A tour of your Shopify admin
A plain-English walkthrough of the Shopify admin interface — every menu, panel, and section explained so you can navigate confidently.
- Difficulty
- Beginner
When you log in to Shopify, you land in the Shopify admin — the control center for your entire store. Everything you need is here: products, orders, customers, settings, and more.
Quick summary
The Shopify admin has a left-hand navigation menu with sections for Orders, Products, Customers, Analytics, Marketing, Discounts, and more. The Home page shows your tasks, recent sales activity, and recommendations. Settings is also in the left-hand menu.
The Home page
The first screen you see after logging in is the Home page. It shows you:
- Daily tasks and the next steps you need to take with your orders
- A sales summary: by default, sessions, total sales, total orders, and conversion rate for the last 30 days (you can pick another date range)
- Setup tasks while your store is still in private mode (not yet launched)
- Urgent actions, such as unpaid orders that still need to be captured. Click one to go to the right page.
You can return to the Home page any time by clicking Home in the left-hand menu.
The left-hand navigation menu
All the major sections of your store live in the left-hand sidebar. Here is what each section does:
| Menu item | What you do here |
|---|---|
| Orders | View, process, and manage customer orders |
| Products | Add, edit, and organize your products |
| Customers | View and manage customer profiles |
| Content | Menus, uploaded files, and other store content |
| Finance | Payouts and other money matters |
| Analytics | Sales reports, traffic, and conversion data |
| Marketing | Set up campaigns and automations |
| Discounts | Create discount codes and automatic discounts |
| Sales channels | Manage where you sell (online store, social, etc.) |
| Apps | Open the apps you've installed; find new ones in the Shopify App Store |
| Settings | All store configuration — payments, shipping, taxes, users, and more |
Orders
The Orders section is where you manage everything that happens after a customer buys. You can:
- See every order with its status (Unfulfilled, Fulfilled, Canceled, etc.)
- Open an order to see what was bought, who bought it, and where it ships
- Mark orders as fulfilled once you have shipped them
- Issue refunds or cancel orders
See Orders explained and Processing orders for full walkthroughs.
Products
The Products section is your catalog. From here you can:
- Add new products and edit existing ones
- Manage variants (sizes, colors, etc.)
- Organize products into collections
- Track and adjust inventory
See How to add a product to get started.
Analytics
The Analytics section shows how your store is performing:
- Overview — key sales, sessions, and fulfillment metrics for any date range
- Reports — ready-made reports on your store's data, plus reports you build yourself
- Live View — real-time activity on your store
Not sure what a metric means?
Check the Shopify glossary for plain-English definitions of terms like "conversion rate" and "average order value."
Discounts
The Discounts section is where you create:
- Discount codes customers enter at checkout
- Automatic discounts that apply without a code (e.g. buy 2 get 1 free)
Settings
Settings is in the left-hand menu. This is where you configure the core of your store:
| Setting | What it controls |
|---|---|
| General | Store name, address, currency, timezone |
| Payments | Payment providers, Shopify Payments setup |
| Checkout | What customers see and fill in at checkout |
| Shipping and delivery | Shipping zones, rates, and profiles |
| Taxes and duties | Tax rates and collection rules |
| Plan | Your current subscription plan |
| Billing | Your upcoming and past Shopify bills |
| Users | Staff accounts and the roles that set their access |
| Notifications | Emails sent to you and your customers |
| Domains | Connect or buy a custom domain |
The search bar
Every page of the admin has a search bar: in the top bar, or in the left-hand menu if your store has Shopify's refreshed admin design (it is rolling out gradually). You can also open it with Ctrl+K on a PC or Cmd+K on a Mac. Type what you are looking for, such as a product, an order, or a customer, and click a result to go straight to it. This is the fastest way to find something specific.
Common questions
Where do I find my store URL?
Go to Settings > Domains. You will see your .myshopify.com address and any custom domains connected to your store.
I can see some menus but not others — why?
The store owner or an administrator controls which areas each user can access, by assigning roles (sets of permissions). See Staff accounts for details.
Where do I change my store name or currency?
Go to Settings > General. Store name, address, and currency are all there.
How do I get back to a page I was just on?
Use your browser's back button, or click the section in the left-hand menu (e.g. Products) to return to its main list.
Related guides
- How to log in to Shopify
- What is Shopify?
- How to add a product
- Orders explained
- Shopify staff accounts
- Troubleshooting Shopify problems
Need a hand?
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