Qikify Custom Product Options can now draw your shopper's personalization straight onto the product image. Two things you may not have tried yet sit either side of it: an AI scan that picks option set templates for your catalogue, and a Sidekick extension that answers questions about your setup in the Shopify admin.
AI store scan, the Live Preview mockup and Sidekick at a glance
Until now, a shopper typing a name for an engraved bracelet or uploading a photo for a printed tote had to imagine the result. You could describe it, add a sample image, or write the dimensions in the field label, but none of that is the same as seeing it. Live Preview closes that gap for your ecommerce personalization, and because the layout is yours to set, what the shopper sees is what the order will be.
Here is what each of the three does, and how to switch it on.
Key takeaways
- Live Preview draws the shopper's text and photo on the product image as they type, in the layout you set in the option set editor. It is on the Unlimited and Shopify Plus plans.
- The AI store scan reads your Shopify catalogue once and suggests option set templates on the Templates page.
- The Sidekick extension answers questions about your option sets inside the Shopify admin, and never changes them.
1. What the Live Preview mockup does
The Live Preview mockup in Qikify Custom Product Options shows the shopper's personalization on the Shopify product image in real time. As they type a name or upload a photo, the product image redraws, so they see what they will get before they add to cart.
Type a name and it appears on the pendant. Pick a metal and the pendant changes with it
You set the layout once, in the option set editor. Drag, resize and rotate each option on the preview, style the text, and the storefront draws it exactly the way you left it. Shoppers can type and upload, but they cannot move, resize or rotate anything, so a product page cannot end up with a name halfway off the bag.
The shopper types "Lily" and uploads a photo, and the tote bag image updates on the spot
Not every option type can appear on the image. Text-style options are drawn as text, image-style options are drawn as pictures, and a handful stay in the form only.
Text options and single-choice options are drawn as text, photo uploads and image swatches as pictures
The Live Preview mockup is available on the Unlimited and Shopify Plus plans.
2. How to set up the Live Preview mockup
The example below is a personalized tote bag in a Shopify store: the shopper types a name and uploads a photo, and both are printed on the bag. Setup happens in the Qikify Custom Product Options option set editor.
Turn the mockup on for an option. In Qikify Custom Product Options, go to Option sets and open a set (or create one), click the option you want on the image, open Show mockup settings and tick Show on mockup. Repeat it for every option you want drawn, so in this example the name field and the photo upload.
Settings on the left, the live preview and a sample form on the right
Tick Show on mockup and pick a shape, and an image swatch option appears on the preview
Choose the background. Under the mockup preview, click Change background, then pick one of these:
- Product image. Pick one of the products already assigned to the set. Its photo is only used to line things up in the editor; on the storefront, each product shows the mockup on its own photos. Under Apply to, choose All product images, First product image only, Last product image only, or a Specific product image by position.
- Custom image. Upload your own. On the storefront this one image is the mockup photo for every product in the set.
- No background. The mockup is drawn on all photos of each product.
Product image only works when the option set is assigned to specific products or variants, not to all products or an automated rule, so assign them first in the Assign products tab.
Product image as the background, with the mockup on the first product photo only
Position and style each option. Click an option on the preview, then drag it to move it, drag the corner handles to resize it, and drag the top handle to rotate it. Type sample values in the form beside the preview to see how a real order will look; empty photo options show a placeholder in the editor so you can still place them.
Drag the text into place, then use Curve to bend it along the pendant
Every option also has exact settings in the panel beside the preview, for when dragging is not precise enough:
- Position: Horizontal and Vertical place the option's centre as a percentage of the background, so 50 / 50 is dead centre. Rotate angle is in degrees.
- Text options: pick a font source (your theme default, a Google Font, or a font file you upload), then size, letter spacing, bold, italic, underline or strikethrough, colour, opacity, and a stroke or shadow effect.
- Text by field type: a curve from -100 to 100 and auto-fit to a maximum width work on single-line text only. Left, centre or right alignment is for multi-line text, and long text can wrap inside a fixed box, hiding any lines that do not fit.
- Image options: choose a fill mode, a crop shape (square, rounded square, circle, heart, star, or your own transparent PNG), and opacity.
Three numbers help when you type values in rather than drag: 50 / 50 on Horizontal and Vertical puts an option dead centre, the curve runs from -100 to 100, and font size is measured against a background 1,000 px wide, so your text scales with the image rather than breaking on a bigger photo.
Left, the name option in the Google Font Pacifico. Right, the photo option cropped to a circle
Save and open your store. On the product page the usual gallery is replaced by the mockup gallery, and it updates as the shopper fills the options in.
Good to know. Empty options are not drawn, so nothing appears until the shopper fills the field in. The mockup is a preview and nothing else: it adds no extra property and no extra image to the cart or the order. Google and custom fonts can take a moment to load the first time. And if you remove a product from the option set while its photo is the background, pick a new background, because that one is gone.
If the mockup does not appear on your product page, check that you are on the Unlimited or Shopify Plus plan, that at least one option has Show on mockup ticked, and that the option set is published and applied to that product. If you chose a specific product image, the product needs at least that many photos. Some custom themes use a non-standard product gallery; if yours is one of them, our team will set it up for your theme over live chat.
3. What the AI store scan does
The AI store scan in Qikify Custom Product Options has been in the app for a while and is easy to miss, so it is worth a second look now that the mockup gives you more reason to build option sets.
The app reads your Shopify catalogue and recommends option set templates that match what you actually sell, instead of leaving you to work through 25+ option types from a blank page.
The scan card sits above the setup guide and shows a progress bar while it works
4. How the AI store scan works
The scan card sits above the setup guide on the app dashboard. Click "Scan my products" and the card switches to a progress bar while it analyzes your products and matches them against templates. When it finishes, it tells you how many templates matched and gives you a "View my templates" button through to the Templates page, where each recommendation is a card you can open.
Recommended templates, each listing the option types it sets up
You scan once, and the suggestions stay on the Templates page afterwards. Two things will stop it: a store with no products yet, and a password-protected store. In both cases the card says so and tells you what to fix.
5. What the Shopify Sidekick extension does
Sidekick is the AI assistant built into your Shopify admin. With the Qikify Custom Product Options extension installed, you can ask it about your product options in plain language and it answers from your real setup, the same way our Volume Discounts Sidekick extension does for discounts.
You can ask it to look up an option set, check which set applies to a given product or collection, and review the options and the conditional logic inside a set. It also answers how-to questions about setup and settings, tells you which features your current plan includes, points you at the matching help article, and walks you through the setup guide.
It is read-only. Sidekick can look things up and guide you, but it never changes your option sets.
6. How the Shopify Sidekick extension works
Open Sidekick in your Shopify admin and ask your question. Sidekick answers in the panel, and depending on what you asked it can also take you straight to the right page inside Qikify Custom Product Options, so you are not hunting through the menu for the set you were asking about.
Two questions our team used while testing the extension, as a starting point:
- "review my option sets"
- "how do I show engraving option only when option customize is selected"
For the second one, Sidekick first checked which plan the store was on, confirmed conditional logic was included, then listed the steps to set the rule up.
Sidekick checks the plan first, then walks through the conditional logic steps
FAQ
Which plan includes the Live Preview mockup?
The Live Preview mockup in Qikify Custom Product Options is available on the Unlimited and Shopify Plus plans. If it does not show on your product page, check your plan first, then that at least one option has Show on mockup ticked.
Does the mockup image get saved to the Shopify order?
No. The cart and the order keep only what the shopper typed or uploaded, the same as before. The mockup is a preview on the product page and adds no extra property or image.
Can Shopify Sidekick change my option sets?
No. The Qikify Custom Product Options extension for Sidekick is read-only: it looks up option sets, explains conditional logic and links you to the right page, but every change is still made by you in the app.
Ready to show shoppers what they are buying?
Qikify Custom Product Options is on the Shopify App Store. Install it, run the store scan to get your first option sets, then turn on the mockup and watch a name land on your own product photo.
Install Qikify Custom Product Options
Learn more: Gift wrapping as a product add-on
Learn more: Create and optimize Shopify volume discounts with AI Assistant and Sidekick
