Maybe you want to take an offline backup of your theme, to store it safely somewhere on the cloud or somewhere on your computer just in case something happens with your Shopify account, or something is going wrong with the Shopify servers.
Or maybe you just want to download the theme and upload it to another store for reuse.
I just want to give you some expert advice from somebody that has been working with Shopify for a very long time and that is that Shopify is very secure, rarely does it happen for the infrastructure to have an issue and when it happens it is quickly fixed.
The process is very simple and straightforward like almost everything on Shopify.
First you need to login inside the Shopify admin.
Download the “Current theme”
Once logged inside go to the “Online Store” channel and click on “Themes” (marked with 1 in the image below) menu item.
We’re going to download the “Current theme” (marked with 2 in the image below) which is the active theme that is listed on the storefront.
Click on the “…” button (marked with 3 in the image below) and once the drop-down menu is open click on the “Download theme file” (marked with 4 in the image below).
Now Shopify will display a pop-up asking for confirmation to send the download link that contains the theme ZIP file to your email address.
For your confirmation you’ll see the name of the theme you’ve requested the download. In our case is the “Dawn” theme (marked with 1 in the image below).
Second you’ll see the email address to which Shopify will send the download link that contains the ZIP file.
If all is correct click on the “Send email” button (marked with 3 in the image below) to send the email with the download link to your email address.
Once Shopify sends the email to your email address you’ll see this message at the page bottom:
Now go and check your email. If you do not see the email check the “Spam” folder as well.
Download a theme from the “Theme library”
The process is the same.
Go to the “Themes” menu item (marked with 1 in the image below) and after to the “Theme library” section (marked with 2 in the image below).
Select the theme you want to download. In my example will be the “Sense” theme (marked with 2 in the image below).
Click the “…” button (marked with 3 in the image below) and when the drop-down menu opens click on the “Download theme file” (marked with 4 in the image below).
Shopify will send the email to your email address making the process the same as above.
Conclusion
Simple and straightforward.
Indeed the process is different from other CMS’s but this is because Shopify is a cloud platform.
Now put your theme files in a safe place or upload them to another store to reuse the theme.