WordPress Revisions: Use, Manage & Optimize Effectively

WordPress revisions are snapshots of your content saved whenever you change a post or page. This feature helps you track changes, compare versions, and restore previous content if something goes wrong. Why are revisions important?

They serve as a backup plan. If you accidentally make an error or delete important information, you can return to a previous version and recover the content. This is especially helpful for websites that involve multiple contributors or frequent content updates.

However, while revisions are great for content management, storing too many can slow down your WordPress website. Each revision adds data to your database, increasing its size. The more revisions you have, the more resources your server needs to process them. This can lead to slower web page loading times and impact overall site performance.

This guide shows you how to use, manage, and optimize WordPress revisions. We explore how to access revisions, compare versions, and clean up unnecessary data to keep your site running smoothly.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• WordPress revisions track content changes, letting you restore previous versions.
• Too many revisions can bloat your database, slowing your site and increasing backup sizes.
• You can restrict the number of saved WordPress revisions by editing the wp-config.php file or using plugins like WP Revisions Control.
• Disabling revisions entirely can reduce database size, but you won’t be able to track content changes.
• Plugins like WP-Sweep help you delete old revisions and keep your database clean.
• Before deleting revisions or running database cleanups, always create a full backup to avoid losing important data.
• Educate content creators to save drafts only when necessary to lessen unnecessary revisions.
• Implement a schedule for routine cleanups and database optimization to keep your WordPress site running smoothly.

What Are WordPress Revisions?

WordPress revisions are saved versions of your content that let you track every change made to a post or page. Whenever you write, edit, or update content, WordPress creates a revision. This means you can return and review any previous version to see what was changed or restore older content if necessary.

WordPress creates revisions in two ways:

1. Autosave: WordPress automatically saves your work every 60 seconds. If your web browser crashes or you close the tab, you can recover the content through autosave.
2. Manual Save: Every time you click Save draft, Publish, or Save, WordPress makes a new revision. This is especially useful for major updates or content changes.

Revisions let you track every edit, making it easy to see how content has evolved. If you unintentionally delete text, change a heading, or remove an image, you can return to a previous revision to recover it.

WordPress revisions also help organize your content. You can see what edits were made, view previous versions side-by-side, and choose which one to keep. This makes managing content easier, especially for complex posts or long-form articles.

WordPress automatically saves revisions for several types of content, including:

• Posts: Regular blog posts and news articles.
• Pages: Static pages like About Us, Contact, and Services.
• Custom Post Types: Content like products, portfolios, or testimonials.

Each revision includes a timestamp and the name of the user who made the changes. This helps you keep track of who updated the content and when. Revisions are useful for websites with various user roles, such as multiple authors or frequent updates, as they provide a safety net against accidental changes or data loss.

How to Access, Navigate, Compare & Restore WordPress Revisions

WordPress makes it easy to access and navigate revisions, whether one uses the Block Editor (Gutenberg) or Classic Editor. This section guides you step-by-step through locating and reviewing revisions.

For Block Editor (Gutenberg) Users:

Open the post or page you want to edit. For this tutorial, we’re editing posts to access WordPress post revisions.

Press Ctrl + Shift + to open the settings panel on the right. Under Posts, scroll down to Revisions. Then, click the revision link to open the revision comparison screen.

Use the slider to navigate the saved versions (or use Previous and Next for this). Click Restore This Revision to recover the content.

For Classic Editor Users:

Open the post or page you wish to review. On the right sidebar, look for the Publish box. In it, you’ll see the number of WordPress revisions saved next to Revisions. Click Browse next to the revision count to open the Revisions screen.

The revision screen displays a slider that lets you move between different versions. Once you find the content revision you wish to restore, click Restore This Revision.

Both editors show the number of saved revisions in the sidebar. The number indicates how many versions have been saved for that content. Clicking the link opens the revision screen, where you can see a detailed list of all versions.

Navigate Through Revisions

The revision screen provides a slider to move between saved versions. Each version displays the date, time, and user who made the changes. You can compare two versions side-by-side to see exactly what was added, removed, or modified.

Using the revision screen, you can easily navigate through different versions and restore the one you need without affecting your current content. This feature helps recover lost content or fix accidental edits.

Compare & Restore Revisions

WordPress lets you compare various revisions to see what changes were made and when. It helps you restore old content and review edits made by other users. Let’s go through how to compare WordPress revisions, understand the comparison interface, and restore previous versions.

Access your WordPress page revisions (or post revisions if you’re working with Posts). In the previous section, we discussed accessing the post revisions screen. The process is the same for pages; navigate to Pages → All Pages to open your required page in the editor.

Once you open the revision screen, move the slider to navigate different revisions. Each position on the slider represents a saved version. To compare two revisions, click Compare any two revisions. This lets you view both versions side by side.

1. Left Side: The older version of the content.
2. Right Side: The content’s newer version.

Each section shows the revision’s date, time, and author. You’ll also see content differences highlighted in green and red. Green indicates new content, while red shows removed content. This visual comparison helps you easily spot what was changed between versions.

Once you’ve identified the version you wish to restore, click Restore This Revision at the top right corner of the screen.

A confirmation message will appear, indicating that the selected revision has been restored.

Remember, WordPress will replace the current content with the restored version. However, the most recent version will still be saved as a revision, so you can always return to it if necessary.

How to Manage WordPress Revisions

A revision is saved whenever you update a post or page in WordPress. While this helps you track changes and recover content, too many revisions can cause problems. Each revision is stored in the database, taking up valuable space. Over time, these saved versions can add up, increasing your database size and slowing your site.

When your WordPress database is packed with hundreds or even thousands of revisions, your server has to work harder to process each request. This can lead to slower page load times, especially on websites with lots of content. A larger database means more data for your server to handle, affecting overall performance.

Excessive revisions can also impact server performance during backups. Backing up a large database with unnecessary revisions takes more time and resources, increasing the chances of timeouts or failed backups.

To prevent these issues, manage WordPress revisions effectively. Limit the number of saved revisions, delete unnecessary versions, and regularly optimize the database to improve your site’s speed and performance. The next sections cover implementing these strategies effectively to keep your WordPress site running efficiently. Here’s how to do it:

Limit Number of WordPress Revisions

Limiting the number of saved revisions in WordPress can significantly improve your website’s performance. When you have fewer revisions, your server has less data to handle, resulting in faster page loads. This can be particularly beneficial for WordPress sites with extensive content or heavy traffic.

Another key reason to limit stored revisions is to maintain a more manageable database size. Every revision adds to the overall database; these accumulate and make your database unnecessarily large. By setting a limit, you keep the database compact, making it easier to manage and search through content.

Additionally, efficient backups are another benefit of reducing the number of stored revisions. A smaller database size means backups complete more quickly and are less likely to encounter timeout errors. This saves server resources and ensures your backup process runs smoothly, protecting your data more effectively.

Here’s how to set revision limits:

Edit wp-config.php File

You can control how many revisions WordPress saves by adding a simple line of code to the wp-config.php file. Here’s how you can do it using the Hosted.com cPanel:

Go to cPanel → Files → File Manager.

Navigate to the public_html folder, which is called the root directory. Locate wp-config.php file. Right-click on it and choose Edit.

Once it’s opened in cPanel’s built-in editor, add this line of code above the /* That’s all, stop editing! Happy publishing. */ line:

define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', 5);

Ensure you replace 5 with the number of revisions you wish to keep. In our example, we set it to 5, whichmeans WordPress will only keep the five most recent revisions for each post or page. Older revisions will be deleted automatically. And yes, don’t forget to save the file to apply changes.

Use WP Revisions Control Plugin

If you’re uncomfortable editing code, use the WP Revisions Control plugin to individually set revision limits for posts, pages, and custom post types.

DISCLAIMER:

The WP Revisions Control plugin hasn’t received recent updates, but we tested it and found it functioning properly.

Here’s how to use it:

First, install and activate this plugin on your WordPress website. Next, go to Settings → Writing in the WordPress Admin Dashboard. Set the number of revisions for each content type (posts, pages, etc.).

If you specify 0, the WP Revisions Control plugin will disable revisions altogether. However, if you wish to keep all revisions for a particular post type, leave the field blank.

For post types not shown in the list, revisions are not enabled (we’ll learn how to disable/enable the Revisions WordPress feature later in this guide). Lastly, click Save Changes to apply the limits.

Now, based on our value for posts and pages revisions (which is 10 in our example), the WP Revisions Control plugin will only record the last 10 revisions. Note that this limit is set for all pages and posts on your website.

However, if you want to set a WordPress revision limit for specific posts or pages, go through the following steps:

1. Open your post or page in the editor.
2. Switch to Posts (or Page if editing a page).
3. Scroll down to WP Revisions Control.
4. Specify the number for the NUMBER OF REVISIONS TO RETAIN option.
5. Click Purge excess revisions.
6. Click Purge again to confirm.
7. Lastly, click Save to save changes to your post or page.

This will remove all the WordPress revisions, excluding the specified most recent ones.

Repeat steps 1-7 for all posts/pages where you wish to set a custom revision limit.

Delete Unnecessary Revisions

Over time, your WordPress website’s database can become cluttered with old revisions, especially if you frequently update content. In this case, deleting unnecessary revisions is important to keep your database clean, reduce backup sizes, and improve site performance.

However, before proceeding, we recommend you create a backup of your website’s database. This ensures you can recover content if something goes wrong during the cleanup process.

Once done with that, choose a plugin to remove unnecessary WordPress revisions. There are multiple plugins for this purpose. Some of the popular plugins are:

• Optimize Database after Deleting Revisions
• WP-Optimize
• WP-Sweep

For this section example, we use the WP-Sweep plugin, which provides a quick and easy way to delete multiple revisions without accessing individual posts.

First, install and then activate the WP-Sweep plugin. After that, go to Tools → Sweep to open the plugin dashboard. Scroll to Revisions, then click Sweep next to Revisions to delete them.

You can also sweep other unnecessary data, such as drafts, spam comments, and orphaned data.

Disable Revisions Entirely

WordPress revisions are useful for tracking content changes, but can also increase your database size, especially if you’re not actively using them. In some cases, disabling revisions entirely can be a smart move. Here are some scenarios where disabling revisions may be beneficial:

• Static Websites: If your site rarely gets content updates, you won’t need multiple revisions cluttering your database.
• High-Traffic Sites: Large websites with heavy content can quickly accumulate thousands of revisions, leading to a bloated database.
• Performance Optimization: Reducing the number of database queries can improve site speed, especially on slower servers.
• Resource-Intensive Websites: If your WordPress Hosting plan has limited storage, disabling revisions can help conserve space.

If you’re in one of these situations or decide to disable WordPress revisions, you can do so in 2 ways:

First, add the following line to the wp-config.php file (previously in this guide, we showed you how to edit the wp-config.php file while limiting the number of revisions):

define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', false);

This code prevents WordPress from saving any new revisions. However, existing revisions remain in the database.

Note: Disabling revisions can be beneficial in some cases, but it also removes the ability to recover previous content versions. If you’re unsure, consider limiting revisions instead of disabling them completely. This way, you can keep a few backups without overloading your database.

If you’ve disabled revisions in the past and now want to enable Revisions WordPress, find this line in your wp-config.php file. You can remove this line entirely or change false to true to re-enable the WordPress revisions.

define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', false);

Second, you can disable revisions in WordPress by using a simple and lightweight plugin like Disable Post Revision. Once the plugin is installed and activated, you can open its settings by going to Settings → Writing in your WordPress dashboard.

Select the post types you want to turn off revisions for (hold the Ctrl key to choose multiple content types), then click Save Changes. That’s it!

Optimize WordPress Database

The WordPress database stores all your website content, including posts, pages, comments, and revisions. This data can build up, making your database larger and slower. That’s why regular database optimization is required to keep your site running smoothly by removing unnecessary data and reducing the database size.

You don’t have to clean up your database manually. There are several plugins to handle this task effectively. For this tutorial example, we use the WP-Optimize plugin.

First, you need to install and activate this plugin on your website. Next, go to WP-Optimize → Database. Select the data you want to clean, such as revisions or spam comments. Then, click Run all selected optimizations to clean up the database.

Note: Before running any database optimization tool, you should back up your database to ensure you can restore your data if something goes wrong during the cleanup process.

Best Practices for Revision Management

Managing WordPress revisions effectively keeps your database clean and your website running smoothly. Here are some best practices to help you maintain control over revisions without affecting site performance.

Regularly Monitor & Clean Up Revisions

Revisions can pile up quickly, especially on sites with frequent content modifications. Regularly check the number of revisions saved for each post or page. If you notice excessive revisions, consider deleting old ones to reduce the database size. Handle this task efficiently using WP-Sweep or Optimize Database after Deleting Revisions.

Schedule Routine Database Optimizations

Your database collects unnecessary data, like old revisions, spam comments, and trashed posts. Running regular database optimizations helps clear this clutter, reducing database size and improving query speed.

• Use the WP-Optimize plugin to schedule automatic cleanups.
• Set the plugin to run weekly or monthly, depending on your content update frequency.
• Always back up your database before running optimization tasks to prevent data loss.

Educate Content Creators About Revision Impacts

If your site has numerous authors, educate them about the impact of excessive revisions. Tell them to save drafts only when necessary and avoid unnecessary updates. This reduces the number of saved revisions and keeps the database lean. You can:

• Share guidelines on how to manage revisions.
• Inform authors about plugins that limit revisions or clean up old versions.
• Remind them to review content carefully before clicking Save to avoid unnecessary saves.

Back Up Your Website Before Making Bulk Changes

Before deleting multiple revisions or running large database cleanups, create a full backup of your website. This ensures you can restore content if something goes wrong during the process.

• Use UpdraftPlus to create backups.
• Store backups securely on cloud storage or external servers.
• Verify the backup files before proceeding with any cleanup tasks.

Implementing these best practices helps you maintain a healthy database without losing important content. By regularly monitoring revisions, optimizing the database, and educating content creators, you can prevent database overload and keep your WordPress site running.

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