings (the paint brush icon) in the editor.

Choose a preset#

When you install from the Theme Store, you get the home page layout of the preset you picked. Switching preset later in the editor changes only the theme settings (fonts, colors, grid style, corners, default view). It does not rearrange your sections or change your content. Choose the preset first and fine-tune afterwards, because it replaces your Theme settings values.

Before you build the pages#

Manifest works best when the store is organized. Allow time for these steps.

1. Menus (Content > Menus). Create:
   • main-menu: the departments. Top-level items are the departments. Their sub-menus become the image tiles in the department menu and their third-level links appear under each tile. Link to collections so the tiles can use collection images. The same menu feeds the mobile drawer and, by default, the collection tree.
   • A utility menu (optional): small links in the top bar, for example Help, Shipping, Returns.
   • A search scope menu (optional): the options of the department select in the search bar. Link to collections, or to a vendor or a product type to limit results.
   • A popular searches menu (optional): links shown when the search field is focused and empty.
   • footer and customer-account-main-menu.
2. Collections. Create one collection per department and category, and add an image to each. Images feed the department thumbnails, tiles and chips.
3. Pages. Create two pages (Online Store > Pages):
   • Quick order: choose the theme template page.quick-order.
   • Compare: use the title "Compare", make sure the handle is compare (in a store whose admin is not in English, set the handle by hand), and choose the theme template page.compare. The compare bar and the header link point to /pages/compare.
4. Search & Discovery (free Shopify app): set the filters shown on collections and search (availability, price, brand, product type, options) and the complementary products for "Frequently bought together".
5. Metafield definitions (Settings > Custom data > Products), if you want the product page sections: custom.specs (JSON), custom.price_breaks (JSON) and custom.downloads (list of files). See Metafields below.
6. Inventory. Track inventory on your variants so stock units show. Products without tracked inventory show "In stock" with no number.
7. Trade pricing (optional). Quantity rules and volume pricing come from Shopify's B2B catalogs. Manifest shows them; it does not create them. B2B availability depends on your Shopify plan, so check your plan.
8. Add countries in Settings > Markets and languages in Settings > Languages for the selectors.

2. Theme settings#

Everything in this section lives in Theme settings. The Manifest group is specific to this theme.

Manifest#

Product cards and grids

• Grid style: lined (cells share a thin line, no gaps) or spaced (a small gap, bordered tiles).
• Show stock units on cards: the number next to the stock status, for products that track inventory.
• Low stock threshold (2 to 50, default 10): products at or under this many units show as low stock.
• Show SKU on cards.
• Show delivery date on cards, and Delivery time on cards (1 to 14 working days). The date is an estimate from this number; match it to your real shipping times.

Collections

• Default view: grid, list or table. Shoppers can still switch, and their choice is remembered.

Compare

• Enable product comparison: adds a compare checkbox to cards and a compare bar.
• Products to compare at once: 2 to 5.

Header

• Compact header on scroll: collapses the header to one row (logo, search and cart) once the page is scrolled.

Header group#

Manifest has its own header, so the Theme settings have no Header group. Sticky behavior is the Keep the header visible while scrolling setting in the header section; the sticky toolbars on the collection and search pages follow it.

Logo, colors, typography, layout#

• Logo and Favicon as in the other themes. The Manifest logo widths default to 140 px on desktop.
• Colors: five color schemes with fixed roles. 1 the page, 2 a pale alternate surface, 3 the dark scheme (it paints the header and footer), 4 the action band, 5 the deepest surface. Show the accent color on chooses buttons, badges or both. In Manifest the accent is the action color (buttons, links, selected states). The the stock colors (in stock, low stock, out of stock) are the same in every preset so shoppers can read stock at a glance; the sale color follows the preset's sale badge color.
• Typography: heading and body fonts, size, weight. Manifest sets its own compact heading scale.
• Layout: page width, margin, grid spacing and Space between sections (tight in every preset). Corner radius: the card radius sets one small radius for most controls, capped at 8px.

Product cards, cart, search#

• Product cards: image ratio and fit (use contain for products photographed on white), second image on hover, vendor, rating (needs a reviews app), swatches, quick add, badges.
• Cart: drawer or page, order note, recommendations, Free shipping progress bar and its minimum, Gift wrap product. The free shipping bar is on in all four presets.
• Search behavior: suggestions on or off, vendor and price in suggestions, and the Popular searches menu and Featured collection for the empty search window.
• Animations: off by default in Manifest (no reveal on scroll, no hover effect).

3. Header, search and department menu#

Section: Header.

Menus

• Department menu (default main-menu), Quick links menu (links next to "All departments"; empty shows the first departments), Utility menu, Search scope menu, Popular searches menu (empty uses the Popular searches menu in Theme settings > Search behavior).

Top bar

• Show top bar, Help text and Help link, Phone number, Track order link, country and language selectors.

Search

• Show the scope select: the department select to the left of the field.
• Show voice search: a microphone button, only in browsers that support it.

Account and cart

• Show account, Account menu (the links of the account sheet; default customer-account-main-menu), Show the cart subtotal, Quick order link (use /pages/quick-order), Compare page link (use /pages/compare). Empty links hide the icons.

Department bar

• Show department bar, Show thumbnails in the department list, Show images on sub-category tiles.
• Highlight link text, Highlight link and Highlight tag: an optional link at the right such as "Deals" with a tag like "Up to 30% off".

Behavior and appearance

• Keep the header visible while scrolling. Collapse to one row is in Theme settings > Manifest.
• Color schemes for the header, top bar, department bar and menus; Show bottom border; social links in the mobile menu.

Blocks (up to 16)

• Department promo: an image, tag, heading, caption and link shown to the right of one department in the department menu. Type the exact department title in Department. Only the first promo for each department shows.
• Department thumbnail: an image that replaces the linked collection's image for one department in the menu.

How search behaves

• A query without spaces that contains a digit, or one of - _ . /, is treated as a SKU or part number. Products with a variant whose SKU or barcode contains the query are listed first, in a "Part number matches" group, as variant rows with the matched text marked, price, stock and an Add button for that exact variant. Shopify's search must have returned the product first; the theme reorders results, it does not search the SKU index itself.
• Other queries list products (image, title, SKU, price, stock dot, Add), with suggestions, collections, pages and articles on the side.
• Focused and empty, the panel shows the shopper's last 5 searches (stored in their browser, with a clear button) and your popular searches.

On phones the header has the menu, logo, account (icon only) and cart in one row, with the search field full width under it. The menu opens a full-screen drill-down drawer.

4. Product card#

The Manifest card shows, in order: vendor, title, SKU (optional), rating, price (with compare-at and unit price), stock line, delivery line (optional). Actions are always visible:

• Single-variant products: a compact quantity field and Add. The field follows the variant's quantity rule (minimum, step, maximum).
• Products with variants: Choose options, which opens quick add.
• A Compare checkbox when compare is on.

Stock states: "In stock (95)", "Low stock (4)", "Out of stock", and "Backorder" for a tracked variant that is out of stock but still sells. Badges stack at the top-start of the image: sale percentage, new and custom badges.

5. Collection and search results#

Section: Collection (and Search results, which has the same views).

• Page: breadcrumbs, description (clamped with "Read more"), Show the collection tree in the sidebar and the Collection tree menu (default main-menu, up to three levels, with product counts). The sub-collections of the collection you are viewing also show as chips under the title, with counts.
• Views: Default view (theme setting, grid, list or table), Offer the list view, Offer the table view, Variant rows in the table (products with 2 up to this many variants get one row per variant; 0 gives one row per product).
• Table view: one row per SKU with a checkbox, image, product and variant, SKU, stock, price, and a quantity field with Add. Tick rows and use the floating Add selected (n) bar to add them all in one request.
• Grid: products per page (12, 24, 36 or 48; shoppers can pick 2 or 4 times this number, so 24, 48 and 96 by default), Show the per page selector (numbered pagination only), columns on desktop (3 to 6) and mobile, Pagination (numbered or load more).
• Filtering and sorting: filtering on or off, expanded groups, counts, sorting, Sticky toolbar. Filters come from Search & Discovery. Price is a slider with two handles and inputs. The toolbar shows the result count, active filter chips with "Clear all", the per-page selector, sorting and the view switch.
• Mobile: a sticky bar with Filter (with the number of active filters), Sort and View. The filter drawer is full screen with an "Apply · n results" button.

6. Product page#

Section: Product information (shared with the other themes) with Manifest blocks. The default buy box, in order: vendor, SKU, title, rating, price, Quantity breaks, variant picker, Variant matrix, inventory status, delivery estimate, buy buttons, pickup availability, Bought together, accordion, share. Below the product: specifications, compare with similar, downloads, related products and recently viewed products.

Manifest blocks#

The default product template does not include Stock and delivery; add it from Add block if you want the "Order within 3h 12m" promise. It uses the shared Inventory status and Delivery estimate blocks instead. The shared blocks (price, variant picker, inventory status, delivery estimate, buy buttons, pickup availability, accordion, size chart) are described in the Tessera guide.

Sections below the buy box#

• Product specifications: grouped tables from custom.specs, in one or two columns. Shows nothing without data.
• Compare similar products: this product against similar ones in one table, with a highlight differences switch. Similar products from: recommendations, or a collection (empty uses the product's first collection). Products to compare (2 to 5, including this one). Rows: brand, availability, options and specifications.
• Product downloads: datasheets, manuals and certificates from custom.downloads. Each row shows a name (the file's alt text, or the file name), a type and the size when the file server answers.

On phones a sticky bar with price and Add (or Choose options) appears when the main button scrolls out of view.

7. Trade tools#

Quick order#

Add the Quick order section to a page with the page.quick-order template. Shoppers type a SKU or product name and pick a suggestion, which becomes a row with stock, unit price, quantity and line total. They can also paste lines of SKU, quantity into the paste box. Add all to cart sends every row at once. Settings: heading and text, Show the paste box, Suggestions shown (4 to 10), Low stock at or below. Quantities follow each variant's quantity rule and prices follow B2B price breaks. Suggestions come from Shopify's predictive search, so only products that search returns can be added.

Compare#

With Enable product comparison on, each card has a Compare checkbox (up to the limit you set, 4 by default). A bar at the bottom of the page shows thumbnails and Compare (n). The Compare page section (on the page.compare template) shows the products side by side: price, brand, type, SKU, stock, options and specification groups. Show the "Differences only" switch, Start with differences only, and an Add more products link. On phones two columns fit at a time; swipe for the rest. A comparison can be shared with a link like /pages/compare?products=handle-a,handle-b.

8. Home page sections#

The countdown never restarts: it counts to a fixed date and stays hidden until that date is within the number of days you choose, so a far-off deadline never looks fake. Use it only for real deadlines.

The shared sections (slideshow, featured collection, icon row, recently viewed, newsletter, logo list, testimonials and others) work too and take Manifest's styling.

9. Metafields#

Create each definition in Settings > Custom data > Products > Add definition, with the namespace and key exactly as shown.

custom.specs: groups of label and value. A value can be text, a number, true or false, or a list.

{
  "General": {
    "Type": "Tape Measures",
    "Brand": "Anvil Row",
    "SKU": "TLH-10256"
  },
  "Details": {
    "Standard": "DIN 933",
    "Warranty": "2 years",
    "Waterproof": true,
    "Pack sizes": ["Single", "Pack of 3", "Pack of 6"]
  }
}

The compare page reads custom.specs first. If a product has none, it falls back to custom.specifications (the same shape) and then to custom.key_specs (a list of lines written Label: value).

custom.price_breaks: a list of quantity tiers. min is the quantity where the tier starts, price is the unit price in your store currency as a decimal string. The first tier is the variant's normal price at its minimum quantity; list only the discounted tiers.

[
  { "min": 10, "price": "18.99" },
  { "min": 50, "price": "17.59" },
  { "min": 100, "price": "16.39" }
]

If a variant has price breaks from a Shopify B2B catalog, those are used instead of the metafield. Tiers whose min is not above the variant's minimum quantity are ignored.

custom.downloads: choose type File and turn on List of values. Upload datasheets, manuals or certificates in the product editor. The file's alt text becomes the label shown to shoppers; without it the file name is used.

Other store data Manifest uses:

• Inventory (tracked quantities, inventory policy): stock units and states.
• Quantity rules and price breaks (Shopify B2B): the quantity fields, the quantity breaks block and the cart.
• Complementary products (Search & Discovery): bought together.
• Collections and menus: department grid, tree, chips.
• Product tags starting with badge: show a custom badge.

10. Home page recipe#

The default home page order works for all four presets:

1. Slideshow (split layout)
2. Shop by chips
3. Department grid
4. Deals row
5. Promo mosaic
6. Featured collection, "Best sellers"
7. Brand wall
8. Featured collection, "New in"
9. Icon row
10. Recently viewed
11. Help bar
12. Newsletter

No popup opens on first load. The newsletter popup and age verifier are in the overlay group and are switched off; turn them on only if you need them.

11. FAQ#