why did my revisions vanish?
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I’ve been working on a post for three or four days. I JUST finished. I wasn’t due to post yet, so I clicked “save draft.” And all the work of the past two days vanished. When I looked at the list of saved revisions, there are only two–the newest “revision” which was somehow mutilated by my attempt to save it, and a 3-day old version. I know I’ve saved it several times in the middle, so where are those missing saved drafts? And what happened so I can make sure it doesn’t happen again?
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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If the post was created on the dashboard of your own blog at Dashboard > Posts > All Posts > Add New then you ought to be able to recover a lost post or page from revisions if needs be.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/posts/post-revisions/
See also if applicable > restoring from trash http://en.support.wordpress.com/trash/#restoring-from-trash(If you are referring to a Page then see here > http://en.support.wordpress.com/pages/page-revisions/)
If you cannot locate a revision or restore from Trash the content has been lost and cannot be recovered.
I recommend:
- Always create your posts on the dashboard of your own blog at
Dashboard > Posts > All Posts > Add New - Immediately after creating a post and entering a title click the save draft link. Thereafter, “click save draft” frequently.
- Always allow pages to fully load before clicking any other links.
- Never leave a post or page open for content creation or editing and walk away from it. Save it properly and return to edit it later.
- Use an offline blog editor so you have backups on your own computer http://en.support.wordpress.com/xml-rpc/
- Always create your posts on the dashboard of your own blog at
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Hi, thanks for replying.
How do I see what’s in Trash? I can’t find any button to access it. -
Ok, no, it isn’t in trash, and the whole problem is that the revisions are missing. And, hitting “save” frequently will not prevent a recurrence because 1. I already do and 2. hitting “save” is what caused the problem.
So, I am back at square one. What happened, how do I undo it, and how do I keep it from happening again?
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Did you create the post at? https://wordpress.com/post/
If you did then don’t do that. Read my advice above. -
No, I did not. I work from my dashboard, exactly as you describe, always. I did read your advice, it just doesn’t seem applicable to my situation. Thanks for responding, though.
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Weird! Please work through what follows and report back.
1. If you are not running one of the browsers and versions listed at http://browsehappy.com/ please try upgrading or switching first.
2. If you are using an IE browser in compatibility mode please disable that mode. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1196-internet-explorer-compatibility-view-turn-off.html
3. If you are running one of the browsers and versions listed at http://browsehappy.com/
(a) Try clearing your browser’s cache http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=32050
If applicable see here for instructions on how to clear the cache for Chrome and Safari on the iPad:
http://browsers.about.com/od/howtousemobilebrowser1/ss/safari-ipad-clear-cache.htm
http://browsers.about.com/od/howtousemobilebrowser1/ss/How-To-Clear-Browsing-Data-In-Chrome-For-Ipad_6.htm(b) Make sure that you have both third-party cookies enabled and JavaScript enabled
http://en.support.wordpress.com/third-party-cookies/
http://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=12654(c) Disable all browser extensions or add-ons temporarily.
(d) Try enabling HTTPS: http://en.support.wordpress.com/https/
Add both *.wordpress.com and *.wp.com to your list of trusted sites under the Security tab. Make sure to uncheck the box for “Require server verification (https:) for all sites in this zone.” http://en.support.wordpress.com/https/#frequently-asked-questions
4. You can use this link to see if your flash is up to date. http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/ If it’s not then go to http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/ and download and install the latest version of flash.
5. Try using another browser.
6. If you are not successful let us know:
(a) Exactly what kind of device you are using to connect to the internet and to WordPress.com.
(b) Exactly which browser (and version of it) you’re using by checking here if necessary http://www.whatbrowser.org/
(c) Exactly what you experience including what any error reports you receive state. -
Yes, very weird.
Do you mean these steps might make the missing drafts reappear, or only that they might prevent a re-occurance? -
No those steps will not make anything lost reappear. I want you to answer those questions because I tagged this thread for Staff. It’s possible that there is a connectivity or browser related issue that caused the loss.
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Ok, I am going to lunch, then. I’ll attend to cache-clearing and so forth later and let you know if there is a recurrence. I am using Mozilla, however, and had not previously had a problem.
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“I am using Mozilla”
That’s not specific enough to be useful. Please provide the version number.
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Hi there,
I’m very sorry for the trouble with your saved draft. It’s hard to say exactly what happened, but here are some things that might help us figure that out:
1. Did you ever have a draft for a different post open while working on this draft?
2. While working on the post, did you keep it open in your browser the entire time or did you save and close it in between?
3. Did you ever preview the post while working on it? If so, did you click the “Edit” button in the preview to return to editing the post?
4. Do you or did you see a message in your browser saying, “There is an autosave of this post that is more recent than the version below”?
Those might give us more clues as to what happened to those missing revisions in your draft.
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Hi, rachelmcr,
To answer your questions, I usually don’t have multiple drafts open at once, but it’s possible I did on this occasion–I don’t remember, now. I did save the post and put my computer in hibernate several times (I was working on it over three or four days) but I don’t think I ever closed the browser window. The missing work had therefore been saved several times. I don’t think I previewed this post while working. I did not see a message referring to autosave. When I tried to save it the last time I did see a message that said something like “the version in your browser is different than the version below.” Then there was a message saying there had been an error and I should try again. Unfortunately, I no longer remember the wording of the message.
2. While working on the post, did you keep it open in your browser the entire time or did you save and close it in between?
3. Did you ever preview the post while working on it? If so, did you click the “Edit” button in the preview to return to editing the post?
4. Do you or did you see a message in your browser saying, “There is an autosave of this post that is more recent than the version below”?
Those might give us more clues as to what happened to those missing revisions in your draft.
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Hi there,
Thanks for sharing those details.
When I tried to save it the last time I did see a message that said something like “the version in your browser is different than the version below.” Then there was a message saying there had been an error and I should try again.
This is the key to your missing revisions. That message is part of our browser restore feature.
If your computer loses its connection to WordPress.com while you’re working on a post, we’re not able to save your drafts. Instead, your browser will save the latest draft locally (in the browser). When your browser reconnects, you’ll see that message and you can restore that locally saved version from your browser. If you choose not to restore it, though, we don’t have that version saved on our end so we aren’t able recover it for you.
I know that’s not great news to hear, but hopefully it will help if this comes up again in the future. Please let me know if I can do anything more to help!
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Hi,
Thanks,that is actually quite helpful. Since I’ve now recreated the lost work, not being able to recover it is no longer an issue, but knowing what went wrong and why will be a big help for the future. Thanks!
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