The "Preview Changes" button in the editor doesn't seem to show any changes when editing a page. It seems to be due to the "Salient WPBakery Page Builder" plugin. The bug exists if and only if that plugin is active. Here's a video showing the behavior.
Note we've found that this only is a problem for pages that have been around for a while. For brand new pages, it won't be a problem.
I understand how frustrating this may be. Since the Salient WPBakery Page Builder plugin is up to date and the issue only occurs when it’s active, it’s likely caused by legacy shortcode or page data incompatibility, caching problems, or JavaScript errors within the plugin affecting older pages.
To address this, try clearing all caches (WordPress, server, and browser), test previewing changes on a duplicated page to rule out data issues, and check your browser’s console for any errors during preview. If these steps don’t resolve the problem, please privately share your WordPress dashboard URL with a temporary admin username and password so we can investigate directly and provide a precise solution.
Thanks for the quick reply. I have tried the things you suggested but they didn't reveal any more insight into the problem. I'll share login credentials for you in a private message so you can inspect yourself.
After a thorough investigation and testing, here is a summary of what I found and the recommended way forward.
The issue with the "Preview Changes" button not updating in real-time occurs only on older pages when the Salient WPBakery Page Builder plugin is active. I confirmed this by creating a new test page with the exact same content, where the preview worked perfectly. This indicates the problem is not with the plugin itself or the page content, but rather with legacy page metadata, revisions, or internal data tied to those older pages that interfere with the preview functionality.
I ruled out plugin version issues since your Salient WPBakery Page Builder is up to date, and caching conflicts were addressed by clearing all caches on WordPress, server, CDN, and browser sides. JavaScript notifications found in the console were unrelated to the preview problem. Analyzing the shortcodes showed they are standard and compatible with the current plugin version, further confirming the root cause lies in legacy page data.
As a practical resolution, continuing to work on duplicated pages like your test page will allow you to use the preview feature without issues. Although the preview does not update in real-time on the original pages, any changes you make and save using the Update button do reflect correctly on the live site, so your content updates are still effective.
If you prefer, you can migrate your content to new pages to permanently resolve the preview limitation. Otherwise, using the Update button and viewing the live page is a reliable workaround.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation and do not hesitate in case of any other support.
Can we get the bug in the Salient WPBakery Page Builder plugin resolved so that we don't need to use one of the workarounds? It would not be acceptable for us to ask our clients to copy their pages to a new page just to preview any changes. This problem is widespread, affecting many of our sites.
Thank you for noting this. As I had earlier highlighted, the issue is not with the plugin itself but rather with legacy page metadata, revisions, or internal data tied to those older pages that interfere with the preview functionality.
I have however escalated this to the developers for further action.
Since this isn’t a known issue and I haven’t been able to replicate it locally or on any of the live demos - even on pages with 100+ revisions spanning several years - have you tried doing further testing with the Pantheon Page Cache feature on your site? When testing on your site, I’m seeing intermittent previews where the updated content appears after refreshing a few times following a cache clear.
That's interesting that you can't replicate it locally. Perhaps it has something to do with the way the Salient WPBakery Page Builder plugin interacts with the Pantheon cache. Note that it is not a problem with the Classic editor or Gutenberg, so there must be something special the Salient WPBakery Page Builder plugin is doing (or not doing) that is causing this.
Can you say more about "updated content appears after refreshing a few times following a cache clear"? What did you do to clear the cache? I can't seem to replicate that.
The intermittent update issue after clearing cache is probably due to Pantheon’s multi-layer caching system, WordPress cache and Pantheon Page Cache, which may clear at different speeds. This causes updated content to appear only after refreshing a few times.
Ensuring all Pantheon caches are cleared before testing might be the catch.
I would recommend using the temporary solution below that we had earlier suggested on the legacy pages since the "Preview Changes" alone doesn't affect the sites functionality:
"Although the preview does not update in real-time on the original pages, any changes you make and save using the Update button do reflect correctly on the live site, so your content updates are still effective."
We don't think it's acceptable to have this "Preview Changes" functionality broken for our clients. Is there a place where I can download previous versions of Salient? I think this is a new problem so possibly we can revert back to a previous version before this bug was introduced.
The "Preview Changes" button in the editor doesn't seem to show any changes when editing a page. It seems to be due to the "Salient WPBakery Page Builder" plugin. The bug exists if and only if that plugin is active. Here's a video showing the behavior.
Note we've found that this only is a problem for pages that have been around for a while. For brand new pages, it won't be a problem.
Hi Chris,
Thank you for writing to us.
I understand how frustrating this may be. Since the Salient WPBakery Page Builder plugin is up to date and the issue only occurs when it’s active, it’s likely caused by legacy shortcode or page data incompatibility, caching problems, or JavaScript errors within the plugin affecting older pages.
To address this, try clearing all caches (WordPress, server, and browser), test previewing changes on a duplicated page to rule out data issues, and check your browser’s console for any errors during preview. If these steps don’t resolve the problem, please privately share your WordPress dashboard URL with a temporary admin username and password so we can investigate directly and provide a precise solution.
Let me know how you want to proceed.
Thanks,
Hi Noah,
Thanks for the quick reply. I have tried the things you suggested but they didn't reveal any more insight into the problem. I'll share login credentials for you in a private message so you can inspect yourself.
Thanks,
Chris
Hi Chris,
After a thorough investigation and testing, here is a summary of what I found and the recommended way forward.
The issue with the "Preview Changes" button not updating in real-time occurs only on older pages when the Salient WPBakery Page Builder plugin is active. I confirmed this by creating a new test page with the exact same content, where the preview worked perfectly. This indicates the problem is not with the plugin itself or the page content, but rather with legacy page metadata, revisions, or internal data tied to those older pages that interfere with the preview functionality.
I ruled out plugin version issues since your Salient WPBakery Page Builder is up to date, and caching conflicts were addressed by clearing all caches on WordPress, server, CDN, and browser sides. JavaScript notifications found in the console were unrelated to the preview problem. Analyzing the shortcodes showed they are standard and compatible with the current plugin version, further confirming the root cause lies in legacy page data.
As a practical resolution, continuing to work on duplicated pages like your test page will allow you to use the preview feature without issues. Although the preview does not update in real-time on the original pages, any changes you make and save using the Update button do reflect correctly on the live site, so your content updates are still effective.
If you prefer, you can migrate your content to new pages to permanently resolve the preview limitation. Otherwise, using the Update button and viewing the live page is a reliable workaround.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation and do not hesitate in case of any other support.
Thanks.
Hi Noah,
Can we get the bug in the Salient WPBakery Page Builder plugin resolved so that we don't need to use one of the workarounds? It would not be acceptable for us to ask our clients to copy their pages to a new page just to preview any changes. This problem is widespread, affecting many of our sites.
Thanks,
Chris
Hi Chris,
Thank you for noting this. As I had earlier highlighted, the issue is not with the plugin itself but rather with legacy page metadata, revisions, or internal data tied to those older pages that interfere with the preview functionality.
I have however escalated this to the developers for further action.
Best regards.
Hey Chris,
Since this isn’t a known issue and I haven’t been able to replicate it locally or on any of the live demos - even on pages with 100+ revisions spanning several years - have you tried doing further testing with the Pantheon Page Cache feature on your site? When testing on your site, I’m seeing intermittent previews where the updated content appears after refreshing a few times following a cache clear.
Kind regards
That's interesting that you can't replicate it locally. Perhaps it has something to do with the way the Salient WPBakery Page Builder plugin interacts with the Pantheon cache. Note that it is not a problem with the Classic editor or Gutenberg, so there must be something special the Salient WPBakery Page Builder plugin is doing (or not doing) that is causing this.
Can you say more about "updated content appears after refreshing a few times following a cache clear"? What did you do to clear the cache? I can't seem to replicate that.
Thanks,
Chris
Hi Chris,
Sorry for the late response.
The intermittent update issue after clearing cache is probably due to Pantheon’s multi-layer caching system, WordPress cache and Pantheon Page Cache, which may clear at different speeds. This causes updated content to appear only after refreshing a few times.
Ensuring all Pantheon caches are cleared before testing might be the catch.
Let me know if this helps you.
Best regards.
Hi Noah,
I tried clearing the pantheon cache several times but it did not resolve the issue and allow me to preview my changes. Any further ideas?
Thanks,
Chris
Hi Chris,
Thank you for getting back.
I would recommend using the temporary solution below that we had earlier suggested on the legacy pages since the "Preview Changes" alone doesn't affect the sites functionality:
"Although the preview does not update in real-time on the original pages, any changes you make and save using the Update button do reflect correctly on the live site, so your content updates are still effective."
Please let me know if this is okay with you.
Thanks,
Noah,
We don't think it's acceptable to have this "Preview Changes" functionality broken for our clients. Is there a place where I can download previous versions of Salient? I think this is a new problem so possibly we can revert back to a previous version before this bug was introduced.
Thanks,
Chris
Hey Again,
We understand, Could you switch to a default WP Theme and check if the issue persists ?.
Also using Chrome dev tools can you confirm if the Preview is getting loaded from cache ?.
Thanks
ThemeNectar Support Team
Hi Tahir,
I tried switching to the "Twenty Twenty-Five" theme and the problem is still there.
I checked with the dev tools and confirmed that the preview is not getting loaded from the Pantheon CDN cache.
If you'd like to verify the above you can login using the credentials I passed to Noah previously.
Thanks,
Chris
Hey Again,
Could you try the new Salient Update with the bundled WPbakery Page builder and check ?.
Thanks
ThemeNectar Support Team
Ok, I've updated the theme, the "salient-core" and "salient-shortcodes" plugins. The problem is still there.
Attached files: Screenshot 2025-06-13 at 11.19.52 AM.jpg
Please update the Salient WPBakery to v8.4.1 as well and check.
Thanks
ThemeNectar Support Team
That seems to have fixed the problem. Thanks Tahir.
Chris
Thank you, Chris, for your cooperation and patience throughout the entire process.
We look forward to supporting you again whenever you encounter any challenges.
Happy coding!