Theme editor warnings

While you customize Reign, the Shopify theme editor sometimes shows a message on a section or block, or a notice in the sidebar. Most are not faults in the theme. They tell you a piece of content is empty, missing, or out of view. This article explains the messages you are most likely to see and what each one means. You work in the theme editor (in your admin, go to Online Store > Themes, then click Customize on Reign).

For symptom-level fixes (a block reads "Block not found", a section looks empty, demo images are missing), see Common issues and fixes. For how sections, blocks, and presets fit together, see Sections, blocks, and groups.

"Block not found" in the preview

This shows in the preview where a block should render, usually as a placeholder box. It means the editor is pointing at a block that is no longer there or that the section cannot draw. It is an editor state, not a broken theme. A refresh of the theme editor clears most of these on its own.

If it stays after a refresh, follow the steps in Common issues and fixes.

A section will not load, or reads "Unsupported"

Now and then a section shows a message that it cannot be displayed, or it fails to load in the preview.

What to do:

Reload the theme editor in your browser.
Switch to a different page from the page dropdown at the top, then come back. This forces the editor to rebuild the preview.
If one specific section keeps failing, remove it and add a fresh copy from Add section.

A placeholder image or "missing content" notice

Where a section expects an image you have not set, the editor draws a placeholder shape, and a block tied to a collection, blog, or product that is empty or unset reports that it has no content to show. Neither is a fault. The section is waiting for you to pick a source.

What to do:

Click the section or block in the sidebar.
In its settings, use the image picker to add your own image, or pick a collection, blog, or product that has items in it.

Demo photography does not transfer when you install the theme, so a fresh install shows these placeholders until you add your own images. Common issues and fixes covers this in full.

A dimmed section in the sidebar

A hidden section stays in the sidebar with a dimmed name and an eye icon, but it does not show on the page. This is a setting, not a warning. You or a teammate hid it on purpose. Open the section's menu and choose to show it again.

Changes you made are not on the live store

The theme editor shows your edits in its preview before they are public. If a change is missing from the live store, it is usually one of these:

You did not click Save. Edits are not live until you save.
You edited a different theme, or an unpublished copy. Confirm you are customizing the live theme, or publish the theme you edited.
You are looking at a cached page. Reload the live store in a fresh tab or a private window.

Animations look paused while you edit

Reign can pause its reveal and scroll animations in the editor preview, so the page does not keep re-animating as you make changes. This is intentional and affects the editor preview only, not the live store.

To change it, open Theme settings (the gear icon at the bottom of the sidebar), open the Animations panel, and adjust Pause animations in theme editor. The live store plays animations based on Enable reveal animations and Enable scroll effects.

Tips

A refresh of the theme editor clears most one-off messages. Try that before anything else.
Empty is not broken. Many Reign sections are containers you fill with blocks, so a blank section usually needs Add block.
Nothing is public until you click Save, and a saved draft theme is still not live until you publish it.
If a single section keeps failing after a refresh, removing it and adding a fresh copy from Add section is faster than fighting the broken instance.