Sections Everywhere Guide 2026: Shopify OS 2.0 Customization

Before Online Store 2.0, Shopify themes had a frustrating limitation: only the homepage supported drag-and-drop sections. Product pages, collection pages, blog posts, and other pages used fixed templates that could only be modified through code editing. Want to add a testimonial section below your product description? You needed a developer. Want different layouts for different product categories? Not possible without custom code.

Sections Everywhere changed everything. Released as part of Shopify's Online Store 2.0 framework, it extends the drag-and-drop section model to every page of your store. Now you can customize product pages, collection pages, cart pages, blog posts, and custom pages with the same visual editor that was previously limited to the homepage. This guide covers how Sections Everywhere works, how to use it effectively, and how to get the most out of OS 2.0's customization capabilities.

What Is Sections Everywhere?

Sections Everywhere is a Shopify theme architecture feature that allows merchants to add, remove, rearrange, and customize content sections on any page type through the visual theme editor. A section is a modular content block — things like a hero banner, product recommendations, testimonial carousel, image gallery, FAQ accordion, newsletter signup, or any other content component. Each section has its own settings (colors, text, images, layout options) that you configure in the theme editor sidebar.

With Sections Everywhere, every page becomes a customizable canvas. Your product page might have sections for the product itself (images, price, buy button), followed by a custom product specifications section (powered by metafields), a reviews section (app block), an FAQ section, a related products section, and an email signup section. You can drag these sections to reorder them, add new ones, or remove ones you do not need. Each product page template can have a different combination of sections.

Understanding Online Store 2.0

Online Store 2.0 (OS 2.0) is the framework that powers Sections Everywhere and related features. Released in 2021, it represented the most significant update to Shopify's theme architecture since the platform launched. OS 2.0 introduced three interconnected features: Sections Everywhere (drag-and-drop sections on all pages), JSON templates (multiple layout templates per page type), and App blocks (apps that integrate as theme sections and blocks rather than injecting code).

All modern Shopify themes are built on OS 2.0, including Dawn (Shopify's free default theme), Prestige, Impulse, and hundreds of others in the Theme Store. If your theme was built before 2022, it may be on the legacy architecture and will not support Sections Everywhere. Check your theme documentation or the theme editor — if you can add sections to product and collection pages, your theme is OS 2.0 compatible.

Migrating to an OS 2.0 theme is one of the highest-impact improvements you can make to your store. Beyond the customization benefits, OS 2.0 themes typically load faster (better Liquid rendering engine), support dynamic sources (metafield data in the editor), and integrate with apps more cleanly (app blocks instead of code injection).

JSON Templates: Multiple Layouts per Page Type

JSON templates are a powerful OS 2.0 feature that lets you create multiple layout templates for the same page type. Want your clothing product pages to have a different layout than your accessories product pages? Create two product templates — one with a large image gallery and sizing chart, another with a simpler layout and compatibility information.

Creating a new template is straightforward in the theme editor. Navigate to the page type you want to customize, click the template dropdown, and select Create template. Give it a name (like product-clothing or product-electronics), then customize the sections for that template. To assign a product to a specific template, go to the product editor and select the template from the Theme template dropdown.

JSON templates are stored as .json files in your theme's templates directory (not .liquid files like legacy templates). Each JSON file defines the sections that appear on the page and their order. You can create as many templates as you need for each page type, though most stores use 2-5 templates per type. Common template variations include product templates for different product categories, collection templates for sales vs. regular collections, page templates for landing pages vs. informational pages, and blog templates for different content types.

Working with Sections and Blocks

Sections are the building blocks of your store's layout. Each section is a self-contained content module with its own HTML template, CSS styling, and JavaScript (if needed). Within sections, blocks are smaller content units. For example, a Slideshow section might contain multiple Slide blocks, each with its own image, text, and link.

The theme editor provides a visual interface for managing sections and blocks. You can add new sections from a library of available components, reorder sections by dragging and dropping, configure section settings (colors, spacing, content, layout), add blocks within sections for repeatable content, and remove sections or blocks you do not need.

Most OS 2.0 themes ship with 30-50 section types covering common content patterns: image banners, text columns, product grids, collapsible content (FAQ), video, newsletters, testimonials, logos, maps, and more. If your theme does not include a section type you need, you can find one in a third-party theme or use a section-building app to create custom sections without coding.

Dynamic Sources: Connecting Data to Design

Dynamic sources are the feature that makes Sections Everywhere truly powerful. Instead of entering static text and images into section settings, you can connect section content to dynamic data sources — primarily metafields. This means the same section template can display different content for different products, collections, or pages based on the resource-specific data.

In the theme editor, any setting that supports dynamic sources shows a small database icon. Click it to browse available data sources: product metafields, variant metafields, collection metafields, page metafields, and shop metafields. Select a metafield, and the section automatically displays the metafield value for whatever resource the customer is viewing.

Dynamic sources work with all section types and all metafield types. A text section can display a product's care instructions metafield. An image section can display a product's lifestyle photo metafield. A link can point to a product's PDF manual metafield. This flexibility eliminates the need for product-specific sections — one template section works for all products because the data is dynamic.

App Blocks: Clean App Integration

App blocks are the OS 2.0 way for apps to integrate with your theme. Instead of injecting code into your theme files (which was the legacy approach), apps provide blocks that you add through the theme editor just like any other section or block. This is cleaner, easier to manage, and does not modify your theme code.

The benefits of app blocks include easy repositioning (drag to move an app's UI to a different location on the page), easy removal (delete the block to remove the app's UI without leaving code residue), theme portability (switch themes without re-implementing app code), and conflict reduction (apps do not modify the same theme files, reducing code conflicts).

All EasyApps Ecommerce apps support app blocks. The EA Sticky Add to Cart, EA Upsell & Cross-Sell, and other EA apps integrate as theme blocks that you position through the editor. No code editing, no theme modifications, and easy repositioning if you want to change the layout.

Migrating from a Legacy Theme to OS 2.0

If your store still uses a legacy theme (pre-OS 2.0), migrating is strongly recommended. The migration path depends on your current theme. If you are using a popular theme that has been updated to OS 2.0 (check with your theme developer), you may be able to update in place while preserving your customizations. If your theme does not have an OS 2.0 version, you will need to switch to a new OS 2.0 theme and recreate your customizations.

The migration process involves choosing an OS 2.0 theme (Dawn is free and excellent; paid themes offer more design options), setting up your sections and templates to match your current layout, migrating any custom code from your old theme, testing thoroughly on a preview before publishing, and redirecting any custom URLs if your URL structure changes.

Most migrations take 2-5 days for a standard store. Complex stores with extensive custom code may take longer. Consider hiring a Shopify Expert for the migration if you have significant custom functionality that needs to be preserved. The investment pays for itself through improved customization capabilities and better theme performance.

Advanced Customization Techniques

Once you are comfortable with the basics of Sections Everywhere, advanced techniques let you create highly customized store experiences.

Conditional sections. Use metafields to control whether sections appear. For example, create a Warranty Information section that only displays if the product has a warranty metafield value. This keeps pages clean for products that do not have that data.

Category-specific templates. Create separate product templates for each product category with sections tailored to that category. Electronics products get a specs table and compatibility section. Fashion products get a sizing chart and styling suggestions section. Food products get a nutrition facts and allergens section.

Reusable section patterns. Design section combinations that work as standard patterns across your store. A trust-building pattern might be: testimonials section + press mentions section + satisfaction guarantee section. Add this pattern to the bottom of every product template for consistent conversion optimization.

Performance Considerations

More sections mean more content, and more content can impact page load speed. Keep these performance guidelines in mind when building out your sections.

Limit sections per page to what is genuinely useful. Having 20 sections on a product page creates a long, slow-loading experience. Aim for 5-8 sections that each serve a clear purpose. Use lazy loading for below-the-fold sections to prioritize above-the-fold content loading speed. Optimize images in your section content — the EA Page Speed Booster can help with automatic image optimization. And test your page speed after adding sections using Google PageSpeed Insights to ensure you are maintaining good Core Web Vitals scores.