Recently one of our users reported a very odd issue with their install. When writing a post, they could not see anything they were writing. Because the text of the post editor was white. More importantly, all of the visual editor buttons were missing, and the ability to switch from Visual to HTML was not working. In this article, we will show you how to fix the white text and missing buttons issue in WordPress visual editor.
Note for Beginners: If you are looking for hidden buttons that you might see in screenshots of other sites, then you are probably looking for the Kitchen sink. You would have to click on the Kitchen sink icon to see these other options such as Underline, copy from word etc.
Some sites also use TinyMCE Advanced plugin to add various other buttons that are not there by default.
For the rest of you who are actually really having a problem with missing buttons or white text in visual editor, then continue on with this tutorial.
Clear the Browser Cache
Upon our search, we found users suggesting that clearing the browser cache worked for them. The first thing you should try to do is clear the browser cache or use another browser. This could very well be an issue with your computer.
If this does not fix your issue, maybe the issue is with your install?
Replacing TinyMCE Scripts
Maybe this issue happened after you updated? Well, its not likely, but maybe something went wrong in the update process. Try replacing /wp-includes/js/tinymce/ folder with a fresh copy.
Fix with wp-config
If none of the above tricks worked for you, then open your wp-config.php file and add the following line at the very top after the php opening tag.
define('CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS', false);
This trick fixed the issue for our user who reported this issue. We hope that one of the solutions listed in this article will fix your white text and missing buttons in WordPress visual editor problem. If you found another fix that worked for you, then please share it in the comments.
Thank you man!! I was confused with it. And now I found it..
thanks.
Rizly
if you are running a couple of plugIns like : NextGen Gallery and ContactForm 7 etc. the virtual server needs 64 Mb Php memory to run all these plugs AND tinymce ( the visual Editor) together – if there is less memory tinymce would not load because of a lack of available memory , for it is the last to demand a bit of that memory to load.
look out for this or similar in WP debug-mode : “Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 50331648bytes (=48Mb) exhausted (tried to allocate 491520 bytes) in /htdocs/site/wp-includes/js/tinymce/langs/wp-langs.php on line 404″
or simply look up the php memory size in the NextGEN Gallery plug In “general” page if you run it.
ummmm YEAH…… soooooo
After searching around on this problem all day – messing with code, deleting plugins, changing themes… the whole 9. Turns out when you install new wordpress the KITCHEN SINK button is collapsed by default.,
Just click the dang button.
Maybe you want to add that to the post because as I was searching through various blogs and forums, and reading all the other people with the same problem, I would be at least half of them can be fixed this way.
Hope this helps someone.
Thanks a lot for bringing that up. We just made a note of that in the article, so others can benefit from it
=) Glad to help. When I figured this out I was happy that I got it…. but angry with myself for it being something so stupid! lol
It’s the whole “guided misdirection” theory. The one that makes magicians look so good.
Let me explain…
Because the problem (the buttons missing) happens right after you install the update, and wordpress warns you that some plugins may not be compatible with the update and cause problems, the first thing you do is assume the new install caused a problem, because that’s what you were guided to pay attention to.
Man I think I cause more damage than good messing with everything trying to “fix” my wordpress malfunction.
Guaranteed this is the case for at least half the people with this “error”. I would put money on it. Glad you put that FIRST for people to check so no-nothing non techies like me don’t go breaking their website for nothing lol
CURSE YOU WORDPRESS!!! :p
I am having this exact problem. Number 1 and Number 3 did not work, as I tried them. I also tried the plugin deactivate/ activate tip. I do not know what number 2 entails. Where do I find a “fresh copy.” This is helpful as it addresses my exact issue, but the tips are not clear/ idiot proof enough for someone like me I suppose. Please help.
You can find the fresh copy of WordPress by going to http://wordpress.org/download/
Thanks so much for this, the wp-config fix worked for me.
Thank you so much for this – the second suggestion worked for me!
We ran into some database problems on our server several months ago. Looking up “white text” at the WordPress support forums was not much help, as everyone had their own solution that seemed to work for them individually, but you never saw a bunch of comments in a row agreeing to any one solution.
What turned out to be the problem for us was in the General Settings. There was a colon after the URL in the WordPress Address field and the Site Address field.
We removed the colons and the text was black again. I estimate this was a problem on 10 to 15 of the WordPress sites hosted on our server.
This was probably another singular solution to a problem that runs much deeper in WordPress itself. But, you never know. Check for colons in your settings…
Gregg
Thanks for sharing that Gregg
Sometimes it is an issue with a plugin behaving badly. So I disable all plugins then re-activate them one by one until the culprit is found. Often it can be the plugin did not install properly and will fix itself when reactivated. If this doesn’t work I then delete the plugin, remove the tables in the database for that plugin, then install a fresh copy.
Found the “using google libraries” plugin often works in this case too.
Finally the answer to my sometimes-frustration!!
thanks!
I found that hitting Ctrl + Shift + R to refresh the page by clearing the cache usually worked for me.
Thanks for letting us know
In our case, we tried it and it didn’t work.
Me also find it but not work here too !
Hey WP Beginner,
Can I know how to write the HTML in the post as you have write “define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, false);”
providing a copy and view source option when put arrow on the right side ?
Thanks
This page should explain:
http://www.wpbeginner.com/blueprint/syntax-highlighter/