WordPress revisions help out a lot when you make a mistake and need to revert to an older version of your content. So you can imagine how startling it is when your WordPress revision history goes missing. This can be a frustrating issue, especially if you rely on the WordPress post revisions feature to track changes and restore earlier drafts.
Unfortunately, if your revisions have disappeared – or simply aren’t showing – there’s often no way to retroactively restore them. But with a bit of guidance, you can diagnose the issue and get them working properly again.
Let’s explore the common reasons why WordPress revisions might go missing and provide some solutions to get them back.
Table of contents
What are WordPress post revisions?
WordPress post revisions are a built-in feature that automatically saves snapshots of your content every time you make changes. You can compare older and newer versions of your posts and pages, and restore previous versions if you want to revert to a previous draft.
Every time you update a post or page, your WordPress website creates a new revision. These are stored in your WordPress database, specifically in the wp_posts table, and can be identified by their post_type “revision”.
This feature really comes in handy, especially when you make a mistake. One click can undo it and save you hours of work and lost content. It’s a good safety net to have in place.
By default, your WordPress site saves numerous revisions, but you can limit this number to save database space.
How to access post revisions in WordPress
It’s really easy to access your revisions and check if they’re currently active. The steps are the exact same for posts and pages. Here’s how you can access revisions in WordPress:
1: Open up a post or page you want to review.
2: If it isn’t open, click the square-shaped icon next to the Update/Publish button to open the Settings panel.
3: Below the Summary tab in the Posts section, you should see a button with a clock icon labeled Revisions. If you don’t see it, that means revisions are turned off or (more likely) the post/page hasn’t been saved multiple times. Click it to open revisions.
4: You’ll be taken to the Compare Revisions screen, where you can see all the updates you’ve made to your document. Either use the scrollbar at the top or the Next and Previous buttons to look through them, and click Restore This Revision to revert to an earlier version.
Why are WordPress revisions not showing?
There are several reasons why your WordPress revisions might not be showing. Some are really simple to fix, while others will require a bit more work. Here are some common causes.
- You haven’t saved the post – If you don’t see the Revisions button, the most likely cause is that there just haven’t been enough changes for it to show up. Try editing and saving the post multiple times, and you should see the button appear.
- Revisions have been hidden – If you’re using the Classic editor, revisions may have been hidden in Screen Options. If this is the case, all your revisions should still be intact, just hidden.
- Revisions have been deleted – Some plugins or web hosts may periodically delete revisions. If your revisions are suddenly gone, they may have been purged from the database.
- Revisions have been disabled – You, a developer, or your web host may have disabled the wp-config.php setting that allows revisions to be saved in the first place. This is usually done to save on database space.
- Plugin or theme conflicts – Some plugins or themes may glitch out and cause revisions to stop working. Sometimes this is reversible, and sometimes the revisions are gone for good.
- Database corruption or errors – If your database gets corrupted or runs out of space, you may lose your revisions.
If your issue is that you can see new revisions, but old ones seem to be disappearing, your web host or a plugin may be set to purge old revisions periodically or only store a certain amount at a time.
How to fix WordPress page revision history not showing
If your revision history isn’t showing, it can be pretty concerning. These steps will help you turn revisions back on so you can get back to editing.
Use wp-config.php to fix WordPress post revisions
Maybe you switched to a new host that shuts off revision history by default, or maybe a developer turned it off without telling you. Whatever the case, if revision history is turned off, it can be easily turned back on.
You’ll need to access wp-config.php, a configuration file for WordPress. If your web host has its own file manager, you can do so through there; otherwise, you’ll need to install an FTP client. Here’s how to do it.
1: Backup your website, as you’ll be making changes to sensitive configuration files.
2: Obtain your FTP credentials. You can find them in cPanel by navigating to FTP Accounts, or ask your web host for help.
3: Install FileZilla or another FTP client. Open the program and access your website through FTP/SFTP using your FTP credentials. Enter the Host, Username, Password, and Port and click Quickconnect.
4: Once you connect, look for wp-config.php. It should be in the root directory of your website (the directory you load into when you connect). Double-click it to open it in a text editor.
5: Search for the WP_POST_REVISIONS value. Check if it’s already set to true. If it is, you don’t need to do anything.
6: If it’s set to false, change the value to true. If you can’t find this value at all, just add this to the file: define(‘WP_POST_REVISIONS’, true)
7: Save your changes and upload it back to the server when prompted.
Now edit and save a post/page a few times and see if the revisions option shows back up.
If adding the value or changing it to true doesn’t do anything, you have another underlying problem.
Enable revisions in Screen Options (Classic Editor)
If you’re using the Classic Editor plugin in your WordPress installation, there may be a very simple fix for your problems. If you’re using the normal Gutenberg editor, Screen Options has been deprecated on the post editor pages, so this fix won’t work for you.
If you’ve noticed the Screen Options menu in the top right corner of most WordPress pages, you’ll know that this can be used to disable certain UI elements. That includes the revisions box.
Note that there should also be a Revisions option in the Publish box on the right. This is not affected by the Screen Options menu at all. If you don’t see it, revisions may be disabled or you haven’t edited the post/page enough to show them yet.
Otherwise, here’s how you can restore the revisions screen.
1: Open up a post or page in the Classic Editor.
2: Click Screen Options in the top right corner to open its menu.
3: Tick Revisions to enable the revisions menu at the bottom of the page.
Fix WordPress revisions by troubleshooting plugin and theme issues
If you’re still having trouble with revisions after editing wp-config.php, you may wish to look at your theme and plugins. These could be causing conflicts leading to broken revisions.
Luckily, checking for this is easy enough. However, consider doing this step in a staging environment in case switching themes results in any lost CSS or theme styling. This also prevents website visitors from seeing the temporary changes you make.
You can switch your theme through Appearance > Themes. Click Add New Theme, pick out a simple default theme like Twenty Twenty-Four, and click Activate.
You can also change your theme from the WordPress database, although the above-mentioned option is more user-friendly.
Check if this fixes your WordPress post revision issues, and contact your original theme’s developer for assistance if it does.
If not, now you can check your plugins. Go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and click Deactivate to shut off all your plugins.
Are your revisions suddenly back? If so, reactivate each plugin one by one until you’ve identified the offender. Contact the plugin developer and let them know about the bug.
Contact your hosting provider
Revisions still not working? There’s probably one of two issues at play: either your database is broken/corrupted, or your web host is deliberately suppressing post revisions.
It’s not uncommon for a hosting provider to turn off post revisions, as they can clog up the database considerably. For example, a popular host, WP Engine, disables post revisions by default.
You can contact WP Engine to have the feature enabled, but only three revisions are available per post, and old revisions are deleted after 60 days.
If you suspect your web host is doing the same, contact them for help and clarification.
On the other hand, if you think your database has been corrupted and it isn’t saving revisions properly, this is another matter for your web host. Contact them and ask for help fixing your database.
How to limit or delete WordPress revisions
While WordPress revisions are incredibly useful, having too many can bloat your database and slow down your site. It’s a good idea to limit the number of revisions stored and periodically clean them up so that you don’t end up with an overflowing database.
Here’s how to limit WordPress revisions. Don’t forget to back up your website first.
1: Obtain your FTP credentials through the FTP Accounts section in cPanel or by asking your web host for them.
2: Install FileZilla or another FTP client and use your FTP credentials to access your site. Enter the Host, Username, Password, and Port and click Quickconnect.
3: Look for wp-config.php in the root directory and double click to open it in a text editor.
4: Add the following line (if not present in the file already) to limit revisions per post/page: define(‘WP_POST_REVISIONS’, 5);
5: Replace the “5” with however many revisions you want to keep. Save and upload the file to your server.
And if your database is already packed full of revisions, you may want to clean things up a bit. This can be done easily with the WP-Sweep plugin, which is designed to get rid of outdated database entries like old revisions.
1: Back up your database before using this plugin, in case you accidentally delete something you didn’t mean to.
2: Install the WP-Sweep plugin through Plugins > Add New.
3: Navigate to the new Tools > Sweep menu.
4: Look in the Post Sweep section for Revisions. Click Sweep to delete them.
Note that this will get rid of all saved revisions on your server, so be careful if you’re in the middle of editing something.
Fixing WordPress post revisions missing
Post and page revisions are a vital part of your content management toolkit and a safety net for any mistakes you may make while editing. If your revision history is suddenly missing, it can be alarming, but there are ways to fix it.
Sometimes the issue is just that you haven’t edited the page enough times, but it’s often not that simple. A small change to wp-config.php will usually do the trick, but don’t rule out plugin and theme conflicts or database corruption. If you still can’t figure it out, it’s best to contact your hosting provider for help.
Additionally, by managing the number of revisions stored and regularly cleaning up your database, you can keep your site running smoothly.
