Changes I make to templates and macro partials from within Umbraco backend are saving but the changes are not showing on the front end. Cleared all caches etc.
I don’t know much about the hosting side of things other than we are on Azure.
There is a good chance the site has compiled views - meaning the changes in the backoffice or even changes to the view files via something like Kudu has no effect as they are not actually the ones being used.
The views being used are compiled into a dll and will require a new build/deploy to the site for a change to take effect.
Be aware though that production mode has some strict requirements, and just turning it on without all required settings set will prevent the site from booting.