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74 thoughts on “Fix Missing Visual and Text tabs in page/post editor”

  1. Here’s a similar problem: We’ve been editing our cart and checkout page (WooCommerce) and all the edits updated perfectly on the live site.
    So we closed the page editor and all is good. But when opening the page editor again, the entire content editing section is missing!

    This happened for both these pages, but all other pages are still editing completely fine. There is no problem with the store and the checkout flow is not compromised, it’s only the editing in the backend that’s missing.

    The only thing different from usual is that we’ve added some javascript from the SSL provider.

    Anyone with an idea here?

    Reply
    • Using the latest version of both WordPress and Woo?

      Are you using the Woo default pages for Cart and Checkout, or did you create a new page and use the shortcode / page selection?

      Have you tried deactivating all plugins except for Woo to see if there is a conflict?

      Where did you add the Javascript, in the page editor? Have you tried removing that JS to see if that’s the conflict?

      – Chris

      Reply
  2. THANK YOU!!

    For me, the box was unchecked to start, but I checked it, hit save, then unchecked it and saved again. That did it.

    Then I realized… I created my admin user directly through the database (the other site admins were on vacation when I needed to create my account, and I had database access) — so I must have neglected to create some meta row that would have controlled this setting. So by saving my profile I probably created the missing rows.

    Reply
  3. I was practically tearing my hair off trying to find a solution for this and I didn’t realize that little option was added to every user. Thank you so much!

    Reply
  4. I feel like such a dummy. I even remember checking that damn box. Been trying to fix the same thing for days. All the advice and stupid things I read and tried have been so far from the cure. I have polluted my WP vps with unwanted plugins. I actually got so fed up I deleted every page I had created, reinstalled WP, even tried a different theme. Now I cant even title my pages the same and redo everything from memory as bits of the old site conflict. So now I need to somehow wipe WP completely clean of old site remnants and I can finally start over from memory. Any further help to get that accomplished (Start from a clean install) would be appreciated.
    Thankyou so much for the solution to what started this madness.

    Reply
  5. Chris – you rock! I have to admit – I first smacked myself on the forehead with this one, then had a really good laugh. Although there was a reason I disabled it to begin with, but now I can’t remember why. Thanks for sharing this!

    Reply
  6. my box was unchecked. I tried to check then uncheck until I realised I got an error because of a missing screen name. added a screen name, checked the no visual editor bux, saved. then unchecked and saved again. its back and fixed now ^^ thank you I’ve been looking for this for days. a stupid feature to say the least.

    Reply
  7. I have tried this solution and it did not fix it. This user has always had the tabs to switch until recently. I went in and clicked the box, saved it, logged out, logged back in, unchecked the box and saved and logged out again and still no luck. Any suggestions?

    Reply
  8. YES!
    I could see the html/text tab but my colleague couldn’t.
    I would have had to look at about 4 places permissions would have been applied but would have missed this one.

    Reply
  9. aws cloudfront users (or similar cdn or proxies) should check if cache is forwarding “User-Agent” header. WordPress code is checks for browser type before showing these tabs. I searched a lot until i realized this is the problem.

    Reply
  10. I disabled EVERY plugin, toggled the checkbox 3 back and forth 3 times, changed to a different theme 10 times, did a wordpress update. Still nothing.

    Reply
    • Hey Brandon, sorry this simple fix didn’t work for you. What else have you tired? If you’d like I’m happy to take a look for you. You can send me a direct email at chris[at]mywpgeek.com.

      Thanks
      Chris

      Reply
  11. I have the visual and text editor buttons available on my screen (box, as mentioned in user profile, is left unchecked), however, I am only able to view the html text via the text editor. When I click on the visual button, nothing happens. Any ideas? Thank you!

    Reply
  12. I’m having the same problem. I checked Users = Profile AND that box is ALREADY checked off. Yet, my problem persists. I see what looks to me as code. I cannot edit my drafts. I am disappointed.

    What now. I want that happiness in 5 minutes. I’m exhausted. I’ve been dealing with this since May 08th… help me. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Are you using a theme builder or builder plugin like beaver builder or divi or visual composer ?

      Have you tried checking the box, clicking save. Then I checking the box and clicking save again?

      Reply
  13. I managed a ton of wordpress sites, more from a security and update side from a hosting provider point of view. I usually run a script to add myself a user. I’ve had this same issue described above. Essentially if your user was created with older WP version, within the ${prefix}_usermeta table is an entry called “rich_editing”. If this is set false or missing completely, you will not get the Visual/Text tabs in the editor. As another person commented, simply checking the disable box in your user’s profile, saving, and then unchecking and saving seems to add the appropriate entry.

    Reply
  14. Thanks. Although my box was not checked, I had no visual editor. Checking the box, updating the profile, unchecking it and updating the profile restored the visual editing function.

    It appears WordPress someone was confused.

    A great help, thanks.

    Reply
  15. Missing WordPress visual editor.
    In the User, Profile, I tried checking and unchecking.still doesn’t work.
    I even tried restore of backup, it still does not work.
    what else can I do?
    Matt

    Reply
  16. hi. sites that i manage on AWS for a company ‘lost’ classic editor. Its disappear from all sites inside the container. I think it can be occur by the installation of WAF (firewall) on proxy server of company. Im on investingation of this case. I tried the check / unckeck option inside user profile panel but its does not works. keep in touch.

    Reply
  17. There’s another fix that isn’t mentioned–if you’ve updated WordPress, it may now have Gutenberg installed as the text editor. I had no tabs visible (visual, text, site builder). If you install the plug in “Classic Editor” they all reappear. Had I called GoDaddy first, it would have saved me hours of web searching

    Reply
  18. Wow!! This is fantastic. What a shame I didn’t come across it before a two day nightmare of deleting plugins and adding them back one by one, only to learn that the problem wasn’t resolved.

    Thank you!

    Reply
  19. This was DRIVING ME INSANE. I couldn’t understand why this wasn’t showing up. Then remembered I added myself as a user through phpmyadmin because the client didnt understand how to add my into their default wordpress setup. I had to check the box, click save, then uncheck the box, and click save again. The tabs showed up after. Thank you for this article. ::bows intensely::

    Reply
  20. Many thanks!

    I came back to the site more than 2 years ago and decided to finally solve the problem. I messed around with plugins and settings, then I googled for an hour until I finally found your advice. What a stupid hook by WordPress.

    Reply

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