What is Revision in WordPress and Why You Need this Tool?

What happens if your computer suddenly shuts down or your home network suddenly becomes unavailable? Chances are that the content you create may disappear, so you will feel extremely regretful. However, this accident will not occur when you write and edit a post in WordPress.There is no doubt that WordPress has provided users a pretty impressive feature - Revision. From now on, you don’t have to worry about missing the best content you have created. So without further delay, let’s jump in and look at one of the most important features of WordPress.

What is a Revision in WordPress?

Revision is a powerful tool that allows users to access the record of each saved draft or published update. You can think of this feature as a way to find saved versions of your post with just a click of a button.

Function: Many useful functions come together in the revision system. This feature of WordPress ensures your content is saved periodically. Using this amazing tool, users can compare with adjacent posts, highlight what has changed between them. Then decide to restore or not restore it. So now, let’s look at how to take advantage of these functions in the Classic editor and Gutenberg editor.

Note: Sometimes, users can disable/enable this function by adding code in wp-config.php. Besides, WordPress saves a record automatically every 60 seconds. However, you can modify this autosave time by adding code as well.

View Revision in Classic Editor

A draft of your post will be made automatically when you select Save Draft or Update button. There are 2 ways to access the revision system in WordPress.

The first way is through the Browser button in the Publish box. Let’s follow 3 steps below to view your saved version of posts or pages:

Step 1: Go to WP Admin panel, visit revision screen via Edit Post (Posts > All Posts > Edit) or Edit Page (Pages > All pages > Edit).

Step 2: On the right side of the WordPress Editor, in the Publish box, click the Browse button. Additionally, the Browse button helps you access the previous versions of your post. The number before Browse lets you know how many revisions have been saved.

The second way is through Screen Options:

Step 1: Go to WP Admin panel then click on the Screen Options button on the top of the screen.

Step 2: Select Revisions option.

Now you can check your revisions list by clicking on a given revision. Now, let’s go to the next function to find the best version of your page/post.

View Revision in Gutenberg Editor

If you are a beginner and not familiar to Gutenberg editor, you may not know how to view revision. Here are steps to view the revision in Gutenberg editor:

Step 1: Go to WordPress Admin Panel, select Posts > All Posts > Edit or Pages > All Pages > Edit.

Step 2: On the right side of the screen, click the symbol that is pointed by the arrow then you can choose Revisions. The number before Revisions lets you know how many versions have been saved.

Compare and Restore Revision in Classic Editor and Gutenberg Editor

When reviewing revision, WordPress allows users to compare between adjacent posts or any two revisions and restore them. These actions are similar in both Classic editor and Gutenberg editor.

Compare Revision

Users can easily check the differences between adjacent posts by using the scroll bar or Previous and Next button. For an additional way to compare, users can use j and k keys on their keyboard. However, if you turn on “Compare any two revisions” button, you can view the changes between any two drafts. The result is that the different parts will be highlighted automatically.

Restore Revision

Now you are in the last but very important step in your editing process, it is deciding whether to restore or not restore.

By a click of Restore This Revision or Restore This Autosave button, you can restore the selected version as your official post, then save the current post as a record.

Why it’s essential to have this feature in WordPress?

Sometimes you may accidentally delete your content on your page, and after publishing or updating, you can’t use Undo function to restore. Post revision prevents users from the risk of losing their content. Moreover, it also allows content creators, too. As a result, the editing process is significantly improved.

Also, developers make use of Revision to create a contributor list - the list of who has makes changes to the post.

Who can see revisions?

Keep in mind that different roles in WordPress will have different power with this feature. All administrators and editors can access to all post revisions. While authors can view post revision they have authored, contributors can see post revisions on their drafts.

Wrapping up!

Now we hope that you knew a few beneficial information about Revision and how to master it? Remember that you can only store the last 25 revisions. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below.

In addition, you may also like this article on how to disable the Revision feature in WordPress.