Cart
What these settings control
Section titled “What these settings control”The cart page and the cart drawer share the settings in Theme settings → Cart: appearance, spending goals, recommendations when the cart has items, empty-cart content, and cart tools. The page and the drawer each also have a few settings of their own — see “Settings that belong to one surface” below.
For the full empty-cart guide, including collection fallback rules and troubleshooting, see Empty cart. The empty-cart section below is a quick reference only.
Where to find them
Section titled “Where to find them”- In your Shopify admin, go to Online store → Themes and click Customize on your live theme.
- Open Theme settings → Cart on the left. Changes here apply to both the cart page and the drawer.
- The per-surface settings live in the section list: the Cart section at the top of the cart page template, and the Cart drawer section inside the Footer group.
Appearance
Section titled “Appearance”| Setting | Default | Options | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summary background | Plain | Plain / Soft tint / Dark | Background of the totals area. Plain keeps long carts readable; Soft tint or Dark adds a promotional feel |
| Note and shipping buttons | Icons only | Icons only / Icons and text | Style of the order note and shipping estimator buttons |
| Product row spacing | Comfortable | Comfortable / Compact | Row spacing of product lines. Compact helps when carts often hold five or six items |
Spending goal
Section titled “Spending goal”The spending goal shows a progress bar while the cart has items, encouraging shoppers to add more. The theme only displays the progress; the actual free shipping or discount must be created in your Shopify shipping and discount settings, with matching numbers.
| Setting | Default | Options | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goal type | Off | Off / Free shipping / Amount off | Off, spend enough for free shipping, or spend enough for an amount off |
| Minimum spend | 100 | — | The goal amount, in your store currency numbers |
| Goal currency (ISO code) | Empty | — | Leave empty for the store currency. With an ISO code such as USD, the whole goal hides when the cart is in a different currency |
| I have checked this goal against my store policy | Off | On / Off | Confirms a matching offer exists in your admin. The goal does not display until this is checked |
| Amount off calculation basis | After item discounts, before cart discounts | Before all discounts / After item discounts, before cart discounts / After all discounts | Which subtotal counts toward progress in Amount off mode |
| Amount off value | 10 | — | The amount off value in Amount off mode |
| Goal conditions | Empty | — | Explains eligible destinations, products, or customers; must match the real offer |
| Show progress bar | On | On / Off | Shows or hides the progress bar itself |
| Goal appearance | Soft tint | Soft tint / Plain | Look of the goal area |
The goal only appears when Goal type is not Off, the confirmation checkbox is on, Minimum spend is greater than zero, and the goal currency matches the cart currency; Amount off mode also needs Amount off value greater than zero. When any condition fails, the goal stays silently hidden — the page never shows an error.
Recommendations with items in the cart (Complete the look)
Section titled “Recommendations with items in the cart (Complete the look)”When the cart has items, a row of quick-add products appears under the totals. It pulls products from a collection you choose — a different mechanism from the automatic product page recommendations; see Product recommendations for the difference.
| Setting | Default | Options | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Show complementary products | On | On / Off | Turns the recommendation row on or off |
| Recommendation collection | Not selected | — | Source collection. Leave empty to use all products; products already in the cart or unavailable are skipped automatically |
| Recommendation heading | Empty | — | Custom heading; leave empty for the translated default |
| Maximum recommendations | 4 | 2–8 | How many products appear at most |
| Recommendation layout | Horizontal cards | Horizontal cards / Image tiles | Horizontal cards or compact image tiles |
| Recommendation background | Soft tint | Soft tint / Plain | Background of the recommendation area |
Products with options (such as color or size), subscriptions, required customization, or gift cards show a link to their product page instead of a direct add button, so shoppers cannot miss a required choice. When no eligible product exists, the whole block stays hidden.
Empty cart
Section titled “Empty cart”| Setting | Default | Options | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Show collections when the cart is empty | On | On / Off | Shows collection navigation on an empty cart |
| Featured collections | Not selected | — | Pick up to six collections; leave empty to use published non-empty collections automatically |
| Maximum collections | 3 | 1–6 | How many collections appear |
| Collection layout | Three-column grid | Three-column grid / Image and title list | Card style for the collections |
| Collection image ratio | Square | Square / Portrait | Image ratio of the collection cards |
| Continue shopping link | Empty | — | Where the empty-cart button goes; empty goes to all products |
The heading and text use the theme’s translated defaults; there is no separate override field. See Empty cart for fallback rules and troubleshooting.
Cart tools
Section titled “Cart tools”| Setting | Default | Options | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enable order note | On | On / Off | Lets shoppers attach a note to the order |
| Note field rows | 3 | 2–6 | Height of the note field |
| Enable shipping estimator | On | On / Off | Estimates shipping by destination, using your real rates |
| Show tax and shipping explanation | On | On / Off | Shows the tax and shipping explanation text |
| Show View cart in drawer | On | On / Off | Shows a View cart link inside the drawer |
Settings that belong to one surface
Section titled “Settings that belong to one surface”Cart section (cart page template):
| Setting | Default | Options | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keep desktop summary in view | On | On / Off | Keeps the totals area in view on desktop while the item list scrolls |
| Page vertical spacing | 48 | 24–96 (step 8) | Vertical padding of the page |
Cart drawer section (inside the Footer group):
| Setting | Default | Options | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Desktop drawer width | 440 | 360–600 (step 20) | Drawer width in pixels on desktop |
| Drawer animation direction | right | right / bottom | The drawer slides in from the right or rises from the bottom |
| Enter and exit duration | 300 | 150–500 (step 50) | Animation duration in milliseconds |
On phones
Section titled “On phones”On phones the drawer width automatically shrinks to the screen width; the direction and duration settings still apply. Back-to-top and floating search belong to Mobile navigation, search, and floating tools.
Example setups
Section titled “Example setups”- Free shipping at 75: set Goal type to Free shipping, Minimum spend to 75, leave Goal currency empty, and check the confirmation checkbox; then create the matching free-shipping rule in your Shopify shipping settings.
- Lightweight add-ons: point Recommendation collection at a small accessories collection, set Maximum recommendations to 2, and use Image tiles so the row does not compete with big items already in the cart.
- Compact long carts: choose Compact for Product row spacing and set Note field rows to 2.
Common questions
Section titled “Common questions”The progress bar does not appear? Check in order: Goal type is not Off; the confirmation checkbox is on; Minimum spend is greater than zero; Goal currency matches the cart currency (the most common cause in multi-currency stores); in Amount off mode, Amount off value is greater than zero.
The recommendation row does not appear? The source collection may hold no eligible products — everything is already in the cart, unavailable, or requires options first. Try another collection or leave it empty to use all products.
Shipping estimates fail? The estimator reads your real rates: the country/region and postal code must be valid, and a shipping rate for that destination must exist in your admin.