Taking over a Squarespace site

Learn about your new site’s available features and review its settings, subscriptions, and content.

Last updated July 10, 2023

If you recently became the owner of an existing Squarespace site, use this guide to review its settings, subscriptions, content, and learn about its available features. 

Before you begin

Some features and options vary by site version and subscription plan. Before you start, find out which version and which plan you're on. The guides in our Help Center outline differences between versions and plans.

Step 1 - Review ownership, permissions, and integrations

If you're still working on changing ownership, visit Changing site ownership for full steps.

After you're the owner of the site, start by checking it for any old or unwanted information, contributors, or integrations. Specific actions vary by site, but here are some to consider:

Step 2 - Update card and review existing subscriptions

The billing information on file doesn't change automatically when ownership of a site changes. To prevent the previous owner from being charged when the site renews, you may want to change the credit card on file for billing.

We also recommend you check any existing subscriptions associated with the site and transfer ownership of any standalone subscriptions as needed.

Step 3 - Explore your site's pages and structure

Your site's features depend on its subscription plan, version, and what the original site owner set up.

To review what your site is using:

  1. Open the Pages panel. This panel displays every page on your site. They're sorted into categories based on where they display; for example, pages in the Not linked section don't appear in the site's main navigation.
  2. As you scroll, note the icons to the left of each page's name. These indicate the page type. To review a list of all the pages your site can use and their icons, click the + button above the list of pages.
  3. Once you understand the page types your site is using, search for them in our Help Center to learn more.

Step 4 - Update your site

To continue learning about your site, try making updates to its content and styles. Before you begin, you may want to check out our videos on getting started with Squarespace for an overview on site style and structure.

When making changes to your site's content, you'll manage and view the structure on the left while editing the site preview on the right. In layout pages, you'll add, edit, and move blocks and sections (version 7.1 only). In collection pages, like blogs or stores, you'll add and edit the items in the collection.

How you style your site depends on the version. In Squarespace 7.1, you'll use site styles to make site-wide or section-specific changes to fonts, colors, and spacing. In Squarespace 7.0, you'll make style changes that vary by template.

As you're making changes, keep these other options in mind:

Step 5 - Enhance your site

When you feel comfortable with the content and design of your site, consider adding more features to enhance its capabilities:

Support

As you continue to work on and learn about your new site, use these support options when you get stuck:

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  • Get help from our community

  • Get help from our community on advanced customizations.

  • Hire a Squarespace Expert

  • Stand out online with the help of an experienced designer or developer.