Post revisions don’t save or show up only for custom post types

My website makes use of a number of custom post types as well as the traditional “posts” and “pages” types. For all “posts” and “pages” revisions show up as they should, with a history of edits visible, the option to compare posts, and so on. For all custom post types, I have no revision history at all. I’ve enabled revisions when defining each of these post types in functions.php, so on each of these post types I get a blank tab that says “Revisions” but does not display or collect any revisions data.

I’m at a loss for how to fix this and any help would be appreciated!

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Thanks in advance for any assistance.

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2 comments

  1. I just wasted a lot of time figuring this out.

    There are number of things a user should rule out first.

    1. Deactivate any plugins and switch to a default theme like twenty-thirteen if the below items do not work.
    2. To make sure that you don’t have revisions turned off, be sure this does not exist in wp-config.php: define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', false);
    3. While on a page/post edit panel, click on “Screen Options” in the top right and look for a “Revisions” checkbox and make sure it is active.

    That will usually fix most people’s problems.

    However. If there are no revisions for the post/page/custom-post-type you are looking at, the revisions option will not show up under Screen Options. You will know you have actual revisions on the current post if a revision count shows up in the right sidebar under “Publish” as the image below illustrates (Revisions: 2):

    There are revisions on this image

    If you don’t see that, then clicking on “Screen Options” will not show “Revisions”. So “Update” the post and then it should create a revision, and THEN you can click on Screen Options at the top and turn revisions on…

    A little frustrating that it works that way, but hopefully that helps somebody else.

  2. An addition to Jake’s excellent answer, since I too just wasted a lot of time figuring this out.

    1. Edit and save the page/post twice. Making a single edit didn’t cause the Revisions checkbox to appear in my Screen Options. I had to edit and save the page twice. I’m not sure why, but it’s worth trying if one edit doesn’t make revisions appear. I suspect this could be related to the fact that the site had been created from another site’s backup (via BackupBuddy).
    2. Confirm post type support. I understand custom post types were working for you, but in case others experience this problem with custom post types, the custom post type must programmed to support revisions as discussed in another question.