A digital edition didn't sync to Shopify

Symptom: you published the project (or added a new edition and republished), but the matching Shopify product or variant doesn't exist, is out of date, or is missing one of its variants.

Work down the list. The first miss is usually the cause.

1. Confirm the project is actually published

Open the project. The sidebar Visibility card should read Published. If it says Draft only, the project never reached Shopify. Click Publish in the page header. See Publish a digital editions project.

If it says Published with an amber Unpublished changes badge, the edits you're looking for haven't been pushed yet. Click Publish changes in the page header.

2. Check the Shopify sync card

Same sidebar, the Shopify sync card shows the state of the last push:

• Synced (green). Shopify has the current published snapshot. If the storefront still looks wrong, jump to step 4.
• Pending (amber, pulsing). Sync is in flight. Wait it out; the card refreshes every few seconds.
• Failed (red). The card shows the error message and a reason code. Read the message. It usually points directly at the problem (a media file Shopify rejected, a variant limit, a permissions issue). Fix the underlying issue, then click Retry sync.
• Idle (grey). The project hasn't been published yet. Back to step 1.

3. Verify the Shopify product

If the sync card looks healthy but you can't find the product in Shopify, click Open in Shopify in the sync card. That's the canonical link to the product Masterfile created.

If the link 404s, the product was deleted in Shopify. Don't recreate it manually. Use Resync in the sync card to re-push it. See Resync an edition to Shopify.

4. Verify the variant carries the editionId metafield

In the Shopify product editor, open the variant for the edition you're chasing. Each Masterfile-managed variant should have an editionId metafield in the dce namespace pointing at the Masterfile edition's ID. Without it, no entitlement will ever be created for orders on this variant, which is also what you'd see if a customer reports they bought it but can't access it.

If the metafield is missing, Resync the project to restore it. If it's wrong, escalate. Masterfile owns this field and shouldn't write a stale value.

When the storefront and Masterfile look out of step

A few other patterns worth knowing:

• You renamed an edition; the Shopify variant still has the old name. Republish. Publish changes pushes title and metadata updates.
• A variant has stale cover art. Same. Republish, or use Resync.
• A removed edition's variant is still on the product. Republish. The variant is only deleted from Shopify on the next publish that omits the edition. If it's still there after republishing, the sync failed; check the sync card.
• Pricing or inventory looks wrong. Masterfile doesn't manage those. They're Shopify-side fields you set yourself.

Escalate

Still stuck

If sync keeps failing after a retry, or the variant looks correct in Shopify but customers still can't access it

— email support@masterfile.co with the project's ID, the edition's title, the Shopify product URL, and the exact error message from the sync card if one is shown. Include what you've already checked.