CMS Pages and Blocks in Store Views

A CMS page or a static block shows in a store view only when two things are true:

Its Store View field contains that store view, or All Store Views.
Its Status is Enabled.

A page or a block has no values per store view. To have an Italian version of a page, create a second page and assign it to the Italian store view.

The Store View field

Go to CMS > Pages (or CMS > Static Blocks) and open the page or the block.

Field	What it does
Store View	The store views where the page or the block can show. You can select more than one. All Store Views means every store view, also the ones that you create later
Status	Enabled or Disabled. A disabled page or block shows nowhere
URL Key (pages)	The path of the page after the base URL of the store, for example `about-us`
Identifier (blocks)	The name that the store, a widget or a template uses to find the block

When the installation has only one store view, the Store View field does not show.

Which page wins

Two pages can have the same URL key. When a customer opens that URL in a store view, the store picks the page in this order:

An enabled page with this URL key that is assigned to this store view.
An enabled page with this URL key that is assigned to All Store Views.
If there is none, the customer gets the "page not found" page.

So you can have one page for All Store Views and a second page with the same URL key for one store view. The second page replaces the first one in that store view only. If you disable the second page, the store view shows the All Store Views page again.

The same order applies to static blocks with the same identifier.

When a URL rewrite in Catalog > URL Rewrite Management has the same path in the store view, the rewrite wins over the CMS page.

Rules for the URL key

The admin refuses to save a page when one of these rules fails:

Rule	Error message
No other page with the same URL key has one of the same store views. All Store Views counts as its own choice	A page URL key for specified store already exists.
The URL key uses only lower case letters, numbers, `-`, `_` and `/`, with one optional extension such as `.html`	The page URL key contains capital letters or disallowed symbols.
The URL key is not only numbers	The page URL key cannot consist only of numbers.

When the URL Key is empty, the store creates one from the Page Title.

For static blocks, the rule is the same: no other block with the same identifier can have one of the same store views. The error message is "A block identifier with the same properties already exists in the selected store."

The home page per store view

The home page is a CMS page. Go to System > Configuration > General > Web > Default Pages and look at CMS Home Page. The same group has CMS No Route Page, the page for "page not found".

In Current Configuration Scope, select the store view.
Clear Use Website (or Use Default) next to CMS Home Page.
Select the page and save.

The setting stores the URL key of the page, not the page itself. In each store view, the store then shows the page with that URL key, with the order in Which page wins. So if two pages have the URL key home, one for All Store Views and one for the Italian store view, the Italian store view shows its own page, even if you selected the other one in the dropdown.

If no enabled page with that URL key is assigned to the store view or to All Store Views, the home page shows the text "There was no Home CMS page configured or found." with a "404 Not Found" status.

The admin keeps a page that a CMS Home Page or CMS No Route Page setting uses. You cannot delete it, and when you disable it, the store keeps it enabled and shows a warning.

This protection does not always work. When two pages have the same URL key, the setting can store the URL key with the page ID, for example home|5. The admin then does not find the page, and lets you disable or delete it. Before you disable or delete a page, check these two settings in each scope.

Static blocks on a page

A static block shows where a template, a widget or a CMS page places it. In each store view, the store looks for the block with the order in Which page wins: first a block for that store view, then a block for All Store Views. When it finds no enabled block, the place stays empty. The store shows no error.

Troubleshooting

What you see	Why	What to do
The page is invisible in the Italian store view	The Store View field does not contain the Italian store view or All Store Views	Add the Italian store view to the field, or select All Store Views
The page is invisible in every store view	The Status is Disabled	Set Status to Enabled
The Italian store view shows the English page	The Italian page is disabled, or is not assigned to the Italian store view, so the All Store Views page shows	Enable the Italian page and check its Store View field
"A page URL key for specified store already exists."	Another page with the same URL key has one of the same store views	Remove the store view from one of the two pages, or change one URL key
The URL of the page opens another page	A URL rewrite uses the same path in that store view	Remove or change the rewrite in Catalog > URL Rewrite Management
The home page of a store view shows "There was no Home CMS page configured or found."	No enabled page with the URL key of CMS Home Page is assigned to that store view or to All Store Views	Assign the page to the store view, or select another page for that store view
The home page shows another page than the one selected	The setting keeps the URL key only, and a page for that store view with the same URL key wins	Give the pages different URL keys, or assign only one of them to the store view
You cannot disable or delete a page	A CMS Home Page or CMS No Route Page setting uses it	Select another page in that setting first
A static block is missing in one store view	The block is not assigned to that store view or to All Store Views, or it is disabled	Check the Store View and Status fields of the block

Scope for store view values in the configuration.
URL Rewrites for rewrites that can take the path of a page.