WPBeginner

Beginner's Guide for WordPress

  • Blog
    • Beginners Guide
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Showcase
    • Themes
    • Tutorials
    • WordPress Plugins
  • Start Here
    • How to Start a Blog
    • Create a Website
    • Start an Online Store
    • Best Website Builder
    • Email Marketing
    • WordPress Hosting
    • Business Name Ideas
  • Deals
    • Bluehost Coupon
    • SiteGround Coupon
    • WP Engine Coupon
    • HostGator Coupon
    • Domain.com Coupon
    • Constant Contact
    • View All Deals »
  • Glossary
  • Videos
  • Products
X
☰
Beginner's Guide for WordPress / Start your WordPress Blog in minutes
Choosing the Best
WordPress Hosting
How to Easily
Install WordPress
Recommended
WordPress Plugins
View all Guides

WPBeginner» Blog» Tutorials» How to Fix White Text and Missing Buttons in WordPress Visual Editor

How to Fix White Text and Missing Buttons in WordPress Visual Editor

Last updated on April 1st, 2013 by Editorial Staff
138 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share
Pin
Free WordPress Video Tutorials on YouTube by WPBeginner
How to Fix White Text and Missing Buttons in WordPress Visual Editor

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.

Kitchen Sink

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.

138 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share
Pin
Popular on WPBeginner Right Now!
  • Google Analytics in WordPress

    How to Install Google Analytics in WordPress for Beginners

  • Checklist

    Checklist: 15 Things You MUST DO Before Changing WordPress Themes

  • Revealed: Why Building an Email List is so Important Today (6 Reasons)

    Revealed: Why Building an Email List is so Important Today (6 Reasons)

  • How to Start Your Own Podcast (Step by Step)

    How to Start Your Own Podcast (Step by Step)

About the Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi. Trusted by over 1.3 million readers worldwide.

The Ultimate WordPress Toolkit

247 Comments

Leave a Reply
  1. Olusunmade Adedamola says:
    Nov 2, 2019 at 6:48 am

    I found out that if you delete, autoptimize plugin (permanently) , your website will be back to normal

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Nov 4, 2019 at 10:24 am

      Thanks for sharing the solution that worked for you :)

      Reply
  2. Suresh Pancholi says:
    Apr 3, 2019 at 3:26 am

    define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, false);

    it’s working done.

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Apr 3, 2019 at 11:09 am

      Glad our recommendation could help :)

      Reply
  3. John B says:
    Mar 28, 2019 at 11:53 am

    I’ve been struggling with white text / no buttons in edit box and tried ALL the solutions. Finally, went into the profile settings: “Disable the visual editor when writing” was UNCHECKED but I CHECKED it and hey presto everything now works (ie visual editor appears)!

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Mar 29, 2019 at 10:11 am

      Thanks for sharing the solution that worked for you :)

      Reply
  4. Mark E says:
    Mar 6, 2019 at 2:18 pm

    Thanks, still works in 2019, post WP5 with classic editor installed.
    I had to do the define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, false); thing.

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Mar 7, 2019 at 11:01 am

      Thanks for sharing, glad the code still works :)

      Reply
  5. ragulan says:
    Mar 4, 2019 at 1:52 am

    i was searching for a solution and simply clearing the browser cache worked for me…

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Mar 4, 2019 at 2:07 pm

      Thanks for sharing this solution in case it helps another user :)

      Reply
  6. darshan says:
    Jan 29, 2019 at 6:23 am

    Sir, My Visual Editor not working! Please help me. Only TEX code feature are working but visual not work.!

    I have Deleted my Browser Cache, And i try to fixed wp-config.php with
    “define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, false);” And Also TinyMCE Advanced plugin, And also deactivate all of the installs plugin and change my theme but still not work any of these. Can you please tell me how can it fixed?

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Jan 29, 2019 at 11:33 am

      You may be missing a file or a file may have an error, you would want to reinstall the WordPress files under Dashboard > Updates or manually using: https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-manually-update-wordpress-using-ftp/

      Reply
  7. Serkan says:
    Jan 9, 2019 at 3:16 am

    SOLUTION in my case:

    An editor for a client was working properly. They wanted to get their website faster, so I tried out different speed optimization plugins. One of these plugins added into the functions.php file this line:

    add_filter( ‘tiny_mce_plugins’, ‘disable_emojis_tinymce’ );

    This somehow broke the visual and text editor, and also some buttons in the bar were missing. When I saved a content it was not stored. So I deleted this line saved the file and then the editor toolbar was working again properly.

    Hope this helps you guys.

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Jan 9, 2019 at 11:37 am

      Thanks for sharing this possible solution :)

      Reply
  8. Paul says:
    Dec 31, 2018 at 3:46 pm

    I did all of the above and nothing is working. Then it hit me as I checked my posts. The editor is working fine for posts. My issue is with woocommerce products only. Same issue no response from the visual/text tabs and the text displayed within the editor is white and can’t be seen.

    Any suggestions?

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Jan 3, 2019 at 2:20 pm

      Sadly, if the error is with WooCommerce only then you would want to reach out to WooCommerce’s support and let them know for them to take a look.

      Reply
  9. Zakria Rahimi says:
    Dec 16, 2018 at 12:24 pm

    1 go to dashboard
    2 up corner left or right where your profile picture appears place the mouse there and it will open menu of your name on site, my profile and log out.
    3 click on your profile
    4 uncheck ” Disable the visual editor when writing ”
    5 save settings
    6 if it worked let me know in a comment

    Reply
  10. Zakria Rahimi says:
    Dec 13, 2018 at 5:01 pm

    Between post body and title of post the bar for me is also disappeared. I Cleared all the Browser Caches, I installed tinymce and is still not appeared. The problem occurred when wordpress was updated and block changed classic to new one (Guthenberg one) and all turned to a miss. I don’t know what to do with it !

    Reply
  11. Stef says:
    Nov 26, 2018 at 4:27 pm

    A god send! Thank you!

    Reply
  12. Garv says:
    Nov 7, 2018 at 3:49 am

    Sir, My Visual Editor not working! Please help me. Only TEX code feature are working but visual not work.!

    I have Deleted my Browser Cache, And i try to fixed wp-config.php with
    “define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, false);” And Also TinyMCE Advanced plugin, And also deactivate all of the installs plugin and change my theme but still not work any of these. Can you please tell me how can it fixed?

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Nov 7, 2018 at 11:17 pm

      Hi Garv,

      Try testing with a different browser. If you have browser addons installed, try disabling them.

      Reply
      • garv says:
        Nov 8, 2018 at 3:13 am

        i am trying all of these but it was not work i am thinking there was the problem in godaddy hosting am i right

        Reply
        • WPBeginner Support says:
          Nov 12, 2018 at 7:09 am

          Hi Garv,

          It could be, please contact your hosting support.

  13. Md Badiruddin says:
    Oct 12, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    Sir, My Visual Editor not working! Please help me. Only TEX code feature are working but visual not work.!

    I have Deleted my Browser Cache, And i try to fixed wp-config.php with
    “define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, false);” And Also TinyMCE Advanced plugin, And also deactivate all of the installs plugin and change my theme but still not work any of these. Can you please tell me how can it fixed?

    Reply
  14. Siddanth says:
    Sep 25, 2018 at 9:26 am

    I tried everything mentioned above it didn’t work but when I deactivated all the plugins and started to activate one by one, the editor came, i found out that Yoast SEO ver 8.3 was breaking WordPress 4.9.8, When i deactivated yoast the editor and text came. so that was the culprit. Hope it helps!

    Reply
  15. Patti says:
    Sep 23, 2018 at 2:02 pm

    I am having this issue. I have tried all the items in the article and none have worked. I have noticed that the problem only happens for users *other than* SuperAdmin (ie – as a superadmin I don’t have the problem but my editors & contributors do)

    Reply
  16. Holly says:
    Aug 12, 2018 at 7:57 pm

    Adding the line still didn’t work for me:(

    Reply
  17. Jana Brech says:
    Jul 30, 2018 at 6:01 am

    define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, false);

    worked for me.

    Thank you!

    Reply
  18. Michael says:
    Jun 24, 2018 at 9:03 am

    Hello, I published a post and I viewed it I was surprised to see that the content is not complete. But in my dashboard it’s complete

    Reply
  19. Mariella says:
    May 29, 2018 at 2:05 pm

    Nothing works …

    I need post some new contents but my visual and text editor is not working :(

    I tried clear my cache, install and replace Tinymce Advanced and insert these line code in my wp-config: define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, false);

    I do not know what I can do :(

    Can someone help me?
    Thanks a lot.

    Reply
  20. Nilesh says:
    May 12, 2018 at 5:27 am

    It got fixed just by clicking on toggle key. I didn’t know this.

    Reply
    • Laritza says:
      Jul 17, 2018 at 8:49 am

      Toggle key where? Thanks!

      Reply
  21. Marco says:
    Mar 30, 2018 at 10:32 pm

    Another win for the third method here. Thanks!

    Reply
  22. Vandana says:
    Mar 5, 2018 at 7:04 am

    Hello,
    I am newbie in bloging
    I am have facing same problem and I have added Code in wp-config file but still getting same problem anyone Plz help me for solve it.
    Thanks in advance

    Reply
  23. B.DHARMALINGAM says:
    Feb 25, 2018 at 6:40 am

    Yes I fixed my problem. by clicking on toggle key

    Reply
  24. Jocelyn says:
    Feb 19, 2018 at 5:48 pm

    define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, false);

    Magic — thank you!

    Reply
  25. wiwin winarno says:
    Jan 18, 2018 at 8:50 pm

    thank you

    define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, false);
    worked for me

    Reply
  26. Ambu says:
    Dec 18, 2017 at 2:22 am

    For me, turning off js optimization in autooptimize plugin was the solution

    Reply
  27. Prosper says:
    Nov 26, 2017 at 4:51 pm

    Aadding the code to wp-config worked really fast for me!

    Reply
    • Al Wer says:
      Dec 19, 2017 at 6:49 pm

      Hello! Did it work ok? I have this problems and also a lot of plugins not working….

      Reply
  28. Eric says:
    Nov 1, 2017 at 10:10 pm

    This worked for me but not my add tablepress icon is missing and my add giphy icon is missing and something else. So strange. I’ll keep reading and try to find a fix. They all were working. I have even noticed other icons on plugins are missing too now. This did fix my main problem though. Thanks

    Reply
  29. Kathy says:
    Oct 30, 2017 at 8:54 pm

    Thank you, “define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, false);” worked for us!

    Reply
  30. Marvin says:
    Sep 22, 2017 at 1:41 pm

    I updated my WordPress to version 4.8.2, since then my my text button changed from the normal one to buttons like; img, ins, b-quote, code, more, close Tag.

    Please I need solutions to this problem because I have used the strategy listed above, but did not work out

    Reply
  31. Kyle says:
    Sep 20, 2017 at 9:01 pm

    for me, it is all because of cloudflare wouldnt cache the tinymce, add a page rule in cloudflare and it solved the problem…

    Reply
  32. Lady G says:
    Sep 2, 2017 at 3:06 pm

    How do I even get to wp-config.php file to fix it???

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Sep 4, 2017 at 12:01 am

      Hello,

      You can access the wp-config.php file using File Manager in your hosting account’s cPanel dashboard. You can also access it using an FTP client.

      Reply
  33. Mavi says:
    Aug 30, 2017 at 9:40 am

    For any reasons check the visual editor in the users admin page, find your user and DISABLE the optiom “Disable the visual editting when writing” let it empty!

    Do the contrary:

    Reply
    • saiem Khan says:
      Nov 20, 2017 at 12:38 pm

      You are great bro !! … really saved my life :)

      Reply
  34. remco says:
    Aug 16, 2017 at 7:50 am

    define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, false);

    –> did it for me. Thanks!

    Reply
  35. Saurabh Dubey says:
    Aug 14, 2017 at 11:45 pm

    thank very very much.

    Reply
  36. Raj says:
    Aug 5, 2017 at 11:36 am

    define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, false);

    not working for me

    When i am trying to update any post it is showing this error

    This page isn’t working

    example.com didn’t send any data.
    ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE

    Please help me i am waiting for your response.

    Reply
  37. Vishal says:
    Jul 25, 2017 at 3:49 am

    Hi I Need Some Urgent Help Regarding My WordPress Post Editing . When I published Post and after that i come again in editor. the post heading and photo not show in post editor menu but photo and heading show in published post .Please Tell Me How I Can Solve This Problem.I want To Edit Photo But I can’t Remove Because In Post Editor Photo Not Show. Photo & Heading Show Only Published Post.

    Reply
  38. Kevlin Brown says:
    Jul 23, 2017 at 1:07 pm

    Nothing worked since I upgraded to the latest WordPress! Visual Editor Button shows but not responding when clicked.
    Disabling all plugins, Not change;

    Including the define ( ‘CONCATENATE_SCrIPTS’, false ); No change

    Change themes to WordPress default, nothing

    I am tired.

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Jul 23, 2017 at 7:25 pm

      Hey Kevlin,

      Try disabling browser extensions. You can also use inspect tool to see if there are some errors or warnings displayed in browser console.

      Reply
  39. Haran says:
    Jul 12, 2017 at 1:27 pm

    Hi
    I used the plain HTML option in GetResponse to create a simple form containing email field and signup command button. GetResponse preview form is good. Next I pasted the code in my WordPress.org V4.8 text editor. Noticed there is are a 4-5 lines gap between the fields and the command button in the visual editor. Tried deleting the spaces in WordPress page using the visual editor but somehow the HTML code got deleted too. Would appreciate if anyone could inform me how to delete the spaces between the email field and form command button

    Reply
  40. Elviera says:
    Jul 12, 2017 at 10:01 am

    Thank you – it worked for me!

    define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, false);

    Reply
  41. jack glendening says:
    Jun 23, 2017 at 7:02 pm

    fixed by removing a .htaccess file I’d put into wp-includes following a wpbeginner recommendation = #4 in https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/9-most-useful-htaccess-tricks-for-wordpress/

    Reply
  42. Tripti says:
    Jun 15, 2017 at 7:28 am

    Hey
    I am not able to access the HTML Text Editor. I can see the button but if I press it, nothing happens. The Visual Editor is visible but is completely blank and in some pages has just some random text in it.
    I tried all of the solutions listed here but nothing has helped. If anybody could help me? Please?

    Reply
  43. Frank says:
    May 31, 2017 at 1:12 pm

    Worked like a charm – thank you so much!

    Should I expect any side effects though?

    Reply
  44. Matt Clark says:
    May 10, 2017 at 2:27 pm

    SOLVED! This solution worked for me.

    Adding… define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, false); to your wp-config.php file just below the…. define(‘DB_HOST’ line.

    You have to do so by accessing your FTP (or a file manager in your hosting account’s control panel). You can edit the file with a plain text editor or TextWrangler!

    All the best,
    -M@tt

    Reply
  45. Bo says:
    May 9, 2017 at 7:44 pm

    Can’t thank you enough. Adding config line brought it all back.
    Had NO IDEA how to fix it.

    Reply
  46. GEORGE says:
    May 3, 2017 at 5:51 pm

    Solved the issue by adding the code line!!

    Reply
  47. Sushmita says:
    May 3, 2017 at 1:59 am

    I have tried everything listed up there and I am still getting tinymce error on console and editor not working.
    Can anyone help??

    Reply
  48. Nitin says:
    Apr 27, 2017 at 2:23 am

    define(‘CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS’, false);

    Saved my day ;-)

    Reply
  49. Marek says:
    Apr 25, 2017 at 12:52 pm

    I’m facing similar issue. After the latest update (Version 58.0.3029.81 (64-bit), it appears that WordPress image edit button is missing when editing a post in chrome. I know that it’s NOT a WP issue because it works fine in Firefox. See attached screenshot. Does anyone know how to fix it?

    Reply
  50. Todd says:
    Apr 19, 2017 at 10:34 am

    I did #2 and #3…I don’t know which one worked, but one of them did indeed fix it!! Thanks.

    Reply
« 1 2 3 4

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Thanks for choosing to leave a comment. Please keep in mind that all comments are moderated according to our comment policy, and your email address will NOT be published. Please Do NOT use keywords in the name field. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation.

Over 1,320,000+ Readers

Get fresh content from WPBeginner

Featured WordPress Plugin
WP Mail SMTP logo
WP Mail SMTP
Fix WordPress email delivery issues. #1 SMTP plugin. Learn More »
How to Start a Blog How to Start a Blog
I need help with ...
Starting a
Blog
WordPress
Performance
WordPress
Security
WordPress
SEO
WordPress
Errors
Building an
Online Store
Useful WordPress Guides
    • 7 Best WordPress Backup Plugins Compared (Pros and Cons)
    • How to Fix the Error Establishing a Database Connection in WordPress
    • Why You Need a CDN for your WordPress Blog? [Infographic]
    • 30 Legit Ways to Make Money Online Blogging with WordPress
    • Self Hosted WordPress.org vs. Free WordPress.com [Infograph]
    • Free Recording: WordPress Workshop for Beginners
    • 24 Must Have WordPress Plugins for Business Websites
    • How to Properly Move Your Blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org
    • 5 Best Contact Form Plugins for WordPress Compared
    • Which is the Best WordPress Popup Plugin? (Comparison)
    • Best WooCommerce Hosting in 2020 (Comparison)
    • How to Fix the Internal Server Error in WordPress
    • How to Install WordPress - Complete WordPress Installation Tutorial
    • Why You Should Start Building an Email List Right Away
    • How to Properly Move WordPress to a New Domain Without Losing SEO
    • How to Choose the Best WordPress Hosting for Your Website
    • How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform (Comparison)
    • WordPress Tutorials - 200+ Step by Step WordPress Tutorials
    • 5 Best WordPress Ecommerce Plugins Compared
    • 5 Best WordPress Membership Plugins (Compared)
    • 7 Best Email Marketing Services for Small Business (2020)
    • How to Choose the Best Domain Registrar (Compared)
    • The Truth About Shared WordPress Web Hosting
    • When Do You Really Need Managed WordPress Hosting?
    • 5 Best Drag and Drop WordPress Page Builders Compared
    • How to Switch from Blogger to WordPress without Losing Google Rankings
    • How to Properly Switch From Wix to WordPress (Step by Step)
    • How to Properly Move from Weebly to WordPress (Step by Step)
    • Do You Really Need a VPS? Best WordPress VPS Hosting Compared
    • How to Properly Move from Squarespace to WordPress
    • How to Register a Domain Name (+ tip to get it for FREE)
    • HostGator Review - An Honest Look at Speed & Uptime (2020)
    • SiteGround Reviews from 4196 Users & Our Experts (2020)
    • Bluehost Review from Real Users + Performance Stats (2020)
    • How Much Does It Really Cost to Build a WordPress Website?
    • How to Create an Email Newsletter the RIGHT WAY (Step by Step)
    • Free Business Name Generator (A.I Powered)
    • How to Create a Free Business Email Address in 5 Minutes (Step by Step)
    • How to Install Google Analytics in WordPress for Beginners
    • How to Move WordPress to a New Host or Server With No Downtime
    • Why is WordPress Free? What are the Costs? What is the Catch?
    • How to Make a Website in 2020 – Step by Step Guide
Deals & Coupons (view all)
RafflePress - WordPress Giveaway and Contest Plugin
RafflePress Coupon
Get 20% off RafflePress, the best WordPress giveaway and contest plugin available in the market.
Bluehost Logo
Bluehost Coupon
Get over 69% off on Bluehost web hosting packages plus a free domain & free SSL certificate. Just $2.75/month.
Featured In
About WPBeginner®

WPBeginner is a free WordPress resource site for Beginners. WPBeginner was founded in July 2009 by Syed Balkhi. The main goal of this site is to provide quality tips, tricks, hacks, and other WordPress resources that allows WordPress beginners to improve their site(s).
Join our team: We are Hiring!

Site Links
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • FTC Disclosure
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Free Blog Setup
  • Free Business Tools
Our Sites
  • OptinMonster
  • MonsterInsights
  • WPForms
  • SeedProd
  • Nameboy
  • RafflePress
  • Smash Balloon

Copyright © 2009 - 2021 WPBeginner LLC. All Rights Reserved. WPBeginner® is a registered trademark.

Managed by Awesome Motive | WordPress hosting by SiteGround | WordPress CDN by MaxCDN | WordPress Security by Sucuri.