Preview your Makeshapes experience at any time to test its functionality, identify any errors, and train your hosts. Preview mode provides a mirror of what your participants and hosts will see, but the data for the session is not saved in your reporting.
Accessing Preview
To access preview mode, click on the Preview button on the top right corner of the editor. This opens the Preview Options modal where you can choose how to preview.
Standard Preview
A standard preview launches the experience exactly as your hosts and participants will see it. You'll know you're in a preview if you see a dark notification bar at the bottom with the text: "This is for preview or training experiences only — your data will not be saved."
You can copy a standard preview link using the copy button next to "Standard Preview" in the modal. This is useful for sharing with colleagues or stakeholders for review.
You can also manually preview any experience by appending /preview to the end of any experience URL. For example, if your experience URL is https://app.makeshapes.com/s/acme/abc-def-ghi , you can access the preview by visiting https://app.makeshapes.com/s/acme/abc-def-ghi/preview .
Preview with Simulation
Simulated preview lets you test how your experience looks and feels with mock participants — no need to recruit real people or open multiple browser tabs.
In the Preview Options modal you can configure:
Simulated participants — Set the number of mock participants (1–100). They will automatically join and respond to activities throughout the experience.
Start at current activity — Check this box to skip straight to the activity you're currently editing in the creator, instead of starting from the beginning. This is especially useful when fine-tuning a specific activity deep into your experience.
When running a simulated preview, the notification bar at the bottom reads: "This is a simulated preview — your data will not be saved."
Tips
Use Standard Preview to walk through the experience yourself, or copy the Standard Preview link to share with colleagues or stakeholders for review.
Use Preview with Simulation when you want to see how activities look with participant data filled in, or to quickly test a specific activity without clicking through the whole experience.
Previews don't save data or trigger post-experience sequences (like follow-up emails).
If you have unsaved changes, a snapshot is automatically created before the preview launches.