Yes, you can. In Appify Custom Product Options, a price change you make in the calculator editor stays a draft until you click Publish. Saving doesn't publish it either.
While it's a draft, the live preview shows the new price on any product and variant in your store. Switch the preview to Published to see what customers pay right now.
If a number looks off, Troubleshoot shows why. And if a bad price does get out, every published version is kept, so you can restore the last good one.
How do drafts and publishing work?
Every change you make to options, pricing and rules in the calculator editor lands in a draft. That's true whether you make the change by hand or ask Chat with AI to make it.
Customers keep seeing the published version until you click Publish vN in the editor header. Each publish becomes a new numbered version. After that, the editor keeps your draft open, and new edits stay draft-only until you publish again.
The live preview has a toggle for three views:
| Preview view | What it shows | Use it to |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Your edits, including ones not saved yet | Test a change as you make it |
| Saved | The last version you saved | Compare new edits with your last save |
| Published | The version live on your store | See the price customers get today |
How to check a price change before it goes live
Here's the routine for a rate increase, a new formula, or a new pricing rule.
1. Save a checkpoint first
Open the Versions dropdown and pick Save checkpoint. Add a note like "Before new vinyl rates." A checkpoint saves where you are without publishing, so you have a clean point to return to.
2. Make the change
Edit the rate or formula on Options & Pricing. Or tell Chat with AI in plain English, like "raise the acrylic rate by 10%." Chat only reports a change once it's written into the calculator, and the preview updates as it works.
3. Preview on the right product
Pick the product in the preview, then the variant. This matters when your starting price comes from the Shopify variant: a different variant starts from a different price.
4. Test the combinations that matter
Fill in the preview the way a customer would. Try the smallest size and the largest, each material, and a quantity past each discount break.
Then switch the toggle to Published and enter the same choices to see what customers pay today.
5. Find out why a number is wrong
Click Price looks wrong? under the preview price. It opens the Troubleshoot tab of the formula editor for the exact choices on screen.
- Step by step shows what every part of the formula is worth, including which table row and column a lookup tried.
- I expected takes the price you had in mind. The tab compares it and points to the smallest fix.
- Likely issues names things like a rule hiding an option, or an IF that never comes true for those choices.
Troubleshoot reads your draft. Change a rate or a rule and the result updates right there.
You can also tell Chat with AI which choices come out wrong and what you expected. It opens the right tab with those choices in the preview.
6. Publish
When every combination checks out, click Publish, and check that the badge by the calculator name says Live.
A bad price is easy to undo. Every publish is saved as a numbered version. Open View versions, click Restore on the last good one, check it in the preview, and publish again.
What happens to carts and reorders after you publish?
A price change reaches more than the product page. Three places reopen the calculator later, and each one uses the version you published most recently:
- Edit options in the cart. The shopper's saved choices come back filled in. See editing configured products in the cart.
- Reorder. The past order's options come back filled in. See why Shopify's Buy again drops custom options.
- Restore your cart. An abandoned cart comes back with every option. See cart recovery that keeps customizations.
When the published calculator has changed since then, the shopper gets a short review step to check the filled-in options first.
Draft, test, compare, publish. Changes you make in the calculator editor reach your store when you click Publish, not while you're still checking.
Change a rate once, for every product
Some rates belong to more than one product. A material price list might feed your signs and your banners. Put it in a global pricing table on the Pricing Tables page. When you save it, every calculator that reads it uses the new rates the next time it loads. Not sure whether a rate belongs in a table or a formula? See formulas vs pricing tables.
Want to check new rates before they reach every product? Use Convert to Local in one calculator to get an independent copy. Test the copy in the Draft view, then update the global table.
Where to start
Next time you change a price, save a checkpoint, make the edit, and test your odd combinations in the Draft view before you publish. If you're still building your pricing, start with what formula pricing actually means or conditional pricing rules.
FAQ
Can I preview price changes before customers see them on Shopify?
Yes. In Appify Custom Product Options, changes made in the calculator editor stay in a draft you can test in the live preview. Customers see them only after you click Publish.
Does saving a calculator publish my changes?
No. Saving keeps your work. Only Publish makes a change live, and each publish creates a new numbered version.
Can I compare the new price with the live one?
Yes. The preview has Draft, Saved and Published views. Enter the same choices in Draft and in Published to see the new price next to the live one.
How do I undo a price change that's already live?
Open View versions, restore the last correct version, check it in the preview, and publish it again.
Do changes made with Chat with AI go live straight away?
No. Chat with AI writes into the calculator in the editor, and that stays draft-only until you publish.
Can I preview the calculator on a different product?
Yes. Pick any product and variant in your catalog from the preview's product selector.
Every price change checked before a customer sees it.
Whatever you sell, however you price it · The last options app you'll shop for