You open a page and the blue "WPBakery Page Builder" button is missing, or the Backend Editor shows an empty grey box, or the Frontend Editor spins forever. Sometimes the page itself shows raw codes like [vc_row][vc_column] instead of the design. WPBakery usually comes bundled with a theme bought on ThemeForest, so it often lags years behind WordPress, and most of these failures trace back to that, to one setting, or to a background request being cut off. Visitors may still see the site normally. Below is a rebuilt example (not a real client), two checks, and the fix for each cause.
In the dashboard go to Plugins and note the WPBakery Page Builder version, then Dashboard > Updates for your WordPress version. Then open WPBakery Page Builder > Role Manager and, for your role (Administrator, Editor), look at Post types, and WPBakery Page Builder > General Settings for the "Disable Gutenberg Editor" box.
On a computer, open the stuck editor, press F12 (or right-click and choose Inspect), open the Console tab and reload. Read the first red line and the file name next to it. Then open the Network tab, type admin-ajax or post.php in the filter box, press Update on the page, and read the Status column of the rows that appear.
| What you see | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The page opens in the block editor (white canvas, "+" buttons) and there is no WPBakery button at all | Since WordPress 5.0 the block editor opens pages by default, and WPBakery is a classic-editor tool | Tick Disable Gutenberg Editor under WPBakery Page Builder > General Settings and save (older versions: install the free Classic Editor plugin). Reopen the page: the Backend Editor and Frontend Editor buttons are back above the content box |
| Classic editor shows, but still no builder button, or only for some post types or users | Role Manager limits the builder to certain post types or roles; a theme update or migration can reset it | WPBakery Page Builder > Role Manager: for each role that edits pages, set Post types to Custom and tick Pages, Posts and any portfolio or product type you build with; set Backend editor to Enabled. Save |
Console shows .live is not a function, .size is not a function, jQuery is not defined or errors in js_composer files; empty grey box or endless spinner | A WPBakery version made before WordPress 5.5 changed jQuery. A bundled copy only updates when the theme does | Update the theme first (from the ThemeForest download or the theme's own updater), then update WPBakery from the theme's "Install plugins" screen. If the theme is abandoned, a WPBakery licence lets you update the plugin directly. As a stopgap only, the free "Enable jQuery Migrate Helper" plugin can bring the editor back. More in running an outdated PHP and updates stuck |
The page shows raw codes like [vc_row] or [vc_column_text] to visitors | WPBakery is deactivated, or the theme that bundled it was switched, so nothing turns the codes into a layout | Reactivate WPBakery under Plugins (or switch the theme back). If you are moving away from WPBakery, the codes have to be rebuilt in the new editor page by page; do not delete the plugin until every page is rebuilt |
admin-ajax.php or post.php status 500, or a white box with "Allowed memory size"; long pages fail to save or lose rows at the bottom | The server stops the editor: too little memory, too little time, or too few input fields allowed for a long page | Add define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M'); to wp-config.php above "That's all, stop editing", and ask the host (or use its "PHP options" screen) for max_execution_time 120 and max_input_vars 3000 or more. More in "Allowed memory size exhausted" and "Maximum execution time exceeded" |
| Status 403 when you press Update, or a host or Cloudflare page saying the request was blocked | A firewall rule (ModSecurity, Wordfence, Cloudflare's WAF) read the page's code as an attack | Ask the host to check the firewall log for your IP at that minute and allow that one rule for post.php and admin-ajax.php; in Wordfence use "Allowlist" on the blocked request. Do not switch the whole firewall off. See also 403 Forbidden |
Console errors from files named like rocket-loader, autoptimize or wp-rocket, or the Frontend Editor alone hangs | A speed setting delays or combines scripts, including the editor's own; the Frontend Editor also needs the page to load inside a frame | Turn off Cloudflare's Rocket Loader (Speed > Optimization) and exclude logged-in users from JavaScript delay and combine in your speed plugin. If a security plugin sets X-Frame-Options: DENY, change it to SAMEORIGIN |
| None of the above; it started after installing or updating a plugin | A plugin (old add-on packs for WPBakery most often) breaks the editor's scripts | Deactivate plugins in halves until the editor opens; the last half you switched off holds the culprit. More in a plugin broke the site |
Open two or three pages in both the Backend Editor and the Frontend Editor, including the longest one, change a word, press Update, and reload the public page to see it. Empty your cache plugin and the host's cache if the change does not show (changes not showing on the live site). Look at the Console once more: no red lines from js_composer.
[vc_...] codes inside each page, and without the plugin every page shows them as raw text.max_input_vars first, then restore the page from its revisions.Most of these take ten minutes once you know which one it is. If you would rather someone else finds and fixes it, that is what the box below is for. Related: Elementor stuck on the loading screen, Divi Builder won't load and "Allowed memory size exhausted".