Starting over

Multiple options for restarting your site, either from scratch or by returning the design to the default.

Last updated January 16, 2025

There are several ways to start your Squarespace site over. You may want to update the content or style settings on a site you've already worked on or create a new trial to start from scratch. This guide goes over the steps for each option.

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Version 7.1

This video applies to version 7.1.

 

Version 7.0

This video applies to version 7.0.

Options for starting over

The best way to start over depends on which version your site is on and what content or style settings you want to keep:

  • Redesign your site - Keep some or all of the content on your current site, but choose a new style and structure. You can experiment with a new look without any permanent changes to your existing site.
  • Reset style settings - Keep all the content of your current site, but restore its original style settings. You can return your site to the same look it had when you created it.
  • Delete your site content - Remove content you've added to your site, but keep the style settings intact. You can completely change your site's structure and organization.
  • Start a new trial site - Create an entirely new site. With this option, you lose all content and style settings, but you can import products and move existing domain and Google Workspace subscriptions.

Because redesigning can affect how search engines view your site, we recommend following these best practices to protect your search ranking.

Option 1 - Redesign your site

With this option, you can:

  • Try new page structures and designs for your site
  • Keep your subscription

You can't switch templates in version 7.1, but you can explore new structures or designs for your site at any time while keeping your existing content intact. With Fluid Engine sections, you can try out new layouts per section to compare different visual options. 

You can also add new pages or sections with pre-built layouts. Each layout includes demo blocks arranged in different ways. After you find one that works for your needs, you can replace the demo content with your own.

To add a pre-built page:

  1. Open the Pages panel and click +.
  2. Click Page Layouts, then click a layout type, like Contact, Services, or Team.
  3. Browse the available layouts and select the one best for you.

To add a pre-built section:

  1. Open the Pages panel and click the page where you want to add the section.
  2. Click Edit, then click + on the page.
  3. Click a section type, like Images, Newsletter, or Music.
  4. Browse the available layouts and select the one best for you.

If you're adding a pre-built section to an existing page, you can move blocks from your current sections to the new section. It's not possible to move blocks between pages.

To try a new structure, style, or template-specific feature on a version 7.0 site, you can switch templates. You can preview the new template and experiment with its style options before making the changes live on your site.

When choosing templates, it can help to know about their unique features. Some templates support special options like page banners, background images, or index pages. Visit our list of options to find if any features stand out to you. You can also visit our template comparison charts for an overview of key options.

Switching templates preserves all pages and content, except for some template-specific features like footers. Review our list of what transfers. You can switch back to your old template if you don't like the new one.

Note

When previewing a template, some changes appear on your live site.

When you're ready to switch templates, visit Switching templates.

Redesign without affecting your live site

When redesigning, you may want to make changes and try out designs without affecting your live site. There are several options for redesigning your site in a way that's hidden from visitors. You can:

When making style changes, keep these version-specific rules in mind:

  • In version 7.1, you can make style changes without affecting your live site. You can style individual sections of your site, use a different color theme for a full page of your site to make the page stand out, or use different themes for every section on a page.
  • In version 7.0, saving a style change will affect your whole site, but you can make as many style changes as you like and preview them before saving. Each style tweak applies site-wide, wherever that element appears.

Alternatives to switching templates in version 7.1

You can't switch templates in version 7.1, but you can always make content and style changes to your site when you want to start over.  For example, you can get a different look by editing your site's colors or fonts or by adding different page types.

To quickly try out new color and font options, click Themes when making style changes. You'll browse and select from preset style packs, such as Professional, Bold, and Playful. These are meant as a place to start and options to inspire new design ideas, so you can still make individual changes to font and color after selecting a theme.

We designed version 7.1 to remove the need to switch templates, so the template you choose when creating a 7.1 site is only meant as a starting point. All version 7.1 sites are part of the same template family, with the same features and style options. 

Option 2 - Reset style settings

You can reset your template's style tweaks to their defaults. Fonts, colors, spacing, and other styles will revert to how they displayed when you first created the site. This won't change your site's content.

With this option, you can:

  • Reset style tweaks to their default settings.
  • Preserve all pages and content.
  • Keep your subscription.

Fonts, colors, and other elements are styled individually, so there are multiple ways to reset or start over with new style settings. For example, you could keep your current color theme but reset your font pack to default settings. Follow the steps below for resetting different settings.

Fonts

To reset font styles:

  1. While editing a page, open Site styles, then click Fonts.
  2. Scroll to the bottom of the panel and click Reset Font Pack.
  3. Click Save to save your changes and keep editing, or click Exit and then Save to close the editor.

Alternatively, you can choose a different font pack.

Colors

To reset a custom color palette:

  1. While editing a page, open Site styles, then click Colors.
  2. Click Edit Palette below your color palette.
  3. Click Presets.
  4. Select the default palette you want.
  5. Click Save to save your changes and keep editing, or click Exit and then Save to close the editor.

To reset a color theme:

  1. While editing a page, open Site styles, then click Colors.
  2. Under Customize Your Themes, find your chosen theme and click the pencil icon.
  3. Scroll to the bottom of the panel and click Restore to Default Themes.
  4. Click Reset to confirm.
  5. Click Save to save your changes and keep editing, or click Exit and then Save to close the editor.

Alternatively, you can choose a different color theme.

Other site elements

To reset the styles of other site elements:

  1. While editing a page, open Site styles.
  2. Click Spacing, Buttons, Image Blocks, or Product Items.
  3. At the bottom of the panel, click Reset Styles to Defaults.
  4. Click Reset to confirm.
  5. Click Save to save your changes and keep editing, or click Exit and then Save to close the editor.

It's not possible to reset individual section styles to their default. Add a new section of the same type to start again with the default section styles, then move the blocks from the original section to the new section.

To reset site styles:

  1. Open the Site styles panel.
  2. Scroll to the bottom and click Reset Styles to Defaults.
  3. Review the confirmation message and click Reset.
  4. After saving site styles, your template will reset to its default styles.

Note

After saving and exiting Site styles, this change isn't reversible.

Option 3 - Delete your site content

With this option, you can:

  • Delete all pages and content
  • Restart with the same template
  • Keep your style settings
  • Keep your subscription

Tip

If you think you may want to reuse some of your current page section layouts, save them before deleting your pages.

To remove content from your site:

  1. Open the Pages panel.
  2. To delete a page, hover over the page and click the trash can icon. (You can also disable a page to hide it from visitors.)
  3. To remove content from page settings, such as a page title, click gear-icon.
  4. To remove content from a page, click the page in the Pages panel, then hover over the site preview and click Edit to edit content areas on the page.

To rebuild your pages with new pre-built layouts:

  1. Click Edit on the page, then click Add Section above or below any section.
  2. Click a section category and select a layout.
  3. After adding and editing content, click Save to save your changes and keep editing, or click Exit and then Save to close the editor.

Here are some of our guides for editing specific areas of your site:

To remove content from your site:

  1. Open the Pages panel.
  2. To delete a page, hover over the page and click the trash can icon. (You can also disable a page to hide it from visitors.)
  3. To remove content from page settings, such as a page title or description, click gear-icon.
  4. To remove content from a page, click the page in the Pages panel, then hover over the site preview and click Edit to edit content areas on the page.

Here are some of our guides for editing specific areas of your site:

Option 4 - Start a new trial site

To start with an entirely blank slate, you can create a new trial and build a new site from scratch. This is a good option if you're early on in building out your site and haven't subscribed or added a lot of content yet, but want to start designing from scratch.

It's not necessary to start a completely new trial unless you're moving from Squarespace version 7.0 to version 7.1. If you have existing subscriptions and content on your site, we recommend redesigning the existing site rather than starting a new trial.

With this option, you can:

  • Start a new site without any content or style settings from a previous site
  • Import products from a previous site
  • Move domain and Google Workspace subscriptions from a previous site

Keep in mind, it's not possible to keep an existing website subscription using this method. You'll have to cancel the existing subscription and start a new one on the new site.

To start from scratch:

  1. Create a new trial and prepare any content on your existing site to move to the new site.
  2. If you have products, export them from your previous site, then import them to the new site.
  3. Copy any text and save any images from your existing site, then cancel it when you're ready.
  4. After building your new site, upgrade it to paid service.
  5. If you have a Squarespace domain subscription, you can move it to your new site. If the domain has an associated Google Workspace account, it moves with the domain.
  6. If you have other subscriptions associated with the previous site, you may need to cancel and resubscribe on the new site. To learn more, review these steps.

If your old site had an annual subscription, you can fill out a refund form. Depending on the amount of time left in the subscription, you may be eligible for a prorated refund.

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