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Maintenance Mode

Purpose

Maintenance Mode allows you to temporarily disable your storefront while performing updates, migrations, or other administrative tasks. Visitors will see a maintenance message instead of the store, protecting them from encountering errors during updates.

Accessing Maintenance Mode

Click Modules → Tools → Maintenance Mode

Overview

Maintenance Mode

The Maintenance Mode page provides a simple interface to enable or disable maintenance mode and customize the message shown to visitors.

Warning

When you access this page, you'll see an important warning:

This will disable the front end and prevent users from logging in or creating orders. Avoid enabling for long periods as it may affect your SEO.

Key Impacts:

  • Storefront becomes inaccessible to visitors
  • Users cannot log in or register
  • Orders cannot be placed
  • Search engines may index the maintenance page (affects SEO)

Settings

Enable Maintenance Mode

  • Type: Toggle switch (On/Off)
  • Default: Off
  • Purpose: Activate or deactivate maintenance mode

When Enabled:

  • Visitors see the maintenance page
  • Admin panel remains accessible
  • Store operations are paused

When Disabled:

  • Normal store operation resumes
  • All pages are accessible
  • Users can log in and place orders

Maintenance Message

  • Type: Multi-line text area
  • Rows: 3
  • Translatable: Yes
  • Purpose: Custom message displayed to visitors during maintenance

Placeholder Example:

We are under maintenance. We will be back soon!

Best Practices:

  • Keep the message brief and friendly
  • Include estimated downtime if known
  • Consider providing contact information for urgent inquiries
  • Translate the message for all supported languages

Example Messages:

We're improving your shopping experience! Back online shortly.

Scheduled maintenance in progress. Expected completion: 2:00 PM UTC.

We're upgrading our systems to serve you better. Thank you for your patience!

When to Use Maintenance Mode

  • System Updates: Installing major software updates
  • Database Migrations: Running database changes that may cause temporary issues
  • Server Maintenance: Hardware or hosting provider maintenance
  • Major Changes: Deploying significant store changes
  • Data Import: Bulk importing products or data
  • Extended periods (days/weeks)
  • Regular business hours with high traffic
  • Minor updates that don't affect functionality

Impact on SEO

Considerations

  • Search engine crawlers receive the maintenance page
  • Extended maintenance may cause ranking drops
  • Frequent maintenance mode activations may signal instability

Mitigation Strategies

  1. Keep it Short: Enable only for the minimum time needed
  2. Off-Peak Hours: Schedule maintenance during low-traffic periods
  3. Quick Recovery: Have a restoration plan ready
  4. Monitor Rankings: Check search rankings after extended maintenance

Key Information

  • Admin Access: Administrators can still access the admin panel during maintenance
  • Live Toggle: Changes take effect immediately when saved
  • Multi-language: Maintenance message supports multiple languages
  • No Scheduled Mode: Must be manually enabled/disabled (no scheduling feature)
  • Session Preservation: User sessions are preserved during maintenance