Cookies are small pieces of data, stored in text files, that are stored on your computer or other device when websites are loaded in a browser. Learn more about how cookies are used on WordPress.com.
If you can’t preview your posts, pages, or themes on your site, you may need to enable third-party cookies in your web browser.
In this guide
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Ask our AI assistantEach browser has its own settings to configure third-party cookies. Here’s how to allow third-party cookies for your particular browser:
- Mozilla Firefox: Under Preferences → Privacy & Security, setting “Enhanced Tracking Protection” to “Standard” will allow third-party cookies.
- Google Chrome: Under Settings → Privacy and Security → Cookies and other site data, choosing “Allow all cookies” will allow third-party cookies.
- Apple Safari: In the Safari app on your Mac, navigate to Safari → Settings.
- Under the Privacy tab, disable “Prevent cross-site tracking”.
- Under the Advanced tab, disable “Block all cookies”.
- Microsoft Edge: Ensure that “Block third-party cookies” is not enabled under Settings → Site permissions → Cookies and site data.
If the global settings above don’t resolve the issue, or if you’d rather not enable third-party cookies for all sites, you can add exceptions for specific domains instead. Add exceptions for the following:
[*.]wordpress.comexample.wordpress.com(where the “example” part is your full WordPress.com site name that you can find at My Site → Upgrades → Domains).- If you have a domain name (for example,
yourgroovydomain.com), you will also need to allow cookies from that domain name.
Adding site-level exceptions by browser:
- Firefox: Click the shield icon in the address bar while on WordPress.com, then toggle off Enhanced Tracking Protection for that site. See Mozilla’s guide to turning off Enhanced Tracking Protection for specific sites.
- Chrome: Go to Settings → Privacy and security → Third-party cookies. Under “Sites allowed to use third-party cookies,” click Add and enter the domain. Alternatively, click the icon in the address bar while on the site and enable third-party cookies temporarily (lasts 90 days). See Google’s guide to managing cookies in Chrome.
- Edge: Go to Settings → Privacy, search, and services → Tracking prevention → Exceptions and add the site. Or, while on the site, click the padlock icon in the address bar and turn off tracking prevention. See Microsoft’s guide to tracking prevention in Edge.
- Safari: Safari does not support site-level exceptions. You’ll need to disable “Prevent cross-site tracking” globally in Safari → Settings → Privacy.
When you have a domain name, your login cookie becomes a third-party cookie. The cookie originates from wordpress.com, but your browser is asked to read it when you visit your domain name.
As an example, let’s assume the following:
- Your dashboard URL is
example.wordpress.com/wp-admin/ - Your site URL is
yourgroovydomain.com
When you try to preview a draft post you are editing, we’ll open a new window with the draft post on your site. That window address will be something like http://yourgroovydomain.com/?p=xxxx&preview=true
Since you must be logged in to see draft posts, WordPress.com asks your browser for the login cookie.
The preview page comes from yourgroovydomain.com, but the login cookie is from wordpress.com. If third-party cookies aren’t enabled, your browser won’t send the cookie—and the preview won’t work.
