WordPress post edit area is blank (displays white text on white background)

Have you recently updated WordPress and noticed your post area looks blank and the icons don't display when you edit existing posts or pages? Here are some solutions to fix the white text on white background problem in WordPress that could improve performance too
15 Feb, 2012
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Have you recently updated WordPress and then noticed that your post area looks blank when you edit existing posts or pages?

I noticed this after going through the hassle of upgrading to WordPress 3.3.1 and this manifests itself as white text being displayed on a white background when your post edit page loads. You might also find that switching between the ‘Visual’ and ‘HTML’ modes doesn’t work either, and the wysiwyg icons don’t display.

Having looked through loads of forums and support groups, with various suggestions such as uploading the WordPress files again, clearing cache, and switching off plugins, I came across a random suggestion that has appeared to fix the ‘white text on white background’ problem for me.

Use Google Libraries

Try installing the Use Google Libraries plugin, then clear your browser cache and try again. If this works for you then it suggests a problem with one of the WordPress libraries or files in your install, as the plugin will go off to Google’s libraries to get the files it needs instead. This could also improve the performance of your site too, as you will be making use of Google’s content delivery network and it’ll reduce the load on your server too.

Other ways to fix the WordPress blank post area problem

[Updated April 2017] If the above doesn’t fix the problem for you, try one of these other suggestions from people who have commented here…

Check for plugin conflicts

Try deactivating each of your plugins to see if your text editing area becomes visible again. If you use All-in-One SEO, User Access Manager, or WP Auto Responder Newsletter, try them first. If this is the problem, then make sure that the plugin is up-to-date. If that still doesn’t resolve the problem then try finding a replacement plugin that does the same thing as the one causing the conflict.

Theme issue?

Switch your theme back to the default WordPress theme by going to ‘Appearance’–>’Themes’ and activate the default theme. If this resolves your issue, you’ll need to check if there are updates to your theme and apply them. If there aren’t, it’s worth asking your theme developer if they have a solution. You should be able to switch between themes without impacting your site but do back your site up beforehand just in case.

Does your .htaccess file have a rule that causes the problem?

If your site is hosted on a Linux platform you may well have a file in your site root folder called .htaccess. This can be used to execute various rules whenever visitors reach your site. Use ftp to (temporarily) rename this file and see if your problem is solved. If the problem is resolved you’ll need to rename the file back again and look for a piece of code in there that is causing the issue.

Have you blocked access to wp-content or wp-includes files?

One of our visitors blocked access to his WordPress php files in his web server configuration (nginx) in order to stop hackers from getting in. However, this also stopped him from getting to his own site! So check you haven’t done the same.

Try installing the jquery updater plugin

Your theme comes with its own set of libraries, including jquery. Newer versions of WordPress and some plugins may need more up-to-date versions of the jquery library to work properly. If you regularly update your theme then this library will be updated naturally. If you don’t it can get out of date and break certain things on your site. This plugin makes sure that your site always has the most up-to-date version of the jquery library. However, it’s possible that it could break your site somewhere else, so check your site thoroughly after you add the plugin.

Add concatenate_scripts(‘false’) to wp-config.php

Another file in your site root folder is called wp-config.php. You’ll need to edit this through FTP. Try adding… define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, false);
into this file. This stops WordPress from concatenating scripts to improve performance. Mostly, concatenating is a good way to speed things up, but sometimes themes and plugins could break this.


If none of the above fixes your problem, don’t forget to clear your cache and force reload your browser. It’s possible that the problem is solved, but you are still looking at a cached version of your site!

If you find another solution, please let us know by commenting below.

70 Comments

  1. Website Design

    What a strange bug. That would totally drive me bonkers. Normally WordPress is good about that stuff.

    Reply
  2. Austin

    Just encountered this bug today — The google libraries definitely helped out.

    Thanks

    Reply
  3. heidi

    This did not work for me. I did the plugin install listed above. I updated WordPress today and now I have no Jetpack stats, and all of my edit post pages are blank.
    Like you said, in the HTML window, the content is still there. But I can’t do any editing in the visual window.
    I’m wondering if I should just restore from my latest backup?

    Reply
  4. Martin Jarvis

    Heidi.
    I’m sorry this didn’t work for you. I don’t think you should revert to a backup version of your WordPress site just yet. There are many good reasons to keep your WordPress install bang up to date – including security, so let’s try to resolve the text editing issue for you first.

    1. You could have a plugin conflict – try de-activating each of your plugins in turn to see if your text editing area becomes visible again (start with the All-in-One SEO and User Access Manager plugins if you have either of those installed). If this is the problem, then make sure that plugin is up-to-date. If that still doesn’t resolve the problem then you might need to look for a replacement plugin.

    2. It could be an issue with your theme. Take a backup of your site and data and then try switching your theme back to the default WordPress theme – go to ‘Appearance’–>’Themes’ and activate the default theme – and see whether that resolves your edit problem. You should be able to switch between themes without impacting your site, but I have suggested backing up beforehand just in case!

    If either of those suggestions resolve the issue for you then please let us know. If it is not resolved then get in touch again and we’ll try to help out.

    Reply
    • Cristina

      Hello Martin,

      I have wordpress 4.7.2 and have lost all editing tools plus can’t see text. I am trying to follow your advise here. My theme is Sundance Demo.

      A question from an ignoramus trying to sort out. How do I do a back up?

      I said I was an ignoramus. But trying to learn!

      Reply
      • Martin Jarvis

        @cristina Thanks for commenting. There are a number of ways that you could backup your WordPress site. Some are free, and some are paid.

        It might be worth asking your website host first of all. They might already be backing up your site for you. I know that we backup our hosted sites daily, and I also offer a range of WordPress Care Plans [shameless plug here] that would do it for you – even if you’re not hosting with us 🙂

        If you prefer to do it yourself, then try installing and configuring one of these

        Make sure that your backup includes your database + files.

        Reply
    • Daniel Blake

      I have this issue only wiith my homepage. I was going to try and dis-able my plygins one by one to see if one was causing the issue, is there any type of plugin that would cause it to only happebn to the homepage?

      Reply
      • Martin Jarvis

        Hi Daniel.
        I can’t think of anything that would cause this to happen just on your home page, so I think you need to go through and deactivate each plugin until it works. Are you sure there’s no html on your home page (look in ‘Text’ mode) that is broken or suspect? I’m thinking of maybe unclosed html tag pairs.

        Reply
  5. Banana

    Use Google Libraries plugin fixed it right away. Thanks!

    Reply
  6. Graham

    Thanks. This did the trick.

    Reply
  7. Aaron

    Ugh…another plugin issue. Mine was the wp auto responder newsletter plugin causing the blank screen on the post page. Solved! Thanks!

    Reply
  8. Stefanie

    thank you!!! use google library fixed it for me too. phew!

    Reply
  9. aplc

    Thx this solution help me to solve the problem!

    Reply
  10. Greg

    The google library thing worked. Sadly, a ton of other stuff is buggy with the layout in the new WordPress update. What a colossal hassle. I can’t even add widgets I deactivated.

    Reply
  11. Martin Jarvis

    I’m glad you fixed the main problem.

    Have you just updated to WordPress 3.5? If you ping me (privately) your WordPress admin access details I’ll have a quick look to see if I can resolve your layout and widget problems. It could be that your theme, or one or more of your plugins, has yet to be updated for WordPress 3.5.

    Reply
  12. Billfeld

    Really strange, but it elped for me. Thnx a lot! 🙂

    Reply
  13. Ajman

    This is Genius !! the plugin suggested worked first time. Its take me 2 weeks of trying all sorts of fixes i found online.
    God Bless

    Reply
  14. Kevin

    Thanks for this tip. Totally fixed my error.

    Reply
  15. Marcel Jansen

    Thanks a lot.

    After trying out a lot of tips that didn’t work, finally i found your solution to use the Google Library plugin and that worked for me.

    Marcel Jansen

    Reply
  16. Jonathan

    I can’t quite believe this worked, thanks so much – saved a lot of time!!!

    Reply
  17. Julo

    But how to solve this without plugin. I would say that it is really easy problem that can be set up somewhere in css

    Reply
    • Martin Jarvis

      @Julo I don’t think this can be resolved with CSS changes, as it is a problem with the WordPress dashboard. I suspect that CSS changes (if they could be used) would need to be applied to the WordPress core code. these would then be overwritten the next time you upgrade your WordPress version.

      Whilst I don’t like using too many plugins in a website, as they can bloat an installation, there are times when they are a good idea. It also means that non-technical website owners can continue to maintain their website without needing to know any code.

      Reply
  18. Xyborg

    Thank you so much! Google Library plugin was the solution!

    Reply
  19. Jo

    Thanks Martin
    You saved me hours!
    Jo

    Reply
  20. Maartje

    Too bad. This does’nt work and makes the edit section dissappear totally untill I deactivate the use google library plug-in :((

    I use WordPress 3.5.1.
    This is a new install, no plug-ins except for the standard Askimet and Dolly.
    Just the standard themes.
    I’ve cleared the cache, I have deleted all wp files and did a re-install.
    Is there another solution?

    Reply
  21. Big Birtha

    Hi, I’ve got this problem too – have had it over a week and it’s driving me bananas. My support thread on WordPress about it is here.

    I’ve already tried removing all plug-ins (especially W3 Total Cache),and after reading this thread tried installing google libraries plug-in, but the edit page and post windows are still blank 🙁

    Reply
    • Avic

      Hi Big Bartha! This blank page screen to death in edit posts in wordpress just happened to me and sent me a hell of a panic.

      1. I tried deactivating all my plugins
      2. Revert my theme to the default theme.

      None of this solved the problem and not even google libraries plug-in helped me at all.

      But after hours of figuring it out, I was able to fix it. I turned out that the .htaccess rule was the source of the problem. To check this, I access my server thru ftp and rename the .htacess file. I clear cached and refresh the page and it works just fine for me.

      If this step did not solve the problem then it could be that your wordpress upgrade was not not performed properly and your files may be corrupted.

      I hope this could help you! =)

      Reply
  22. Sam

    This worked for me after a week of frustration. Thanks!

    Reply
  23. Galen

    Thank you!! Was still unable to switch between HTML View and WYSIWYG but it was enough to edit the page in HTML mode.

    Is it possible that this issue occurs when a page is too large? (i.e. full to the brim with text, images and links). I just had this issue with one page, which happened to be the largest by far…

    Thanks again 🙂

    Reply
    • Martin Jarvis

      I don’t think it’s to do with the size of the page (although it’s possible). However, is it possible that there is some broken html (or other) code in the page content that might be throwing this out?

      Reply
  24. Jeroen Ingmar

    I encountered the same problem after changing the theme of my new blog on WordPress.com; apparently it’s still there. But I also found a surprisingly easy way to solve it that might work as well on your self-hosted WordPress installation. Just force reload your browser to clear the cache — it might save you the hassle of re-installing the Google Libraries plugin. Well, at least pressing F5 (on Ubuntu 12.04) turned out to work fine for me. Check out the WordPress Editors Support page.

    Reply
    • James

      I was looking to find a solution for a wordpress.com site and this was the only reference I could find, and voila, it worked! Thanks!

      Reply
  25. Miftah

    thanks so much. . it’s work!! 🙂 🙂

    Reply
  26. Michelle

    Hi,

    Thanks a lot, this was the fix for me!

    Best regards,

    Michelle

    Reply
  27. JB

    Can be .htaccess file problem. Restore original .htaccess

    Reply
  28. Stephan

    My problem was after trying out a lot, that I blocked access to php files in wp-content and wp-includes through web-server configuration (nginx) in an attempt to prevent hackers abusing my WP.
    I.e., at the end, I locked myself out 🙂
    Re-enabled access to those folders, restarted nginx, and all works…

    Reply
  29. Alicia

    This worked for me! Thank you for posting this fix!

    Many Blessings,
    Alicia

    Reply
  30. edsbali

    Great. It worked.
    I had a headache in a month. This problem is intermittent.
    Now back to normal.

    Reply
  31. Julie

    Same problem with blank Visual editor right after updating to 4.6.1. I tried this google libraries thing, but didn’t help. I’m fine to edit in the text window, but my client is not so tech savvy and needs the visual side. He’s pulling his hair out not being able to add products to his Woocommerce site. WordPress is the most cumbersome, hideous, buggy thing to work with. I prefer to write my own straight php, generating clean html pages that load in a third of the time for the same content. But I know some people love it for whatever reason.

    Reply
  32. Sorin

    I have exactly the same problem described above.
    Installing the suggested plugin hasn’t worked for me unfortunately. I also cleared browser cache, deactivated other plugins one by one, reinstalled the theme (I’m using Salient theme), everything is up to date, including wordpress (4.7).
    I have installed a different theme as well to rule out the theme problem. Nothing seems to work. Don’t know what else to do.
    Any help/ideas would be much appreciated!

    Reply
    • Martin Jarvis

      Try installing the plugin called ‘jquery updater’ and see if that helps. When you initially install your theme it may well come with it’s own set of libraries, including for jquery. Over time, updates of WordPress and some plugins may require a more up-to-date version of the jquery library in order to work properly. If you regularly update your theme then this library may well get updated naturally, but if you don’t it can get out of date and break certain things on your site. This plugin makes sure that your site always has the most up to date version of the jquery library. However, it’s possible that it could break your site somewhere else, so it’s worth checking the site afterwards.

      Reply
  33. salaudeen sulaimon

    Thanks its really work for me

    Reply
  34. Chelsea Gonzalez

    Hello, I am having a similar problem with a friends website. When someone clicks the actual post, only the background appears- not the post/content. I have tried everything. I have tried the plugins you have mentioned above. The problem started when updating wordpress to the newest version. Here is an example of what people see when trying to view a post.

    I don’t want to switch themes as this is not my website. Any advice would be helpful.

    Reply
    • Martin Jarvis

      Hi Chelsea.
      Looks ok to me. Is the problem with the front-end (which looks ok to me) or in the WordPress dashboard (which I can’t see because I don’t have login details)?

      Please don’t post your login details here! Email them via the contact form on our Contact Us page if you want me to look into it.

      Reply
  35. Charlice

    Hello,

    thank you for this post. I’m also experiencing this problem. I have cleared browser cache, installed the ‘use google libraries’ plugin, change themes, and even install the jquery updater plugin. With all these, I was able to resolve the problem through the “jquery updater” plugin.

    Thank you.

    Reply
  36. Fiona

    It was adding :
    define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, false);
    after the php tag in my wp-config file that solved this for me!

    Reply
    • Martin Jarvis

      That’s useful to know Fiona, and thanks for contributing. I’m glad you got it fixed. We’re building a really good resource here for people who are struggling with the WordPress blank post area issue.

      Reply
  37. Tom

    Here is my fix for my problem. After rolling back each addon one by one and then as a group using my backup restore.. Did not fix problem. Then rolled back WordPress. Also no joy…

    At that point, I decided it had to be my Security software on or for my server and #1 suspect was my WAF. Lo and behold, the WAF was blocking what tinymce was doing thinking that it was an SQL injection (poor coding). Once we create a rule to ignore that, boom, WordPress editor now working again.. Don’t forget to blame your security if you have good security.

    Reply
  38. jack

    problem fixed by removing .htaccess file put into wp-includes per recommendation on wpbeginner to supposedly prevent hacker problems.

    Reply
  39. Jason

    Thank you very much! The All In ONE SEO plugin seamed to be causing my issue. I really appreciate your efforts writing this article, because this has been an issue on and off for a long time!

    Reply
  40. Steve Pringle

    “Try installing the Use Google Libraries plugin, then clear your browser cache and try again.”

    After reading that, I went to IE and it work so Chrome was the culprit. Cleared cache and problem was fixed. I guess I should thank you as now I can use SSL in the url.

    I may still try the Google Libraries but I like to limit plugins since the devs has to keep them updated.

    Reply
  41. Gabriel Lopes

    Hi to everyone, thanks for all the answers.
    I tried all the options, deactivating plugins, jquery updater, clearing cache, Google Libraries, .htaccess…
    Nothing worked for me…
    It’s weird because it happens just on a couple pages, that are the heaviest ones.
    Any ideas?
    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Martin Jarvis

      Gabriel.
      Is there anything that is unique to those pages but not the rest of the site? Do you have javascript on the page, or maybe some html that isn’t properly formatted perhaps?

      Reply
  42. Brian

    That saved me a ton of time. Thank you for the post.

    Reply
  43. Tiago

    Hi,
    I have been trying to sort this out but with no success. This has definitely been one of the most clear explanation I have read so far, but I still facing the problem – probably because I’m pretty ignorant with regard to computer science. I have changed to http to https, changed my DNS from Godaddy to cloudflare, and forced https. After that, my post editor turned blank and I don’t know why.
    I’ve tried the plugins but is not it.
    I am not sure about htaccess, really don’t understand about it.
    Do you have any idea what it might be my case?
    Thanks a lot!

    Reply
  44. Martin Jarvis

    Hi Tiago. Does the post editor work if you ‘pause’ your Cloudflare account? Did you also switch SSL on in the Crypto settings in your Cloudflare account, and have you got the WordPress Cloudflare plugin running in your site?

    If you’re still having issues with this, I’m happy to spend 10-15 minutes taking a look at it for you. You’ll need to send me some WP login details, but do that using the contact form on the right-hand side of this page or through the Contact Me link at the top.

    Reply
  45. Ambu

    Turning off js optimization in autooptimize plugin solved the issue.

    Reply
    • Martin Jarvis

      Thanks for letting us know what fixed the WordPress blank post area for you Ambu.

      Reply
  46. Kevin

    I am having the same issue. Blank editing screen, but text is there if I highlight the area. Tried the ideas here and have not been successful. By chance would you be willing to look at it for me and see if you can see the issue?

    DMJ Note : We took a look at this for Kevin, and couldn’t immediately resolve it. However, after deactivating all plugins Kevin managed to get it working, so it’s now a case of activating each plugin again, in turn, to see when the problem reoccurs.

    Reply
  47. Emmy

    Thank you so much for your help. I have WPGlobus which was conflicting with All-in-One-SEO. I need WPGlobus but the SEO plugin I can replace, hopefully. This was truly driving me insane.

    Reply
  48. applegatetech

    I fixed mine by renaming .htaccess in wp-includes. I had a line to block php script for security reasons.

    Reply
  49. Paulo

    Many thanks. Google Libraries were good !!!

    Reply
  50. Best family car india

    Hello Everone,
    I’m facing the same issue & tried all the methods mentioned above. But still, my problem isn’t solved. Any other possible way to solve this issue? I’m using WP 4.9.5.
    Thanks

    Reply
  51. Chris Edozie

    wow
    deactivating all the plugin fixed the issue for me,
    thanks, bro I do appreciate, I still have one issue though, the plugin “TinyMCE advance configuration” gave me a notification as follows
    “The Advanced TinyMCE Configuration plugin requires attention: you are running TinyMCE 4.0 (WordPress 3.9 or newer) but the settings for the editor have not been updated. This can result in errors while editing, or the editor may fail completely.”
    which I guess caused the visual editing problem the last time, have any idea on how I can fix this

    Reply
  52. Liam Garriock

    Dear WordPress,

    I would appear to be having issue with my (WordPress) blog; I cannot type in the bars that allow me to log in, and, when I do manage to log in with the ”Lost your password?” trick, I am unable to write a post or customize or edit or even check my profile page; a blank page with the WordPress logo simply appears. Therefore, I can do virtually nothing with my blog. I had just created a new page and was in the process of editing it when the issue began; perhaps this might have something to do with it?

    I have no shame in declaring that I am rather a philistine when it comes to computers and technology, so all this business regarding plugins and updates and themes and cookies and Google libraries goes over my head. Is there any way of resolving this issue?

    Thanks in advance should any advice prove fruitful.

    Reply
  53. Miro

    I tried all possibilities, without success. What fixed it finally (I guess in combination with all other steps) was:

    DASHBOARD – UPDATES

    You have the latest version of WordPress. Future security updates will be applied automatically.
    If you need to re-install version 4.9.6–de_DE, you can do so here:

    [Re-install now]

    Reply
  54. marcin

    another solution that worked for me , update of TinyMCE Advanced plugin. Firstly turn off, update and turn on .

    Reply
  55. isak

    This just happened to me where the edit window was blank but other custom fields for the post showed text. I did edits all day with no problems. However, I just updated two plugins: JetPack and Yoast SEO. I deactivated Yoast SEO, refreshed my post edit page and all is fine.

    In my case, the text edit window was blank. No letters at all, not even white letters. However the public view had all the words.

    Reply
  56. Lina

    I got some warning messages on my website:
    Warning: ‘continue’ targeting switch is equivalent to ‘break’. Did you mean to use ‘continue 2’? in /home/cengnsum/public_html/wp-includes/pomo/plural-forms.php on line 210
    And I solved this issue by changing the term (continue) to (break) in the PHP file.

    However, I can’t edit any page, I don’t see the text editor I just see blank space. I already tried to disable the plugins and adding a code to PHP file which is: define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, false); below the define(‘DB_HOST’ line but I’m still facing those issues.

    Also, I tried deactivating the plugins, and all mentioned above, but nothing works. Any solution?

    Reply
  57. Martin Jarvis

    Hi Lina.
    I’m happy to take a quick look, but will need some WordPress dashboard access. If you’d like me to do this, please send the login details privately to [email protected] (using something like onetimesecret.com if you are worried about security).

    Reply

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