If your WordPress site is returning an error message such as "Updating Failed" or "Publishing Failed" when you endeavor to make changes, the results can exist not only frustrating but can likewise foreclose visitors from accessing what they need.

Fortunately, at that place are a few common causes and workarounds that can help you lot resolve this outcome if yous meet it. With a niggling troubleshooting, you should exist back to your regular posting schedule in no time.

In this commodity, nosotros'll discuss what causes the "Updating Failed" and "Publishing Failed" errors in WordPress. Then we'll explicate four means you can fix or work around the problem, to get your content upward for readers.

Permit's get to it!

Why WordPress Sometimes Fails to Update or Publish Content

The Block Editor has been effectually for a while now. It's still being met with mixed reactions, however, and there are also new challenges and errors that WordPress users can face because of it.

One such effect is a message reading "Publishing Failed" in the WordPress editor:

wordpress updating failed and publishing failed error
Publishing Failed error in the Block Editor

This bulletin may appear subsequently you click on the blue Publish push, in an attempt to make your content live. A variation of this mistake is the "Updating Failed" bulletin, which may show up when you effort to brand changes to a post or page that y'all've already published:

wordpress updating failed error
Updating Failed mistake in the Cake Editor

Every bit you lot can imagine, this problem can be an especially frustrating one for bloggers, every bit well every bit any site possessor who finds themselves needing to update primal information on their web pages.

There are a few dissimilar causes of the "Publishing Failed" error, but i in particular is linked to the Cake Editor. The new WordPress editing interface relies on the Residue API to create, save, and publish posts. In the upshot that something is blocking or disabling this process on your site, yous won't be able to launch new content.

If you're a beginner or just a less-technical user, any mention of the Residual API can seem intimidating. However, in this instance, there'due south no need to worry.

All you lot need to sympathize for the purposes of resolving the "Publishing Failed" mistake is that the REST API is how the Block Editor communicates with WordPress.

When this communication is broken or disabled, the Block Editor's publishing functionality breaks. If that is what's causing the mistake on your site, you'll need to become the Residuum API working again in order to set it.

How to Ready the WordPress Updating Failed and Publishing Failed Errors (In 4 Steps)

Once you sympathize why your WordPress content is failing to update or publish, resolving the problem becomes easier. Hither are four steps y'all can take to become most fixing this problem on your site.

Pace 1: Determine Whether the Residuum API Is Being Blocked

A common cause of the "Publishing Failed" error in WordPress (since the Block Editor was launched) is that the Remainder API is being blocked or disabled. If you're seeing this message, a wise place to kickoff troubleshooting is by testing the REST API to make sure it'due south working.

You lot can do this direct in WordPress using the Site Wellness tool. To access information technology, navigate to Tools > Site Health:

access site health
Accessing the Site Wellness tool in WordPress.

Nether the Status tab, WordPress will listing whatever existing problems with your installation. If the REST API is being blocked, you'll run across the post-obit bulletin:

"The Residue API encountered an unexpected upshot.

The REST API is 1 way WordPress and other applications communicate with the server. I case is the cake editor screen, which relies on this to display and save your posts and pages."

The Site Wellness tool will also display a specific error that is producing the 'unexpected result'. This could be a "401 Not Authorized" response, an operation timeout, a "403 Cookie Nonce Is Invalid" message, or another fault.

How you lot should go about resolving this problem and enabling the Remainder API again will depend somewhat on the error you see listed here.

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Footstep 2: Re-Enable the Remainder API by Resolving the Specified Error

Ideally, the Site Wellness tool will provide some indication as to how you can re-enable the Balance API on your WordPress site. Some mutual solutions include:

  • Checking to run into if Cloudflare is blocking the Remainder API. If yous're a Cloudflare user, your firewall may be inadvertently blocking legitimate requests. Cheque your Rule Set to determine if the Remainder API is being blocked, and disable rules as necessary to let information technology through.
  • Making sure a plugin is not blocking or disabling the Rest API. Some plugins may cake the REST API as well. Disabling your plugins one at a time can aid y'all determine which one, if any, is causing the problem. Yous may then remove, replace, or change the settings for that plugin to enable the Residual API again. Security and performance optimization plugins are mutual culprits.
  • Authenticating your WordPress site with the Residual API via your .htaccess  file. The Remainder API requires your website to cosign itself earlier it can connect. In the outcome that your site is not doing and so, you can make a small edit to your .htaccess file to resolve this upshot.
  • Determining if the issue is server related. Some users have institute that they encounter this problem when running WordPress on a Windows server. You'll need to edit your web.config file to fix it.

Plugins and firewall applications are the source of the problem most of the time, so it would exist wise to start your troubleshooting attempts there.

Chances are, you'll be able to find the tool that's causing the "Publishing Failed" error in WordPress and disable it or alter its settings to resolve the issue.

Step 3: Enable Debugging Fashion to Search for Errors

If you tin't re-enable the REST API using one of the solutions listed in Step ii, you can endeavour turning on WordPress' debug mode. This feature is meant for temporary apply as a troubleshooting tool.

When activated, the debug mode will log all PHP responses in a file named debug.log in your site's wp-content directory. Y'all tin can search this file for errors that may be preventing WordPress from connecting to the REST API, and therefore from publishing or updating posts.

To actuate debug style, add the post-obit code to your wp-config.php file earlier the line that reads "/* That's all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */":

          // Enable WP_DEBUG mode  define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );  // Enable Debug logging to the /wp-content/debug.log file  define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );

Make certain to remove this code from wp-config.php one time you lot've resolved the error.

Equally an alternative, Kinsta customers can admission the mistake logs available in their MyKinsta dashboard.

To admission yours, log in to your MyKinsta and navigate to the Sites tab:

Sites tab in the MyKinsta dashboard
Sites tab in the MyKinsta dashboard.

Click on the proper noun of the website experiencing the error in the resulting list. Then navigate to Logs and select fault.log from the driblet-downwards menu:

MyKinsta error log viewer
MyKinsta mistake log viewer

You lot should so see a list of any issues your WordPress site is currently experiencing.

Step 4: Install and Activate the Classic Editor Plugin as a Temporary Solution

In the unlikely effect that the above steps are not helpful in resolving the "Publishing Failed" fault in WordPress, you'll likely demand to seek support from one of the post-obit sources:

  • Your hosting provider if you believe the upshot is related to your server or if your host provides WordPress back up.
  • A specific plugin or firewall awarding, such as Cloudflare, if you believe a tool that is integral to your site is blocking the Residue API and you lot're unable to remedy the problem yourself.
  • The WordPress Support forums, if you feel you lot need further guidance, such as for a complimentary plugin that does not provide user support.

While you work with a relevant support provider to resolve the "Publishing Failed" fault, y'all may wish to install the Classic Editor plugin as a temporary workaround:

classic editor plugin
Archetype Editor plugin

Since the TinyMCE editor does not require the use of the Balance API to publish or update posts, you should be able to make the necessary changes to your content with it.

However, this is simply a stopgap measure out. You'll still want to resolve the root cause of the fault in the Block Editor and then re-enable it.

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Summary

Not being able to publish or update your WordPress site'south content can exist a serious problem. Fortunately, there are a few common causes of these errors that you tin can apace troubleshoot to put things back in order.

If you're receiving an "Updating Failed" or "Publishing Failed" bulletin in the WordPress Block Editor, try:

  1. Determining whether the REST API is being blocked.
  2. Re-enabling the REST API by resolving the specified error.
  3. Enabling debugging way to search for errors.
  4. Installing and activating the Classic Editor plugin as a temporary solution.

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