“Updating failed. Could not update post in the database.”

  • Resolved amyharbs

    (@amyharbs)


    1 year ago

    Hi, I keep receiving the following notification when I attempt to save a draft post: “Updating failed. Could not update post in the database.”

    I migrated my site to a new host in oct/Nov last year and never had this problem before then, I have been experiencing this since – I’m wondering if it’s relevant. Having contacted my host, here are the steps I have taken to try and resolve this, however, it is still happening (& driving me mad!)

    I was initially using Safari. I would make notes in Apple notes on my phone & later copy & paste into WordPress on my laptop. My host said it must be a formatting issue, to use Chrome incognito window & not copy & paste.

    I did this, it would work sporadically, then stopped.

    Next, I tried working from my WIFI, then 3g, 4G – all had the same issue. I tried on two laptops, one phone – all same issue, so I came to the conclusion that it couldn’t be a signal or device issue.

    Next, cleared all cache & javascript from both safari & chrome. sporadically worked, then stopped again & my host ran a debug on my site.

    Finally, my host set up a staging site & I switched off all of my plugins & my theme & then activated them one by one, trying to save a draft each time – none triggered the issue.

    I am at a loss at what to do to resolve this issue. Any suggestions would be very welcome please!

Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
  • Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Make sure that your database user has full access and privileges to the site’s MySQL database.

    Since all hosting providers are different, you’ll need to consult your hosting provider’s documentation or support for specifics.

    • This reply was modified 1 year ago by James Huff. Reason: typo

    I ran into this one today for the first time.

    Updating failed. Could not update post in the database.

    We deactivated all plugins and set the twentynineteen theme, and reset permalinks, but it still happens. The browser console shows a 500 error for this resource:

    • Name: /index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F20217&_locale=user
    • Initiator: /wp-includes/js/dist/api-fetch.min.js?ver=0fa4dabf8bf2c7adf21a

    No log entries in the PHP error log. Enabled WordPress debugging, but nothing logs their either. No errors display in the browser.

    Though interestingly, as you mentioned, you copied and pasted form an Apple note. In our case, we copy pasted from a Google Doc!

    Pretty bizarre. Though I wasn’t able to replicate on other test sites, which makes it more strange and frustrating to troubleshoot.

    Good luck to anyone else that encounters it.

    Forgot to mention we did find a workaround. If you copy/pasted into the Quick Draft section in the Dashboard > Home page, that would work.

    I have this problem too – the quick draft helps, but it’s hardly a solution. I try to put the full post in and it barfs all over me again with the error.

    • This reply was modified 11 months, 3 weeks ago by jlouderb.

    Check the page/post content for invalid characters that the database may not know how to save. I had this problem and in the text on the page was a round dot icon. ?? to be exact. Removing this resolved the issue.

    I have run into the same problem too.

    I had this problem on multiple sites.

    Solution: I had to remove some Unicode Characters (like ?? ?? ?? ??) from the posts, that resolved the issue.

    I had this problem as well, I had to remove all the emojis and buttons (CTA’S). I then re added new CTA’s in (buttons). Works fine now. I left the emojis out on purpose.

    It’s bad characters like symbols in the post title.

    Unsupported characters copied from external sources will prevent you from saving or updating your posts on WordPress. Remove them and save/update.

    I had the same problem with uncompatible characters. I used ChatGPT to santize and reformat the code.

    Ref to the chat here: https://chatgpt.com/share/bec2136f-bc55-4f14-996e-0b37391c3335

    Dropping in to say that I also had this problem. And the problem was a smiley in the text (graphical smiley). After deleting that from the post I could save it.

    Just to be clear; that was while editing an old post. When I originally wrote it the smiley was not an issue. When I have this problem it is when editing old posts.

    spajonas

    (@spajonas)

    I just wanted to add to this that I also had the problem so I deleted some emojis from the content of my blog post and it started working again.

    Don’t listen to @gopromotional1 or click his spam/scam link – it’s just a Bulgarian “jewerly store”. Scroll up past his “response” to see some helpful and legitimate responses. I suggest checking your post for strange characters, symbols and emojis.

Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
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