Visual editor missing, buttons not working, white text

Try deactivating *all* plugins. If that resolves the issue, reactivate each one individually until you find the cause.

If that does not resolve the issue, try switching to the Twenty Sixteen theme to rule-out a theme-specific issue (theme functions can interfere like plugins).

Just updated WP and Tiny MCE Advanced and have same problem. I had it before and this worked (the first solution)…
If the visual/text editor won’t work and the text is in white…

“Use PHPMyAdmin (or another database editor) to search inside your WordPress database in your “wp_options” table for the record called “can_compress_scripts”. and if it has a value of “1” for the “option_value”, change this to “0” and save the change. You will find your editor working again! (Note: Sometimes this record won’t even exist, so in that case you need to add it. Look for a WordPress database that does have it in order to see what you need to add.)

“Wait! Why did this happen in the first place??” you ask? Explanation:

When you update your WordPress version, it does a ONE-TIME-ONLY test of your server environment to see if it supports compressing using the “deflate” method, if it thinks it detects that your server supports this, then it will set “can_compress_scripts” “option_value” to have a value of “1”. But it OFTEN gets this wrong! (or it just doesn’t do “deflate” correctly etc.)

Then because that test doesn’t run again, you are stuck with an auto-screwed-up WordPress install that won’t work unless you know the above secret, or unless you use the “define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, true);” directive in your “wp-config.php” file (but using that directive disables BOTH concatenating and compressing of all scripts, which makes your site SLOW!!).”

A temporary fix that works too…
“Add this to your wp-config.php file: define(‘SCRIPT_DEBUG’, true);
Its some sort of server based file caching thats causing the problem for us. Turning on script debug loads a different version of each javascript file… thus forcing new files to be loaded. Its not a good long term fix, but short term, your editor should be back to normal.”
Another possibility:

removing these lines from .htaccess file.

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^[^=]*$
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} %2d|- [NC] RewriteRule .? – [F,L]

Thanks @digbymaass! This is what I was looking for for over a month! saved my Month ??

I have something similar happening. This is what I get from the admin section of my consol log on Chrome:

Uncaught Error: no such method ‘instance’ for autocomplete widget instancen
.extend.error @ load-scripts.php?c=1&load[]=jquery-core,jquery-migrate,utils,plupload&ver=42617d4……:2

(anonymous function) @ jquery-ui.min.js?ver=42617d4…:5

n.extend.each @ load-scripts.php?c=1&load[]=jquery-core,jquery-migrate,utils,plupload&ver=42617d4……:2

n.fn.n.each @ load-scripts.php?c=1&load[]=jquery-core,jquery-migrate,utils,plupload&ver=42617d4……:2

t.fn.(anonymous function) @ jquery-ui.min.js?ver=42617d4…:5

b.addButton.onPostRender @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:56d @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:22

i @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:9v.fire @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:9

v.postRender @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:9

(anonymous function) @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:9

n @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:4

i.each @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:9

i.exec @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:9e.extend.postRender @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:10

(anonymous function) @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:9
(anonymous function) @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:9n @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:4

i.each @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:9

i.exec @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:9

e.extend.postRender @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:10

(anonymous function) @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:9

e.extend.postRender @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:14

(anonymous function) @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:9

(anonymous function) @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:9n @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:4

i.each @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:9i.exec @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:9

e.extend.postRender @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:10

(anonymous function) @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:9

v.renderTo @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:9

c @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:42

(anonymous function) @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:56

i @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:9fire @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:9

A.initContentBody @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:12

A.init @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:12(anonymous function) @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:12

(anonymous function) @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:5n @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:4

p @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:5(anonymous function) @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:5

i @ wp-tinymce.php?c=1&ver=4308-20160323:5

I suspect the new release of Tinymce that ships with the latest release is not compatible with my theme. Will post more later, hopefully someone who knows their stuff can come up with a brilliant simple solution. Tried deactivating all the plugins and went through the suggestions above with no luck. Meh.

@digbymaass

YOU ROCK!!!!!

Thank you so very much! This solution worked!

“Use PHPMyAdmin (or another database editor) to search inside your WordPress database in your “wp_options” table for the record called “can_compress_scripts”. and if it has a value of “1” for the “option_value”, change this to “0” and save the change.

After months searching for a solution (and trying everything), the digbymaass tip was the only way to fix the problem. Thank you!

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by KamatsuKyoto.

@mlapointe64: You saved my life day week year!!!

I switched to permalinks simple and then back. Solved the issue too.

thanks so much. great tip! fixed a site that I had migrated and this did the trick a simple 0 to 1 fixed it all ??

Thank you, thank you, thank you! @digbymaass Solution fixed it.
– Visual Editor Toolbar went missing after I installed ‘Popup Maker’ plugin but now it has returned. All fixed. thanks.

I have just updated to v4.7 and I was faced with the same issue. It took me hours trying to figure out the cause of the issue, but with no luck, until I found your post. Sigh….. what a relief. I can’t thank you enough, but thank you very much @digbymaass!

I can’t claim credit for the fix. I too did a lot of googling and found that solution which I republished here.

But I wish it would stop happening! It needs someone cleverer than me to find permanent solution. I certainly don’t understand the bit about why it happens.

Resolved for me, however switching permalinks on-off which worked for me, as the can-compress-script in the database was already 0 and it didn’t work. Thanks!!!

• This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by fatheaddy.

I got this problem after upgrading to WordPress 4.7 Vaughan and was able to partially and temporarily fix it by
1. Adding define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, false); to the wp-config.php file at the very top after the php opening tag.
2. Resetting permalinks
3. Getting out of pages being worked on and then getting back in.

However, it seems that deactivating the plugin WP Edit has fixed the problem. I am using the Weaver Xtreme Theme and this was updated with the plugin at the same time WordPress was updated. WP Edit was updated to version 4.0. I guess I will leave this plugin deactivated until there is another update and then see how it works.

I wouldn’t leave it there though. I think it slows down the site. This, from a stackoverflow answer –

Anyhow, by defining the constant as false you are practically forcing WordPress to load each script on the administration page individually rater than collectively. So in that case – If one script fails to load and work correctly, the others can still continue to operate correctly.

This is a recommended setting for debugging and local development. However, in your case, it is a symptom of a problem, and not the problem itself.

Some other solutions here. I’m going to look out for the errant colons on the next upgrade.
https://www.calliaweb.co.uk/wordpress-visual-editor-blank/