Don't let a customer be the first person to see your new notification. Before you consider a Shopify notification template finished, run it through three checks — each one catches problems the one before it can miss.
Check 1: Preview your unsaved changes
While you're still on the Edit code screen, click Preview at any time. Shopify fills in sample data and shows you what the email will look like — without saving anything yet. This is the fastest way to catch a broken layout right after pasting in your Pagenflow export, so do it first.
Check 2: Send yourself a test email
Once you've saved your changes, click Send test email on the notification's page. Shopify sends the real template, filled with placeholder data, to the email address you use to log in to Shopify admin.
Do this even though you already saw the preview — an actual inbox shows things the in-admin preview can't: whether images load, whether the layout holds up on your phone, and whether the email lands in your inbox or your spam folder.
Check 3: Trigger a real test order
The first two checks use fake data. This one uses your real store — real products, real shipping address formatting, real currency — which is the only way to catch problems that only show up with genuine data.
Turn on the Bogus Gateway
Go to Settings → Payments. Under additional payment methods, add and activate Bogus Gateway. This lets you fake a paid order without a real credit card.
Place an order like a customer would
Visit your storefront, add a product to your cart, and check out using the Bogus Gateway's test card number at payment.
Watch every notification it triggers
Placing the order fires your real order confirmation. As you fulfill it, edit it, or refund it from the admin, you'll also trigger the shipping confirmation, shipping update, and refund notifications — each filled with your actual store's data.
Turn the Bogus Gateway back off
While it's switched on, your store can't accept real payments. Test orders won't show up in your payouts or reports either way — but turn it off as soon as you're done testing.
You're done
Once all three checks look right, your custom notification is live — no extra “publish” step needed, since you edited the notification Shopify already sends. For more on placing test orders, see Shopify's Placing a test order help page.
New to this series? Start from the beginning with Find your notification settings in Shopify.