# Keep the widget you built before signing up

Sign up from the free widget builder, find your widget in your dashboard and publish it, and get past the screens that can stop you on the way.

The free widget builder on our website lets you design a widget before you have an account. When you click **Add to my website for free** and sign up, the widget is saved to your account, ready to publish and embed. A free account is enough.

1. **Click Add to my website for free**

   When the widget looks right, click **Add to my website for free**, below the builder's settings. If a line above the button asks you to confirm you're human, tick its box first. Your design is saved, and a dialog opens: **Create a free account to get your embed code**.

   If you're already signed in to ReTestimonial in this browser, no dialog opens. The widget goes straight to the account you're signed in to.

2. **Create your account**

   Click **Continue with Google**. Or click **Continue with email**, type your address, click **Send my code** and enter the 6-digit code we email you. There's no password to choose.

   If your address already has an account, the dialog asks you to log in, and the widget is added to that account. If the code doesn't arrive, see [Can't sign in](/help/troubleshooting/cant-sign-in).

3. **Check what came with you**

   Your dashboard opens in the widget builder, on your widget, with the **Embed code** dialog in front. If your account has no project yet, one named **My project** is created to hold the widget.

   - **Your design** comes with you: the widget type and style, layout settings, colours, card options and widget settings.
   - **Reviews you wrote** with **Add a customer review**, up to five, become approved testimonials in the project and stay on the widget in the same order.
   - **Example reviews aren't copied.** A widget that showed only examples arrives empty.
   - **Text tied to a review**, in the **Before → After**, **Results Board**, **Proof Bento** and **Objections** styles, comes with you only where it's tied to a review you wrote.
   - **Google reviews** you previewed for your own business are imported now, and the dialog says so while the import runs. If some or all of them are missing afterwards, [find out why](/help/troubleshooting/google-reviews-from-the-builder-missing).

4. **Publish and copy the code**

   Click **Publish and copy code**, then [paste the code into your website](/help/display/embed-a-widget-on-any-website). The widget stays a **Draft** until you publish it.

## If there's no Publish and copy code button

The **Embed code** dialog says what's missing.

- **"Your widget is empty until you add testimonials."** Nothing of yours is on the widget yet. Click **Add your first testimonial** to open your inbox, and [add a testimonial by hand](/help/manage/add-a-testimonial-by-hand). Approve it, add it to the widget on the builder's **Content** tab, then click **Get code**.
- **The layout needs a higher plan.** The free builder lets you design widget types your plan may not include: **Slider**, **Avatars**, **List** and **Floating Proof** are available on Pro, Premium and Business. Upgrade, or click **Switch to a free layout** in the dialog or in the builder's banner. The button names the style it moves the widget to. Your colours, fonts and card options stay, and the layout settings reset to that style's defaults. See [Choose a widget type](/help/display/choose-a-widget-type).

## Options that need a higher plan

The free builder also lets you try custom colours, a custom card layout, your own wording for the widget's built-in texts and review schema markup. If your plan doesn't include one of them, the dialog shows **We kept your design.** and names it, with the plan it needs. The notice appears only on this first visit.

These options stay in your design, and your site shows the widget without them until you upgrade. The six preset colours in the free builder are on every plan.

## If a screen asks you something first

| Screen                               | Why you see it                                                                                                 | What to do                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| ------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Add this widget to your account?** | You finished in a different browser from the one you built in, or you built the widget inside another website. | Click **Add to my account**.                                                                                                                                                                 |
| **Where should this widget live?**   | Your account has more than one project.                                                                        | Choose a project and click **Save widget here**.                                                                                                                                             |
| A project's name, then **is full**   | The project has as many widgets as your plan allows per project (2 on Free).                                 | Click the **Save in** button for another project, or **See plans** to upgrade. Or delete a widget you no longer need, go back to the builder and click **Add to my website for free** again. |
| **Billing needs attention first**    | Your workspace is read-only until its payment method is updated.                                               | Click **Open billing**.                                                                                                                                                                      |

## If the widget isn't in your dashboard

Look first on the **Widgets** page, under **Share** in your project's sidebar. A saved widget is listed there even if you closed the dialog before publishing. Open it and click **Get code**.

If a page said the widget couldn't be saved, your account still exists and you can try again:

| Screen                           | What it means                                                                                           | What to do                                                                                                                                                                                       |
| -------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **This link has expired**        | The link that takes you from sign-up to your dashboard is valid for ten minutes.                        | If the builder's tab is still open, go back to it. Otherwise click **Rebuild this design**. Then click **Add to my website for free** again. You're signed in now, so there's no second sign-up. |
| **This design expired**          | A design that isn't added to an account is kept for 14 days.                                            | Click **Rebuild this design** and build it again.                                                                                                                                                |
| **We couldn't find that design** | The link was incomplete, the design was saved to another account, or the widget has been deleted since. | If you have two accounts, look in the other one. Otherwise click **Browse widget styles** and start again.                                                                                       |

The builder page you used keeps your design in that browser. Reviews you typed there are kept only while its tab stays open, so add them again if you closed it.

## If you built the widget inside another website

Some websites show our builder on their own pages. There you sign up inside the builder, the panel reads **Your account is ready**, and **Get my embed code** opens your dashboard in a new tab, already signed in. That link works once, and only for a few minutes. If it shows **This link has been used or has expired** or **You are signed in to another account**, your account and your widget are safe: see [Can't sign in](/help/troubleshooting/cant-sign-in#the-link-from-the-free-widget-builder-doesnt-open-your-dashboard).

## What happens next

- The reviews you wrote are under **Approved** in your inbox. To add a customer's photo or company logo, open the testimonial's **Edit** window. See [Edit a testimonial](/help/manage/edit-a-testimonial).
- If your plan had no room for some of the reviews you wrote, a message in the builder says how many weren't copied.
- If you signed up with your email, your account has no password. Next time, click **Email me a one-time code** on the sign-in page, or set a password: see [Update your profile and sign-in security](/help/account/profile-and-sign-in).

## Next steps

- [Embed a widget on any website](/help/display/embed-a-widget-on-any-website)
- [Customize a widget](/help/display/customize-a-widget)
- [Collect your first testimonial](/help/getting-started/collect-your-first-testimonial)