I'm really wondering... What is WP doing when it disables the Update/Publish button?

It seems to happen every once in a while, and I could not say why in goes disabled sometimes for just a few minutes, but some other times it seems to be permanently disabled.

So what triggers the Update/Publish button to be disabled (and what reenables it?)

I'm really wondering... What is WP doing when it disables the Update/Publish button?

It seems to happen every once in a while, and I could not say why in goes disabled sometimes for just a few minutes, but some other times it seems to be permanently disabled.

So what triggers the Update/Publish button to be disabled (and what reenables it?)

• publish

Share Improve this question asked Apr 5, 2019 at 18:31 Fredy31Fredy31 87822 gold badges1616 silver badges3131 bronze badges

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1 Answer 1

Sorted by: Reset to default 2

Without seeing your specific situation, I cannot say whether this is what's causing your issues or not, but this is my best guess.

WordPress has this cool thing called the Heartbeat API. It pings the server periodically while you're logged in and in the WordPress admin. It does a number of things to help improve the editing experience like auto-save, check if you're logged in, check if someone else is editing your page (or kicks you off), etc.

If the heartbeat doesn't execute successfully (or a variety of other situations), it can cause things like the publish button to be disabled. This is actually a good thing since it prevents you from trying to publish without a connection to the server (and potentially losing your work).