Using Guide themes from the Zendesk Marketplace

Guide comes with a standard theme for your Help Center which you can customize for your own use (see About the standard theme and custom themes in Help Center). Additionally, in the Zendesk Marketplace, you can purchase themes that were created by Zendesk and third party developers.

In this article, you'll learn about how to browse and install themes from the marketplace. You'll also learn about how you can install trial themes and update the themes you've purchased.

If you're looking for information about how to develop your own themes, see Customizing your Help Center theme. To make your own themes available for others to purchase in the themes marketplace, see Publishing your theme in the Zendesk Marketplace.

This article contains the following sections:

• Opening the themes marketplace
• Adding a new theme from the marketplace
• Understanding theme licensing
• Buying a trial theme
• Next steps

Opening the themes marketplace

Once you open the themes marketplace, you'll be able to browse and install themes, or start a trial of a theme.

To open the themes marketplace

1. In Guide Admin, click the Customize design icon () in the sidebar.

   The Themes page opens and shows you your current live theme, and any themes you've added to your themes library.

2. Click Add theme, then select Add Marketplace theme.

   

The Help Center Themes page loads in your web browser.

Adding a new theme from the marketplace

From the themes marketplace, you can browse for, and install trials for the themes of your choice.

Consider the following when trialling and purchasing themes:

• Zendesk does not provide support for themes from the marketplace. Contact the theme developer with any issues.
• Themes might be available with both standard and developer licenses. Purchase the developer license if you want to customize the theme.
• You can trial standard themes for 14 days within your account. A trial enables you to preview changes in your account. However, you can't change the theme code and you can't make it your live theme until you purchase it. Once the trial expires, that theme is automatically locked from the account until it's purchased.
• Free themes don’t have a trial version.

To add a new theme

1. In the themes marketplace, click the theme you want, then click View theme.
   Tip: To help you find the theme you want, you can search for themes and filter by rating, payment type (free or one-time payment), price range, and license type.
2. Alternatively, to reach the themes marketplace, from the Guide Themes page, click Add theme > Add Marketplace theme.

   

3. On the theme page, review the requirements for the theme, then choose one of the following options:
   • View demo: See a preview of how the theme will look.
   • Start 14 day trial: Add the theme to your library and trial it for 14 days. You must trial a theme before you can buy it.
4. After you select to start a trial, on the theme installation page, choose the subdomain where you want to test the theme, then click Install.

The theme trial will now be available in the Theme Library section of the Guide Themes page. For help managing your themes, see Managing your Help Center themes.

Understanding theme licensing

There are two types of theme license that you need to be aware of when purchasing and trialling themes:

• Standard license: Provides a pre-built theme that you can enable directly in your Help Center. Standard licenses don't provide access to the source code and only allow preconfigured settings. Standard licenses are account wide so you can install the same theme on all Help Centers in your account.
• Developer license: (Guide Professional and Enterprise only): Provides a pre-built theme with access to the theme code, meaning you can customize the theme to your needs. You can upgrade a standard license to a developer license by clicking Upgrade to edit code on the theme settings page.
  Tip: If you buy a developer theme and then downgrade to Guide Lite, you'll no longer be able to modify the theme's code.

Buying a trial theme

Once you've tried a theme, you must buy it before you can use it as your live theme. In this section, you'll learn about the purchasing process for marketplace themes.

To buy a theme

1. In Guide, click the Customize design icon () in the sidebar.

   The Themes page opens.

2. On the trial theme you want to configure, click the options menu (), then choose Buy.
3. On the theme license page, choose which license type you want to buy, then click Buy now.

   

4. Review your purchase, enter the required details, then click Buy now.

The theme is now purchased and you can use it as your live theme.

Next steps

Once you've installed a theme, see Managing Guide themes from the Zendesk Marketplace to help you keep your themes up to date. You can also manage, purchase, or get help with your themes.