How to Fix Add Media Button Not Working in WordPress

Recently one of our readers reported that the ‘Add Media’ button on their WordPress site has suddenly stopped working.

This Classic Editor problem does not display any error or warnings, which leaves users clueless about why their ‘Add Media’ button is not working.

In this article, we will show you how to easily fix the ‘Add Media’ button not working issue in WordPress.

What Causes the WordPress ‘Add Media’ Button to Stop Working?

If you are still using the old classic WordPress editor, then the ‘Add Media’ button allows you to insert images, videos, and more into your blog posts. However, this button can stop working.

This problem is commonly caused by conflicting scripts or stylesheets loaded by WordPress plugins or themes installed on your site. The default behavior of WordPress is to load all required scripts and stylesheets by combining the requests.

This is usually done in the WordPress admin area to improve performance and speed.

The WordPress post editor uses JavaScript for all buttons on the screen, including the ‘Add Media’ button. A conflict can stop JavaScript from working, which will disable the ‘Add Media’ button.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to troubleshoot and fix the ‘Add Media’ button not working in WordPress.

Fixing ‘Add Media’ Button Not Working Issue in WordPress

There are a few troubleshooting methods when the ‘Add Media’ button is not working in WordPress. Let’s start with editing your wp-config.php file.

Add Code to Your wp.config.php File

The quick fix is to add the following code to your wp-config.php file. You can do this by editing the wp-config.php file and adding this code just before the line that says, ‘That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging’:

define('CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS', false );

This code simply tells WordPress to load each script separately, which helps avoid a JavaScript conflict with buggy scripts and the core WordPress features.

After you have added the code, go ahead and the visit post edit screen to see if the ‘Add Media’ button is now working on your WordPress blog.

Note: Adding this code is not a proper long-term solution because you still have a script that is causing the issue. An easier way to find the source of the problem is by using the Inspect tool. It will show you console errors, which can lead you to the source of the conflict.

Troubleshoot Your Themes and Plugins

If you want a long-term fix for this issue, then you need to perform some basic WordPress troubleshooting tips to figure out which plugin or theme may be causing the issue.

We strongly recommend that you do this on your staging site instead of a live site. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to create a WordPress staging site.

Plus, all the best WordPress hosting companies like Bluehost, SiteGround, WP Engine, and Liquid Web offer one-click staging functionality.

On your staging site, you need to start by deactivating all your WordPress plugins and then seeing if this fixed the ‘Add Media’ button. If so, then this means one of the plugins was causing the issue.

For more details, you can see our guide on how to deactivate WordPress plugins.

You can now activate the plugins one by one, and after activating a plugin, just check the ‘Add Media’ button. This will help you find out which plugin is causing the issue.

After you find the problem plugin, you can replace it with another plugin or ask the plugin author for help.

If deactivating plugins doesn’t solve the issue, then the next step is to temporarily switch to a default WordPress theme like Twenty Twenty-One or Twenty Twenty-Three.

If switching to the default theme fixes the issue for you, then this means your theme is causing the conflict. You can then ask the theme author for support or switch to a different WordPress theme.

Once you find the source of the problem on your staging site, then you can apply the fix to your live WordPress website.

We hope this article helped you learn how to fix the ‘Add Media’ button not working issue in WordPress. You may also want to see our list of the most common WordPress errors and how to fix them and our expert picks for the best WordPress plugins for managing images.

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