How do I test my website and clean up before going live?

Before launch your website runs in test mode, so you can try every flow like a family would without anything real happening.

Before you begin

• A bar at the top of every page says TEST MODE. Payments are test payments. No real money moves and customers are not emailed.
• Only owners can clean up test data.

Steps

1. Open Go live. It is under Launch in the menu, and the test-mode bar also links to it.
2. Step 1, Test everything. Go through your site like a family. The page links to common tries: register an athlete for a competition, sign up for a camp or special event, join a membership, sign the waiver, check someone in at the desk, and send yourself a notice from Emails.
3. When a payment page asks for a card, use 4242 4242 4242 4242 with any future date and any 3 digits. The page links to Stripe's list of other test cards.
4. Step 2, Clean up test data. Tick what to delete. Each line shows how many items there are now: competition registrations, camp and event sign-ups and purchases, memberships paid with a test card, class check-ins and class packs, contacts made by test forms, customer accounts and news sign-ups from forms, emails sent while testing, and website visit statistics.
5. Signed waivers are unticked by default. Delete them only if every waiver on the list is a test.
6. Press Permanently delete the ticked test data. A window lists what will go. Press Yes, delete it.
7. Step 3, Make sure everything is ready. This is your Getting started checklist again. Anything not done is a link to fix it. See What do I need to finish before my website goes live?.
8. Step 4, Keep your old links working. The page scans your current website and sends old addresses to the matching new pages, so you keep your search rankings. It shows how many redirects are ready.
9. Step 5, Go live. Request your launch. See How do I go live on my own domain?.

What you'll see

• After a clean-up, a message lists what was deleted, such as "competition registrations (3)".
• At the moment you go live, visit counts from testing are cleared by themselves, so Analytics starts on launch day.
• If your domain is already pointed at NinjaHQ, a card near the top shows the switch status.

Troubleshooting

The delete button is grey. There is nothing to clean up. The page says "Nothing to clean up."

The page says my site is live and shows no clean-up. That is expected. After launch, test mode and the clean-up are gone, because everything is real.

A test card is declined. Check you are still in test mode (the bar at the top). Use the exact number above, a future expiry date and any 3 digits.