How can I make it so that customers have to log in to view the site?

As a Store Owner, you may have a need to password protect your store (or products) to limit access to only users who are logged in. Fortunately your Shift4Shop store has a few different ways of doing this depending on your specific need. Here we will describe the three main functions you can use for this purpose.

Login required to view product information

You can require that your shoppers are logged into their respective customer record in order to view product information. As with many product functions of the store software, you can do this either globally or at the individual product level.

Let's talk about the global setting first:

Globally

To globally require login for all product access:

Log into your Shift4Shop Online Store Manger
Using the left hand navigation menu, go to Settings >General >Store Settings
Then, click on the "General" tab found along the top of the page.

You will see a series of Checkout specific options for the store. Locate the "Required Login" section near the bottom of the page where you'll see a series of radio buttons - each with a different function:

Not Required
No login or registration requirement to view products or pricing
To Buy
This option will require the customer to log in (or register) in order to add items to their cart.
The basic product information will be displayed, but the "Add to Cart" buttons will be replaced with a link to the login/registration page.
To View Price
This option will require the customer to log in (or register) in order to view the price on the product.
The basic product information will be displayed, but pricing will be shown with a link to the login/registration page.
To View Product
Requires the customer to log in or register in order to view the product altogether.
No product information will be shown at all until the shopper is logged in.

After selecting your chosen login requirement, click "Save" at the top right of the page to commit your changes.

Individually per Product

This same level of access can be configured for individual products rather than globally. To do this:

Log into your Shift4Shop Online Store Manger
Using the left hand navigation menu, go to Products >Product List
Locate the product you would like to limit access to and click on its thumbnail, ID or name to edit the product
Next, click on the product's "Advanced" tab located along the top

Under the "General Options" section on the left hand side, you will see a drop down menu labeled "Login Required" with the following settings:

Default
The product's login requirement will adhere to the global setting described in the above section.
Not Required
No login or registration requirement to view products or pricing
To Buy
This option will require the customer to log in (or register) in order to add items to their cart.
The basic product information will be displayed, but the "Add to Cart" buttons will be replaced with a link to the login/registration page.
To View Price
This option will require the customer to log in (or register) in order to view the price on the product.
The basic product information will be displayed, but pricing will be shown with a link to the login/registration page.
To View Product
Requires the customer to log in or register in order to view the product altogether.
No product information will be shown at all until the shopper is logged in.

After selecting your chosen login requirement, click "Save" at the top right of the page to commit your changes.

Note that each of these two methods will only apply to login requirements for access to the store's products. All other aspects of your store such as home page, category views, blog articles and navigation will still be accessible. To login restrict the full site, please see the section below.

Login Required for Site Access

This next function will be used if you want to require login to access the entire site. This will make it so that your shoppers will need to register or log into their respective account before they are allowed to even browse the site's information. To set this requirement:

Log into your Shift4Shop Online Store Manger
Using the left hand navigation menu, go to Settings >General >Store Settings
Then, click on the "Customer" tab found along the top of the page.
Under the "Login" section at the bottom of the page, locate and mark the checkbox labeled "Enable Password Requirement for Site Access"
Click "Save" at the top right of the page to commit your changes.

Your site visitors now will be able to see your store's frame (top banner, logo, footer, left/right banners). However if they try to navigate to any section of your store, they will need to log into their customer record or register on the site.