WordPress Revisions: How to View, Restore, Delete, Limit, WordPress Revision History
The WordPress revisions feature is used to save old post versions. In the event of accidental deletion or if the new version has errors, it can be very helpful to restore content or an old version.
If we are not proficient in managing WordPress revisions, it can also have some drawbacks.
This article will teach you how to use options properly to gain the benefits of the WordPress Post revision facility.
What are WordPress Revisions in comparison to Save Draft, Update, or Publish?
WordPress Revisions are responsible for keeping track of the history of posts that have been modified. When a post is updated, it not only saves the updated content but also saves the old content as a copy.
Clicking Save Draft, Update, or Publish generates a new copy of the post content. If you made a mistake or accidentally lost it, we can restore the previous version.
In addition, WordPress has an auto-save function that saves any changes made in the last 60 seconds. Auto save does not save a copy or create a new row to save a post, but instead updates an old copy of the post.WordPress Revisions
It’s important to distinguish between auto save and intended save by using the Save Draft, Update, and Publish buttons. In auto save, the post is updated, but a new updated copy is saved in later operations.
WordPress Post Revisions Various Operation
You can perform various operations related to WordPress Revisions. You can restore old post revisions, view them, and compare changes made. Revision options will appear when we click ‘Update’, ‘Save Draft’, or ‘Publish’ more than once.
View Different Revisions
whose revisions you want to check, and the WordPress text editor will appear.
Go to Post or Page to view the revisions you want to see.
Click the ‘Edit’ button on a selected page or post. It will take you to the post or page editor.
In the Gutenberg editor, go to the right pan, select the Post tab in the case of a post, and the Page tab in the case of a page.
Click the option Revision.
You can see two columns: the Right column with green color is the current revision or added content, and the left column with red color signs is the previous version that was removed.
It is similar to GitHub, where red shows deleting and green shows the new and current versions.
You can change the content of these two columns by clicking the bar or the next and previous buttons.
You can also compare two viruses by selecting the Compare check box.
To restore click the restore button.
Post-revision can be viewed according to the user’s privileges.
Higher privileges are granted to editors and administrators, which allows them to view all post-revisions.
Secondly, authors have the ability to alter their own post reviews.
Contributors are only allowed to access their drafts revisions.
Compare the Revisions of Various Versions
You can compare the content of the two versions.
The default is to display two consecutive versions (versions following each other continuously) side by side in two columns.
You can also compare two versions that are not consecutive.
To compare non-consecutive versions, select the checkbox ‘Compare’ and select any two versions to compare their content using the slider.
It’s also possible to check who edited the particular version.
Restore the Previous Version
To restore the revision, select the revision from the slide and click Restore the revision. You’ll observe that the content in the right column has been updated to the current version. It will redirect you to the post or page editor. The content will be converted to the old version, and all changes will be saved automatically.
If you don’t want to make any changes to the Revision or want to restore the old version, you can go back to your post editor. By clicking on the post or page title at the top of the revision page, you will be redirected to the editor.
Keeping Track of WordPress Revisions
WordPress saves all revisions by default. All old revisions are saved in the post table without any caps. When a post is updated, it automatically generates a copy and saves the old version, which results in an increase in database size. This slows down database operations, and as a result, our WordPress website loading speed decreases.
It’s crucial to manage WordPress revisions. It’s possible to delete old versions, set the maximum revision limit, and disable revision.
Delete Revisions
Old post revisions can be deleted using either a plugin or phpMyAdmin.
Using A WordPress Revisions Plugin
This method is straightforward and doesn’t require any programming knowledge to delete old revisions.
Let’s know how to use a post-revision plugin. We will use the Revision Control Plugin.
Go to the WordPress dashboard left pan select Plugin and click Add New.
Search for the plugin Revision Control by Dion Hulse.
After installation and activation, go to the post or page whose revision you want to delete.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page. A list of all revisions will be displayed to you.
Select the check boxes, correspond to the previous versions you wish to delete.
To delete the revisions, click the Delete Button.
The current vision cannot be selected by default, so you won’t have to worry about accidentally deleting the current version.
This is a vital component of WordPress blog maintenance, which can enhance the speed of your website.
Restrict the Post-revision Number
Limiting the number of revisions for posts or pages can lead to a decrease in database load.
Additionally, it decreases our workload by eliminating post-revisions during database maintenance.
There are two methods to accomplish this task. If you’re unfamiliar with coding, you can use a plugin or you can set the post-revision limit in the file wp-config.php.
We will mention both methods one by one.
Limiting WordPress Revision Using the Plugin
To limit revisions in WordPress, we will use the WP Revisions Control plugin.
Follow the steps below after installing and activating the WP Revisions Control plugin.
1. Locate Settings on the right side of the WordPress dashboard.
2. Writing
3 Go to bottom of the page and find the WP Revision Control section.
4. You can now enter the number of revisions that need to be saved as old revisions in the Posts and Page boxes.
You have the option to specify restrictions for custom CSS, patterns, templates, template parts, global styles, and navigation menus.
5. It’s important to click Save Changes after filling in your options. Otherwise, all changes will be lost.
It’s a simple process, install the plugin and configure your options.
Modify the wp-config.php, Limiting Post Revisions
To limit post revisions by modifying wp-config.php follow the steps.
Go to your hosting cPane and click file manager.
Now search for wp-config.php.
Open it and add the code.
define( 'WP_POST_REVISIONS', 3);Disable Revision
In WordPress, you can disable revisions. To disable revisions you can use a WordPress plugin or add code to wp-config.php.
Disabling WordPress Revision Using the Plugin
To diable revisions in WordPress, we will use the Disable Post Revision by Joel James
Follow the steps below after installing and activating the Disable Post Revision plugin.
1. Locate Settings on the right side of the WordPress dashboard.
2. Click Writing, Now Find the Writing Settings section on the page.
3. You can now select the Posts or Page to disable revisions in Disable Post Revisions field.
4. Click Save Changes to save the change.
Modify the wp-config.php to Disable Revisions
To limit post revisions by modifying wp-config.php follow the steps.
Go to your cPanel and click File Manager.
Now search for wp-config.php.
Open it and add the following code.
define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', false);Conclusion
WordPress revisions are a useful feature that allows you to restore an old version and undo unwanted changes. By restoring the old version, accidental deletion is prevented.
However, it is very important to know how to manage WordPress revisions; otherwise, it will clutter your database.
You can see WordPress revisions documents for more information.
The purpose of this article is to teach you how to use revisions in WordPress. I hope this article helps you maintain your WordPress.