WordPress Visual Editor Not Working: White Text And Missing Buttons

Is your WordPress visual editor not working properly? The visual editor is an essential tool that enables you to create and edit the content on your website without needing to know any HTML or coding. If you’re experiencing issues with the visual editor, it can be frustrating and time-consuming to troubleshoot. This is a common error that occurs in the WordPress editor, where the text color is reset to white and the buttons needed to make changes on your editor in WordPress and its content go missing.

WordPress Visual Editor Not Working White Text And Missing Buttons

Fortunately, there are several potential solutions to try. In this article, we’ll walk you through some common reasons why the visual editor may not be working correctly, and provide step-by-step instructions for troubleshooting the issue. Sometimes, updating your WordPress to the latest version might solve the problem or updating your theme. But sometimes, it can take more effort to make it work like finding the plugin that might interfere with WordPress visual editor or some corrupted WordPress core files.

Video Guide

Check our video guide on How to Fix WordPress Visual Editor Not Working, or continue with our tutorial.

By the end of this guide, you’ll have a better understanding of how to identify and fix visual editor issues in WordPress and prevent them from happening in the future.

So, whether you’re a seasoned WordPress user or just getting started, read on to learn how to get your visual editor back up and running!

Content:

  1. Simple options to fix the WP visual editor not working
  2. Advanced options to fix the WordPress editor error

How to Fix White Text and Missing Buttons Error in WordPress Visual Editor

There are quick steps you can immediately perform to try to fix the error in WordPress. These steps can be done on your browser and on your admin dashboard.

Clear the browser cache

Sometimes just clearing the cache from your web browser can solve this issue. To clear cache from your Chrome browser:

  • Open the browser and click on a button with three dots at the top right corner of the browser window.
  • Place the mouse pointer on ‘More tools’ and click on ‘Clear browsing data.
  • Select a time range from the dropdown and click the ‘clear data’ button.

To clear cache from your Mozilla Firefox browser:

  • Open the browser and click on the menu button at the upper right corner.
  • Select Options from the menu.
  • In the Privacy section, click on Clear your recent history. From the drop-down menu next to a Time range to clear, select Everything, then click on Clear Now.

Deactivate all plugins

In some cases, some themes and plugins installed on your WordPress website may conflict with each other. Since it may not be possible to know the exact plugin that is causing the issue, you should deactivate all plugins.

If the missing WordPress visual editor is restored, then reactivate them individually one by one and test the WordPress blog editor to identify the particular one that caused the error.

You can deactivate all plugins by going to the dashboard: Plugins > Installed Plugins

 deactivate plugins - wordpress visual editor not working

Select All Plugins. Next, click Bulk Actions, select Deactivate, and click Apply.

deactivate all plugins - wordpress visual editor not working

Advanced options to fix the WordPress Visual Editor Not Working

There are other advanced options that may be required to fix the error in WordPress if the simple fixes do not solve the problem. Using any of these methods, you have to make certain changes and modifications to the WordPress files.

Replace your TinyMCE folder

It is possible that an incomplete WordPress installation or upgrade corrupted your core files and led to “WordPress visual editor not working” error. In order to fix this, you need to replace the corrupted TinyMCE folder with a new one. Here’s how:

delete tinymce folder

  • On the left-hand side of FileZilla where you have your computer files, locate your newly downloaded WordPress folder and double-click on the path: wp-includes > js.
  • Locate the ‘tinymce’ folder, right click on it, and click Upload.  This will replace the folder you deleted.

upload new tinymce folder

Now try using your WordPress visual editor to see if the issue is fixed.

Modify the wp-config file

  • Open ‘wp-config.php’ file in a text editor such as ‘notepad
  • Right under the ‘<?php’ tag, insert this codedefine(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’,false);’ and save the file.

wp config file 

Install the advanced TinyMCE plugin

The plugin is an extended version of the tinymce script. You can install it by going to your dashboard and click on Plugins > Add new.

click plugins add new

Search for the tinymce advanced plugin, click ‘Install now’ on the best appropriate search result and finally click ‘Activate.

install tinymce plugin

Now try using your WordPress editor to see if you fixed the problem.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the WordPress visual editor?

The WordPress visual editor is a built-in tool that allows users to create and edit content on their website without needing to know any HTML or coding.

Why is my WordPress visual editor not working?

There are several reasons why the visual editor may not be working properly. Some of them are conflicting plugins or themes, browser issues, or corrupted files.

How can I troubleshoot my WordPress visual editor?

You can try troubleshooting your visual editor by disabling conflicting plugins or themes. Try clearing your browser cache, or resetting the editor settings.

What should I do if my visual editor is still not working after troubleshooting?

If your visual editor is still not working, you may need to contact your web hosting provider or a WordPress expert for further assistance.

How can I prevent issues with the visual editor in the future?

To prevent future issues with the visual editor, it’s important to regularly update WordPress and all plugins and themes. Also, it is important to use a reputable hosting provider and avoid installing too many unnecessary plugins.

WordPress Visual Editor Not Working – Conclusion

WordPress is one of the most popular blogging and CMS platforms on the web. And probably its simplicity makes it so popular. The WordPress editor is a WYSIWYG(What You See Is What You Get) platform that is similar to word processor editors. So if you are familiar with this type of working and editing posts and pages, this WordPress error makes it impossible to create content in WordPress sites, and what is WordPress without this ability?

Hopefully, if your WP visual editor is not working, one of the above-mentioned solutions can help you fix this issue and revert your text editor to its normal state. However, if you are still unable to fix it, feel free to contact our WordPress support team and our team of experienced engineers will help you solve the issue. For more WordPress Guides visit our blog.

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 This post was written by Mesheal Fegor

Mesheal Fegor is a Web/WordPress Developer and technical writer. His WordPress help articles have been featured on Kinsta and other sites. Mesheal holds a master's degree in computer science. His writing focuses on technical WordPress issues, ranging from core WordPress problems, to issues with WooCommerce, and more.

Last edited by: FixRunner Team