The WPBakery front-end editor is one of the best and crucial aspects of working with Total, so if it’s not working correctly it would be a bummer. Below are the basic steps to take to help fix any errors with the WPBakery page builder and get it running as it should!
1. Re-Save your page
First thing to try is top simply go to your page in the backend and re-save your page by clicking the “update” button. Then try the WPBakery builder again and see if it’s working.
2. Make sure your theme and plugin is up to date
The reason most people have issues with WPBakery is because their theme or the plugin is not up to date. Please double check the changelog and make sure your versions match the latest versions available. Otherwise please update.
Changelog Updating Your Theme Updating Your Plugins
3. Disable All 3rd Party Plugins
The second reason most people have issues with WPBakery is because a 3rd party plugin is breaking it. Please disable any 3rd party plugins 1 by 1 (and clear the cache each time you disable a new plugin) then re-try the WPBakery page builder to see if it fixes the problem. If a plugin is breaking WPBakery it’s most likely due to a PHP error on the front end and you may want to enable WP_Debug to verify if that is the case, otherwise it’s probably an issue with the javascript being coded incorrectly.
4. Confirm your site and WP url’s are the same
If your site and WordPress URL’s aren’t the same it can cause issues with the Front-End not working, so please make sure they are the same. You would check this at Settings / General.
Why is this the case?
Iframes are blocked by browser rules – iframe actions cannot be made to the different url (this is security reasons).
We cannot do anything there, only the way to make it work is to use a “patched” browser that allows unsecure actions within another domain iframe.
5. Missing Total Modules? Make Sure Extensions Are enabled
Total includes many great custom modules that extend WPBakery allowing you to insert many new modules. If this setting is disabled you won’t have access to all modules and if you had used them previously then you may now see code on the front-end instead of the actual outputted shortcode. Go to the main “Theme Panel” page and make sure they are enabled.
6. Missing Core Composer modules? Check your Settings
If you aren’t seeing all the available WPBakery Modules please go to WPBakery > Role Manager and double check that they are all enabled for your specific admin roles. If you aren’t sure how to do that please view our Video Guide.
7. Front-End Editor Not Working? Make Sure Yoast SEO’s Redirect ugly URL’s setting is disabled
If you are using the WordPress SEO by Yoast and you have enabled the setting called “Redirect ugly URL’s to clean permalinks” it will break the front-end editor. This setting shouldn’t be used in most cases anyway (as it clearly states). So make sure it’s disabled.
8. Check Your Browser Console for errors
If you are a developer you should be familiar with the Browser Console and it’s the best way to locate any errors that may be breaking WPBakery. Please check the Browser Console and if you see any errors you can screenshot and send me the screenshot via the ThemeForest comments and it will help me provide you with support in a timely manner. Most the time any error in the Browser Console will show the URL where it’s coming from and it’s usually from a plugin so you can see which plugin is breaking things and de-activate it.
9. Check Plesk WordPress Toolkit Security Settings
Thanks to Donnie PixelCraft Studio for pointing this out. If you are using the Plesk WordPress, if it’s not setup correctly it could cause the WPBakery from not working in the Front-End editor. So if you are using the Plesk WordPress toolkit, please double check to make sure they aren’t the cause of your problems.
10. Try with another username
It may be worth testing with another username. So create a new admin user on your WordPress installation and see if it works with that new username. It could be an issue with the old username. If that is the case opening cmd[dot]exe as administrator and running ipconfig /flushdns may help fix the issue.
Still Not working? Need More Help?
If you can’t get it working still, please send us both temp WP and FTP logins privately via our support site so we can assist you further. Don’t forget to let us know if the problems you are having are with the backend or the front-end (or both). Also please mention all steps you took to troubleshoot the issue beforehand.
Important: Support for WPBakery issues are provided only for verified Total WordPress theme customers.