Put instructions inside a Shopify price calculator (rich text)

Width and height work. The live total updates. Support still answers “what is drop?”, “do I include the recess?”, “where does the CAD file go?”. Those questions are not a fourth Shopify option. They belong in the form, next to the field, with a link to the measuring page.

Shopify rich text instructions in price calculator means a display block inside the calculator: notes, warnings, links. No money. No formula token. No line-item property.

Shopify Help Adding variants still caps you at 3 options and 2048 variants. There is no native “instructions” option. Theme `properties[...]` inputs do not change price. Options Price Calculator adds fields without burning variant slots. Rich Text is the display field.

We already covered swapping the product image from an option. That is media. This is copy inside the form.

Native Shopify has nowhere to put “read this before you measure”

SKU options (fabric colour, lining) can stay variants. Millimetres cannot. 2048 cells still cannot hold every width.

Workarounds shops try:

A novel in the product description. The shopper is already at Add to cart. The measuring paragraph lives in a tab they never open.

A PDF in the image gallery. On a phone it is one more swipe. It is not tied to the millimetre field.

Custom Liquid HTML on one template. Theme updates and a second product with a different calculator leave the HTML in the wrong place.

None of those insert a sentence between Width (mm) and Height (mm).

What the docs allow you to claim

Rich Text: formatted content inside the calculator — instructions, notes, warnings, links. Display only. It does not affect pricing, calculations, or logic.

Editor formatting:

• bold

• italic

• bullets

• numbered lists

• links

• clear formatting

Variables and Field Values: Rich Text, Divider, and Calculation display are not formula variables. You cannot write `product_price + intro_text`.

The field still needs a Key: lowercase letters, numbers, underscores. Docs examples: `intro_text`, `measurement_info`. Internal ID only.

Translations: the Rich Text HTML body is translatable per published store language. Starter includes multilingual support. Translate the note, not only the number-field label.

Divider is the sibling: a line, optional heading (“Dimensions”). Also display-only, never required, not in line items. Docs tip: heading, then Rich Text, then inputs.

Conditional logic, live preview, Font Picker stay Premium ($19.99). Rich Text is a form field, not those features.

Dead ends that look like “instructions”

A dropdown option labelled “Please measure the recess” with value `0` shows up on the order as a choice. Shoppers think they selected something.

A number-field placeholder that vanishes when they type.

“READ THE SIZE GUIDE” jammed into the product title. Search results look desperate. The calculator stays silent.

Docs use-cases: instructions before a step, measurement explanations, warnings, links to more detail. Put the block before or between the inputs that confuse people.

Walkthrough: blinds shop, two sentences, one link

Store “Line of Sight”. Variant: control side left/right. Calculator: width, height, slat type. Formula along the lines of `product_price + (width * height)`. Theme app extension on the product template.

Ticket: customer measured to the sill, fabric 15 mm short. The guide lived in the description, not in the form.

1. Install Options Price Calculator. Built for Shopify, 5.0 from 27 reviews. Listing USD: Free (20 uses; always free on Develop), $9.99 Starter (unlimited options, AI, formula builder, metafields, styling, multilingual), $19.99 Premium (conditional logic, Font Picker, live preview, price breakdown, lookup tables, file uploads), $39.99 (conditional fields, draft-order checkout, admin tools, setup service).

2. Step 1 fields → add Rich Text, not a dummy number.

3. Key `measure_note`.

4. Short copy: Measure the recess width, not the frame. Bullet: three heights, use the smallest. Link your size-guide page.

5. Drag the block above width and height. Leave the formula alone.

6. Translations tab: same HTML for every published locale. Check the product page in a private window — the calculator, not the description.

A second product (window film) gets its own block and key. Calculators do not share Rich Text globally.

Where the copy sits matters as much as what it says. A note after Add to cart is a footer. A note above width is a instruction. If you use a Divider heading “Dimensions”, put Rich Text immediately under that heading, then the millimetre fields — the order the Divider docs already suggest. Do not park the essay at the bottom of a long form “for completeness”.

Keep the HTML short. Bold one rule. Bullet the measuring method. One link. A 600-word history of how you cut fabric belongs on a page, not in the calculator. Translations copy the HTML per locale; a wall of text becomes a wall in every language.

Server-side price validation still guards the amount. Rich Text does not touch `__ooCustomPrice`. Someone editing the DOM still hits the validated total. Your bold sentence is UX, not a price rule.

Starter’s multilingual tab is the right place for DE/FR notes. Do not duplicate the calculator and hard-code a second language in a second Rich Text field that both locales would see. One field, translated body.

Get it live

1. Open the listing. Free to try the field. Starter if you need translated notes.

2. Add the extension on the product page.

3. Rich Text, legal key, formatting only. No price inside the HTML.

4. Place it where the measuring question happens.

5. Translate per locale. Tap the link on a phone.

Three Shopify options stay three. Continuous millimetres stay number fields. Sentences stay Rich Text.

Wrap-up

Shopify rich text instructions in price calculator is display-only copy in the form: formatting, no formula variable, key for bookkeeping, translations per locale. Pair with a Divider if you want sections. Still no price.

Add the note in Options Price Calculator. The ticket volume on “what is drop?” drops with it.