Shopify table app embed: the switch theme blocks do not replace

The size chart is built. Storefront Enable is on. The Size chart block sits on Default product. Live shop: no popup above Add to cart, the compare tray never opens, `[oo-table id=…]` on the brand page is blank. The theme editor still looks fine.

Shopify enable table app embed is the switch that sits beside the block. Docs Enable the app embed: Online Store → Themes → Customize on the live theme → Theme settings → App embeds → Tables, Specs & Comparisons → Save.

Without that embed, shortcodes, the comparison tray/modal, Compare under the price, and size-chart auto-placement above Add to cart do not run. Theme blocks alone are not enough. The docs say so in those words.

OO - Advanced Table Builder (docs may still say Tables, Specs & Comparisons): size charts, specs, comparison, tabbed, Us vs Them. Free. 5.0 from 1 review. English UI. CTA stays this listing.

Live on 22 October: groups and modules in Structure. Without the embed, shoppers never see part of that Structure — however tidy the admin is.

Placement is not runtime

Theme app blocks pin a table: Size chart, Product specs, Compare button, Tabbed, Us vs Them. Place tables with theme blocks: Customize → template → Add block → Apps.

The embed is the runtime underneath: tray/modal, auto-Compare under the price, size chart above ATC when no Size chart block is present, and shortcodes `[oo-table id=YOUR_TABLE_ID]`.

Quick start step 5: turn the embed on, add the matching block or rely on auto-placement for size charts / Compare, save the theme, check the storefront.

Specs are different: no Add to cart auto-inject. Specs need the Product specs block. Enabling the embed does not spawn a spec table above the button. Size chart can auto-place. Compare can auto-inject. Do not mix those rules.

Per-table Enable in Settings still matters. Disabled tables do not render even with embed + block. Two switches: Enable = this table may go live; embed = this theme may run the app.

Setups that leave the tray dead

Embed on a draft theme, live theme forgotten. Editor preview lies.

Shortcode on a page, embed off. Shortcodes need the embed and an enabled table.

Compare block on, embed off. The button is a block. The tray is embed runtime.

Expecting specs next to ATC “because size chart did”. Place the specs block near price / buy, as the placement article recommends. Embed will not invent it.

What the embed covers

From the enable article, nothing extra:

• Shortcodes.

• Comparison tray/modal runtime.

• Automatic Compare under the price.

• Size chart above Add to cart when no Size chart block exists.

Listing: put tables on products, pages, elsewhere — blocks + embed + optional shortcode. Customer-facing translations stay in Settings → translations per table. AI drafts, Excel, metafields live in the builder, not in the embed toggle.

Theme switch: re-enable the embed on the new live theme. Tables in the app remain.

Walkthrough: shoes, popup chart, compare on the collection

Store “Last & Lace”. Popup size chart. Compare on collection cards. Brand story page with a Us vs Them shortcode.

1. Install OO - Advanced Table Builder (Free).

2. Enable each table; set visibility (all or selected products).

3. Live theme: Customize → Theme settings → App embeds → Tables, Specs & Comparisons → Save. Not the unpublished duplicate.

4. Product template: Size chart block by the buy button or omit it so auto-placement sits above ATC. Collection: Compare on cards — tray comes from the embed.

5. Page “Why us”: shortcode with the real table id, not the placeholder `YOUR_TABLE_ID`.

6. Private window on the live host. Popup, tray, page. Theme editor alone is not proof.

If the compare button is still missing after that, debug cards, blocks, and visibility — but only after the embed is on.

App embeds are per theme. A B2B theme, a holiday duplicate, an unpublished backup: each has its own list. Flip the switch on the theme Shopify marks as current under Online store → Themes, not the file you opened via a random preview link.

Shortcode syntax is strict. `[oo-table id=abc123]` with the id from the app, table Enable on, embed on. Extra spaces, an id from a deleted table, or a table limited to selected products while the page has no product context: the page stays empty while the product template still shows a block. That is visibility or context — after the embed.

Tabbed and Us vs Them pick a specific table in the block settings. Size chart and specs follow visibility rules. The embed is one runtime for all of them. Turn it on once; do not hunt a second embed per table type.

Get it live

1. Open the listing.

2. Follow Enable the app embed on the published theme, Save.

3. Enable each table in Settings. Then block, auto-placement, or shortcode.

4. Specs: block, no ATC miracle.

5. After a theme publish: check the embed again.

The pretty table in admin is Structure. Shoppers see runtime. Runtime is the embed.

Wrap-up

Shopify enable table app embed is Theme settings → App embeds → Tables, Specs & Comparisons on the live theme. No embed: no shortcode, no compare tray, no auto size chart above ATC. Blocks are not a substitute. Specs stay a block.

Turn the embed on in OO - Advanced Table Builder. Then hunt the shortcode.