You learned about Simple History that lets you instantly start monitoring key changes, such as posts, pages, user logins, plugin activations, failed login attempts, and more on your WordPress site. Now this lesson teaches you how you can restore content on your website in-case you lost it by accidentally updating your posts and pages etc.
In WordPress, post revisions are versions of your posts and pages that are automatically saved by WordPress every time you make changes. Each time you update a post, WordPress stores a copy of that post along with its content at the time of the update. This enables you to revert to an earlier version of the post if needed.
Revisions are particularly useful in case of accidental changes or content loss, as they allow you to restore a previous version of a post without losing any valuable content.
Post Revisions To Restore Old Content
If you accidentally update a WordPress post and the content is replaced with new content while the old content seems to be gone, you can use the post revisions feature to recover the previous version of your post. Here’s how:
Step 1: Open the Post Editor
- Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
- Navigate to Posts -> All Posts.
- Click on the post that you want to restore.
Step 2: Check The Revisions Section
- In the post editor, look for the Revisions section. This section is usually located on the right side of the screen, below the Publish button. If you can’t see it, click on the Screen Options tab in the upper right corner and check the Revisions box.
- The Revisions section will display the number of revisions available and the time of each saved revision.
Step 3: Browse Revisions
- Click on the Browse link next to the revisions. This will open a comparison screen, where you can view the differences between the current version and earlier versions of your post.
- On this screen, you’ll be able to see both the old content (the version you want to restore) and the new content (the current version).
Step 4: Restore A Revision
- To restore an earlier version, use the slider at the top of the revision screen to scroll through the revisions. You can also click on Restore This Revision to revert to the selected version.
- After restoring the revision, you can click the Update button to save the changes.
Step 5: Compare & Finalize
- Once you’ve restored the old content, you can compare it with the new content to ensure everything is back to how it should be. If needed, you can make additional edits before updating the post.
How To Prevent Future Issues With Post Revisions?
- Limit The Number of Revisions: If you find that WordPress is saving too many revisions, you can limit the number of revisions stored in your database by adding a line of code to your wp-config.php file. For example, add the following line to limit revisions to 5 per post:
define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', 5); - Disable Revisions: If you don’t need revisions at all, you can disable them by adding the following line of code to your wp-config.php file:
define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', false); - Use A Backup Plugin: To ensure you never lose important content, it’s a good idea to use a WordPress backup plugin like UpdraftPlus or BackupBuddy. These plugins can automatically back up your entire site, including posts, pages, and media files.
WordPress post revisions are a powerful feature that helps you recover lost content or accidental changes. By following the simple steps above, you can easily restore older versions of a post and bring back the content that was replaced. Always make use of revisions as a safety net, and consider using additional backup strategies to keep your content secure.
