How to Fix Blank Posts or Pages After Saving in WordPress (Complete 2025 Guide)

If you’re working on WordPress and suddenly your post or page turns blank right after hitting Save or Update, you’re not alone. This is one of the most frustrating issues users face — especially when you’ve spent hours writing, designing, or formatting content.

The good news?
Blank posts/pages after saving in WordPress are almost always fixable — and in this detailed guide, you’ll learn exact causes, how to fix them step-by-step, and the best preventive practices to ensure it never happens again.

This is a complete, beginner-friendly, developer-friendly guide designed to help WordPress users, agencies, and freelancers resolve the issue fast.

Let’s dive in.

What Causes Blank Posts or Pages After Saving in WordPress?

Before fixing the issue, it’s important to understand why it happens. A blank post or page typically means:

• The content was saved but not rendered

• The content failed to save properly

• The editor failed to load saved content

• A PHP or JS error broke the post content output

• Something in your theme or plugin interfered with the editor

Below are the most common causes:

Plugin Conflicts

Page builders, caching plugins, security plugins, SEO plugins, or even minor add-ons can interfere with the editor. Check how to fix plugin conflicts issue in WordPress.

Theme Issues

Outdated themes, corrupted template files, and custom functions can cause blank content.

JavaScript Errors

Anything that breaks the editor (especially the block/Gutenberg editor) can cause missing or blank content.

PHP Errors or Fatal Errors

A silent fatal error may prevent WordPress from rendering saved content.

Memory Limit Exhaustion

When WordPress runs out of PHP memory, posts/pages may appear blank, here is complete guide to fix Allowed Memory Size Exhausted error/issue.

Corrupt Database Entries

If wp_posts or postmeta tables are corrupted, content may fail to load.

Malformed HTML or Shortcodes

A single broken HTML tag can cause Gutenberg to fail.

Auto-save or Revision Corruption

Sometimes the saved version becomes corrupted, causing blank output.

How to Fix Blank Posts/Pages After Saving in WordPress (Step-by-Step)

Below is the complete troubleshooting checklist, ordered from fastest fixes to deep technical solutions.

1. Clear Your Browser and Site Cache

Before assuming anything is broken, clear:

• Browser cache

• WordPress cache plugin

• Server-level cache (e.g., LiteSpeed, SiteGround SG Optimizer)

• Cloudflare cache (if used)

Why this works:
Sometimes the editor saves content, but your browser is showing an old cached version.

2. Disable Plugins Temporarily (Classic Fix)

Plugins are the #1 cause of blank posts/pages. Before troubleshooting further, make sure to check out my in-depth tutorial on diagnosing plugin conflicts in WordPress. It’s the most reliable method to quickly find the real culprit.

Steps:

1. Go to Plugins → Installed Plugins

2. Select Deactivate all plugins

3. Return to your post/page and edit it again

If the content loads:

A plugin is the culprit.

Enable plugins one by one until the issue returns. That plugin is your conflict source.

If you can’t access WP Admin:

Rename the plugins folder via FTP:

WordPress will disable all plugins automatically.

3. Switch to a Default Theme

Theme template conflicts can cause blank output. Before making any changes, I highly recommend checking my detailed article on common theme-related problems and how to fix them. It’s a must-read for avoiding unnecessary headaches.

Steps:

1. Go to Appearance → Themes

2. Activate Twenty Twenty-Five (or any default theme)

3. Reopen the post/page

If the content loads normally → your theme is the problem.

How to fix theme issues:

• Update the theme

• Remove outdated custom templates

• Check custom code inside functions.php

• Verify no missing template tags

4. Enable WordPress Debug Mode

You may not see errors on the screen, but they happen in the background. If you want to see the exact error behind this issue, follow my step-by-step guide on how to enable WordPress Debug Mode — it’s the fastest way to find what’s really going wrong.

Enable debug mode to reveal mistakes.

Add this to wp-config.php:

Now check:

Look for:

• Fatal errors

• Memory exhausted

• Deprecated functions

• Plugin conflicts

• Theme function errors

Fix the error and test again.

5. Increase PHP Memory Limit

Blank posts often occur because WordPress doesn’t have enough memory for the block editor or page builders like Elementor, WPBakery, or Divi.

Add this to wp-config.php:

Also update in php.ini if needed:

Then restart your server (if using VPS or dedicated hosting). Here is our complete guide to increase and fix “Allowed Memory Size Exhausted” error.

6. Fix JavaScript Errors in Browser Console

Gutenberg relies heavily on JavaScript. If things still aren’t working properly, I recommend checking my full guide on how to fix JavaScript errors in WordPress — it walks you through the exact steps to detect and resolve them.
One broken script = blank editor or blank page.

Steps:

1. Open the post editor

2. Press F12

3. Go to Console

4. Look for red errors

Common offenders include:

• Old jQuery

• SEO plugin scripts

• Improperly enqueued JS

• Page builder conflicts

• CORS/Cloudflare minification issues

How to fix:

• Disable conflicting plugins

• Exclude JS from minification

• Remove outdated custom scripts

7. Disable Lazy Loading for Editors

Some optimization plugins break the WordPress editor by lazy-loading JS files.

Disable:

• JS minification

• CSS minification

• Lazy load scripts

• Delay JS execution

In plugins like:

• LiteSpeed Cache

• WP Rocket

• W3 Total Cache

• Autoptimize

• NitroPack

Then check again. If you are curious to know how to setup lazy loading, check out our detailed guide here.

8. Check for Broken HTML or Shortcodes

A single unclosed <div> or malformed shortcode can break editors.

Example of broken HTML:

Example of malformed shortcode:

Gutenberg often returns blank or refuses to load content.

Fix any problematic tags/shortcodes, then resave.

9. Restore a Previous Revision

WordPress stores revisions automatically. Before making major changes, I highly recommend reading my step-by-step tutorial on creating and restoring WordPress backups. It can save you from irreversible issues.

Steps:

1. Open the post/page

2. On the right sidebar, click Revisions

3. Restore an older version

If the revision loads fine → the current revision is corrupt.

10. Fix Corrupt Database Tables

A corrupt wp_posts table can cause blank posts. Database issues are often the hidden reason behind slow loading, failed updates, or plugin errors. If you want a clean, safe, and optimized database, read my full breakdown on how to fix and maintain the WordPress database properly. Here is full guide to fix database related issues.

Run Database Repair:

Add this to wp-config.php temporarily:

Visit:

Click:

• Repair Database

• (Optional) Repair & Optimize Database

Remove the constant when done.

11. Update WordPress, Themes, and Plugins

Outdated software is a common cause.

Update:

• WordPress Core

• All Plugins

• Your Theme

• PHP version (7.4+ recommended)

Also ensure your server uses:

• PHP 8.0 or higher

• MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.4+

• Latest Apache/Nginx versions

12. Fix File Permission Issues

Wrong permissions can stop WordPress from saving posts.

Set these permissions:

Use FTP or hosting file manager.

13. Check for Security Plugin Blocking

Security plugins may block saving due to false positives.

Plugins like:

• Wordfence

• iThemes Security

• Sucuri

• All In One Security (AIOS)

May block:

• AJAX requests

• REST API

• Editor autosave

• HTML tags for “XSS” reasons

Disable the plugin and try again.

If it fixes it → whitelist the editor or REST API.

14. Fix REST API Issues

WordPress editor relies on REST API.

If blocked → content loads blank.

Check REST API:

Go to:

If you see an error → fix it.

Common fixes:

• Disable security plugins

• Remove .htaccess blocks

• Allow REST API via Cloudflare

• Remove ModSecurity rules blocking requests

15. Fix .htaccess File Conflicts

A corrupted .htaccess can cause blank posts.

Restore to default:

Save and test.

How to Prevent This Issue from Happening Again

• Keep WordPress, themes, and plugins updated
• Avoid nulled themes/plugins
• Use reliable hosting with enough memory
• Don’t overload page builders
• Use staging for testing
• Use database optimization plugins
• Avoid adding custom code without version control
• Keep backups at all times and check our common fixes for all such issues to stay safe.

FAQ – Fixing Blank Posts/Pages in WordPress

1. Why is my WordPress post blank after I save it?

Because of plugin conflicts, theme errors, JavaScript issues, or memory limits.

2. Can a plugin cause blank content in WordPress?

Yes. Page builders, optimization plugins, security plugins, and even SEO plugins can cause this.

3. How do I fix blank content in WordPress without losing my work?

Restore revisions, disable plugins, or switch to a default theme.

4. Why does my post disappear after clicking Update?

Usually due to JavaScript or REST API conflicts preventing the editor from rendering your saved content.

5. Does Gutenberg (block editor) cause blank pages?

It can when there is a JS conflict, broken HTML, or low memory limit.

6. Will switching themes delete my posts?

No. Posts/pages are stored in the database and remain safe.

7. Can a corrupted database cause blank posts?

Yes, especially wp_posts and postmeta tables.

8. What if nothing fixes the issue?

Enable debug mode, check logs, or restore a backup.
Worst case: migrate the site to better hosting.