Web stories editor appears blank

The Web Stories plugin stores two types of information in the database: the “raw” story data used for the editor, and the generated HTML markup for the frontend.

The raw story data is stored in the wp_posts.post_content_filtered database column. If you have done some import/export or use a plugin that removes or breaks the data in this column, you’ll get a blank editor. And of course saving a blank story results in a blank story on the frontend too. (Note: you can restore the previous version using the revisions screen if you accidentally saved this blank story)

So yeah, you most likely have some conflicting plugin or botched export that touched the post_content_filtered column and I recommend looking into that, maybe with the help of your site developer or hosting provider.

If this still happens if you disable all plugins and switch themes, then there might be another issue at play. So try that too.

okay. I will check the mentioned database column and get back to you.

As you mentioned, the wp_posts.post_content_filtered column is empty, and after checking for any plugin conflicts by deactivating all other plugins, it still remains blank. Is there a solution to fix this issue?

It won’t magically reappear after deactivating all other plugins — if the data is gone, it’s gone. You would need to restore it from a backup through your hosting provider.

But you can now now try again to create a new story with all plugins deactivated and see if the data is saved properly.

Slides appear correctly in the frontend preview, but they are not showing up in the editor only. Could you please let me know where the generated HTML markup data for the frontend of Web Stories is stored in the database?

Also, I’ve noticed that when creating new Web Stories, the post_content_filtered column is not getting updated, yet these new stories remain editable in the editor. Could you help me understand why this might be occurring?

Please refer the screenshot for the console error in the editor

Slides appear correctly in the frontend preview, but they are not showing up in the editor only.

That is expected if post_content_filtered is empty.

The generated HTML markup is in post_content.

Also, I’ve noticed that when creating new Web Stories, the post_content_filtered column is not getting updated, yet these new stories remain editable in the editor. Could you help me understand why this might be occurring?

If the column is empty you can still open the story in the editor, but the canvas would be empty.

If you share your website URL I could help look from the outside.

If the column is empty you can still open the story in the editor, but the canvas would be empty.

It works for the newly created web stories, but not for the old web stories. Please refer the screenshot.

If you share your website URL I could help look from the outside.

https://stagingblog.webnexs.com/web-stories/4-ways-to-monetize-your-video-content/

It works for the newly created web stories, but not for the old web stories. Please refer the screenshot.?

Yes that is expected. If the data is gone, it‘s gone.

You now know it‘s working for new stories, which means previously you had some conflicting plugins. So you will need to figure out which one it was so they can fix it.

You now know it‘s working for new stories, which means previously you had some conflicting plugins. So you will need to figure out which one it was so they can fix it.

I have created web stories and tested them with all the plugins enabled, just as before. I didn’t deactivate any of the plugins.

The generated HTML markup is in post_content.

I didn’t see any data in this column for either the newly created web stories or the old ones. However, the newly created web stories are editable, but the old ones are not. Can you please check the URL?

I have created web stories and tested them with all the plugins enabled, just as before. I didn’t deactivate any of the plugins.

That’s confusing, as earlier you said you deactivated other plugins. Maybe you did do some content export & import at some point?

Anyhow, your 3 newest stories look complete, but the older ones have missing data. That explains why you can edit the newer ones. The older ones you will need to restore from a backup.

I didn’t see any data in this column for either the newly created web stories or the old ones.

Are you 100% sure post_content_filtered is empty for ID 41351?

That’s confusing, as earlier you said you deactivated other plugins. Maybe you did do some content export & import at some point?

I initially deactivated all other plugins to check if the data was saved properly and to identify any conflicts, but none of the plugins were causing the issue. So, I reactivated the plugins, created new web stories, and tested again.

Anyhow, your 3 newest stories look complete, but the older ones have missing data. That explains why you can edit the newer ones. The older ones you will need to restore from a backup.

As you mentioned, we restored one of the web stories data, including the post_content_filtered data, from the old database backup, but the editor still appears blank. Please refer to the screenshots.

Are you 100% sure?post_content_filtered?is empty for ID?41351?

Mentioned ID is not there in wp_posts table

Mentioned ID is not there in wp_posts table

That’s impossible. https://stagingblog.webnexs.com/wp-json/web-stories/v1/web-story/41351 works, so it means you must have a post with this ID in your database. Are you checking the right database (the one from your staging site)?

Yes. Mentioned ID is available in the staging site database.

As you mentioned, we restored one of the web stories data, including the post_content_filtered data, from the old database backup, but the editor still appears blank. Please refer to the screenshots.

Could you please clarify this?

It doesn’t help if you share screenshots and URLs from two different websites.

I will now assume you are referring to https://blog.webnexs.com/web-stories/what-is-iptv-its-benefits/ as a broken story. So let’s talk about that one.

In the REST API you can find the story at https://blog.webnexs.com/wp-json/web-stories/v1/web-story/13602. You can see that the story_data field, which corresponds to post_content_filtered, is empty.

That usually means the contents of post_content_filtered is not valid JSON. You can for example check this by copying the contents of post_content_filtered and putting it into some online JSON validator or so.

For context, here’s where the Web Stories plugin is reading and parsing that database field:

https://github.com/GoogleForCreators/web-stories-wp/blob/ecb5070157c9eb726c7301fbfe497f0391a5aeb4/includes/REST_API/Stories_Base_Controller.php#L138C26-L138C75

json_decode() fails if it’s invalid JSON, thus the data is absent from the REST API.

You will need to look into & fix this on your end.

That usually means the contents of?post_content_filtered?is not valid JSON. You can for example check this by copying the contents of?post_content_filtered?and putting it into some online JSON validator or so.

I followed your suggestion and copied the contents of post_content_filtered into an online JSON validator, which showed that the JSON is valid.