Placeholder and help text

Placeholder, Help text, and the four places help text can appear — settings that guide customers on what to enter.

Together, these settings do much of the work of helping customers enter the right information. A clear placeholder and a short line of help text can prevent more confusion — and support requests — than a validation rule alone.

Placeholder and help text on an option's Basic tab.

Placeholder

Grey text shown inside an empty field. It disappears as soon as the customer starts typing.

Tab	Basic
Default	Empty, except on Select, Dropdown, Color dropdown, Image dropdown, and Product links, which start with -- Please select --, and Font picker, which starts with -- Select a font --
Available on	13 types: Text, Textarea, Number, Phone, Email, Color picker, Date and time picker, Select, Dropdown, Color dropdown, Image dropdown, Font picker, Product links

How it behaves

• On text-style fields, it appears as example text inside the input box.

• On dropdown-style fields, it appears as the first, unselected entry — the prompt customers see before making a choice.

• It is never submitted with the order. If the customer enters nothing, the field remains empty rather than using the placeholder as its value.

• It can be translated separately for each storefront language.

Use it for the format, not the instruction

Field	Good placeholder	Why
Engraving text	e.g. Forever yours	Shows the kind of thing expected
Phone	[phone]	Shows the format without a rule
Date	DD/MM/YYYY	Removes all doubt about order
Dimensions	30	Implies a plain number, no units
Dropdown	Choose a frame color	Prompts the action

Do not put required information only in the placeholder. It disappears as soon as the customer starts typing, and screen readers may not handle it consistently. Put any information the customer needs while entering their response in Help text instead.

Help text

A short line of explanation attached to the option. Unlike a placeholder, it stays visible.

Tab	Basic
Default	Empty
Available on	22 types — every input and selection type except Hidden field

How it behaves

• Always visible wherever you place it, except in the Tooltip position, where it appears when customers hover over it.

• Translatable per storefront language.

• Individual option values can also have their own help text, displayed next to that specific choice. Add it from the Action column in the values table. Select, Product links, and Tabs support help text at the option level only.

What to write

Situation	Help text
A character limit exists	Up to 20 characters
A choice adds production time	Adds 3 working days to dispatch
A file must be a certain quality	PNG or JPG, at least 1000 × 1000 pixels
The choice is irreversible	Engraved items cannot be returned
The field is optional but useful	Optional — leave blank for no message

One line is usually enough. Anything longer belongs in a Pop-up modal, which customers can open if they want the detail.

Help text position

Where the help text sits relative to the option.

Tab	Advanced
Default	Below element
Available on	The same 22 types that have Help text

Position	Where the text appears	Use when
Below label	Between the label and the field	The customer needs to read it before deciding — a constraint or a warning.
Below element	Under the field. This is the default.	General guidance. Matches what most themes do.
Above element	Above the field but not tied to the label	Longer guidance that should read as its own line.
Tooltip	Hidden behind a small icon next to the label, shown on hover	Detail that most customers do not need, and you want the page kept short.

The Tooltip position hides the text until a customer hovers over it, and hover interactions work differently on touch devices. Do not put essential information — such as restrictions, warnings, or return policies — in a tooltip. Use Below label instead.

Placeholder, help text, or label?

Put it in	When it is	Example
Label	What the field is	Engraving text
Placeholder	An example of the format	e.g. Forever yours
Help text	A rule or consequence they must know	Up to 20 characters. Engraved items cannot be returned.
A Pop-up modal	More than two sentences	Your full personalization policy

Notes

• Help text is not a substitute for validation. It tells customers what the rule is; the limit settings enforce it. Use both.

• Error messages are separate from help text. Their wording is managed store-wide in Settings > Translations. See Translate widget text.

• Help text does not appear in the cart or order. Only the option’s Name and the value the customer entered are carried through to the order.