WordPress has a built-in capability that allows you to undo changes and go back to an earlier version of a post. This feature is called Post Revisions or simply Revisions. When writing articles, most of us make mistakes. Sometimes you even wish that you hadn’t deleted what you wrote earlier. Revisions allow you to go back in time and undo any changes. In this article, we will show you how to undo changes in WordPress with post revisions.
What are Post Revisions?
WordPress has a built-in system that stores a post as a revision on each autosave or when a user saves a post. The autosave feature in the WordPress post editor saves a post every 60 seconds as a special revision. Old autosaves are then replaced by new auto-saved revisions. Each time a user clicks on the save, update, or publish button, a new revision is stored in your database.
You can see these revisions on your post edit screen or by browsing the revisions. Since WordPress 3.6, there is a new, more intuitive way to browse your revisions that allows you to see the changes made in each revision and who made those changes. You can also browse through different revisions and revert to any one of them if you want.
Will it delete my current revision? No, it will not delete your current version. Instead, your current version will be saved as another revision, and you can revert to it just like you reverted to an earlier revision.
Why You Should Use Post Revisions
Almost every WordPress user can benefit from post revisions. Writing great content requires a lot of tweaking and re-writing. Post revisions allow you to see your process and take a bird’s eye view of how your post has evolved. You can then switch between different states of your draft, make changes, and make your article perfect for publishing.
For multi-author WordPress sites, post revisions allow editors to manage teams to work on a story or article simultaneously. You can see who made changes to an article, what changes they made, and so on. Combine post revisions with Edit Flow, and you got yourself a robust editorial platform.
How to use Post Revisions to Undo Changes in WordPress
WordPress displays the number of revisions for each post in the publish meta box on the post/page edit screen. Clicking on browse will take you to the post revisions screen.
To restore a revision, simply click on Restore This Revision or Restore This Autosave button. WordPress will restore the selected revision as your current post revision, and you can then save it as a draft.
It is also possible for you to limit post revisions or even completely disable post revisions. However, we would strongly recommend against that because post revisions come in very handy in many situations. If you want, you can delete old post revisions, which you are sure that you will not need anymore.
We hope that this article helped you understand how to use post revisions to undo changes in WordPress. Have you ever used post revisions? Let us know by leaving a comment below. In addition, don’t forget to subscribe to our Youtube Channel.
