draft posts won’t save, lost draft, odd messages

I think the data_cron issue is due to the “WP Last Modified Info” plugin. I don’t think it’s related to your saving drafts issue, but it might be.

The invalid JSON response is often due to something a theme or plugin is doing. As a test, try switching to a default Twenty* theme and deactivating all plugins. You should be able to save a test draft now. Isolate the culprit by restoring your theme and plugins, one at a time, until the problem recurs.

If the problem remains with a default theme and no plugins, trying a clean .htaccess file is not a bad suggestion. Actually, just temporarily renaming it via FTP or your hosting file manager will be adequate for a test. Your site’s “pretty” permalinks will no longer work without a .htaccess file but you can see if you can save drafts with the file renamed. If this resolves the problem, a more complex investigation will be needed. If it does not resolve things, just restore the proper filename: .htaccess

Thank you for the ideas. It’s not the plugins or theme – I renamed the .htaccess folder and voila (!) I was able to save a draft. But now, I’m afraid the folder name messes up other things? What should I do about creating a new one with the proper ‘.htaccess’ name? I’m a little frightened at playing around with stuff beyond plugins…….

NEVERMIND this update. I reloaded the page, and cleared all cache, and it didn’t work anymore.

Dear bcworkz,

Another update, and it’s is really, really weird. I switched the temporary name back to plain old .htaccess, — and now the drafts are saving with the old name restored (still with the temporary theme).

However, during this process I saw there are a few ‘.htaccess’ folders and I’ve asked my hosting provider why that is, since I’ve never dealt with any of these before. Might you have any idea why a temporary name switch would force it to work? Or why there are several of these folders – with different extensions?

• This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by ellen413.

.htaccess is not a folder, it’s actually a “hidden” text file that can contain special server directives. If you found them they are clearly not very well hidden ?? There’s usually an option somewhere in file managers on whether to show hidden files or not. Fortunately yours was set to show hidden files.

In theory it’s possible for every folder to have its own .htaccess file, but it’s somewhat unusual because a .htaccess file in ancestor folders will influence all descendant folders. Usually within a WP installation, the .htaccess in the root installation folder is the only one, but it’s not wrong for there to be others.

The file must be named exactly .htaccess for it to be effective. If it’s renamed in any way it’s ignored by the server. If you have .htaccess files with extensions like .htaccess.ext or similar, they are probably older versions that are no longer applicable. I don’t know for sure, other than they no longer affect current server behavior.

It sounds like caching is confusing your investigation. Not only does your browser cache data, but there can be other caches server side. To isolate the problem, you need to determine what aspect reliably affects your ability to save. This is difficult if things are cached. You should disable any server side caching you’re aware of. You can disable browser caching through your browser’s network developer tool. With the window with the editor where you want to save a draft open, open the developer tools through the 3 dot icon or by keyboard shortcut Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+I. In the tools go to the network tab. Ensure the Disable cache option is checked. Return to the editor screen, without closing the network tools. Now you can more reliably investigate what change has what effect. You do still need to reload the editor after every test change, but now it will not be coming from a cache.

Hello, that stopped working. I can no longer save a draft if I temporarily rename the .htaccess ‘file’. Any more ideas? I’m kind of in a jam now… I tried my hosting provider, but they aren’t really too helpful… without my paying for a ‘fix’ – but the blog doesn’t make any money and I don’t want to spend money on this if….

Thanks again,

ellen

Does your site health page (under the Tools admin menu item) flag any issues? Especially issues regarding the API or loopback requests. Those kind of issues are usually due to server configuration and are external to WP. They will cause trouble when saving posts.

Assuming no issues of significance flagged and you have trouble even with .htaccess renamed, I’m back to suspecting your theme or a plugin interfering. Please try again with no active plugins and a default Twenty* theme active. Be sure any caches have been flushed.

If you still have trouble in this state, then your WP installation may have become corrupted. To resolve a corrupted installation you should perform a manual update, even if it’s to the same version. The point is to replace the current files with those from a fresh download.