If you have used the WordPress Classic Editor for a long time and then recently switched to Gutenberg, you might have encountered a certain problem. “Attempt Block Recovery“.

Introduction

When I started my blog a few months ago, WordPress Classic Editor was my go goal in visual and text editing. It was working fine until recently I noticed something. The last update was 9 months ago depending on when you read this blog.

If you are a blogger, you should know the risks associated with that. The first and most obvious is “Contact Services“. Since the Classic Editor team has stopped working on it, even if something goes wrong on your site you can’t get help.

Even recently, WordPress 5.0 itself changed its main/default editor from Classic Editor to Gutenberg Block Editor. Gutenberg Block Editor is well optimized for WordPress and receives updates almost every month. Their features have continued to advance even to building a complete site.

So, what is my point? If you created blog posts using Classic Editor, and then you want to re-edit or update then use Gutenberg. Some areas of your blog are not well interpreted in the new editor. You will see “Attempt Block Recovery” or “Failed to Recover” or some other sort of error.

How do you fix that?

How To Recover The Corrupted Content

The Gutenberg editor does not have the block recovery functionality of the classic editor. However, there are ways to attempt to recover the content if you do happen to lose it.

Login to WordPress and open the blog post you want to edit and update.

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Note!!! The error appears only if the blog post was initially edited in Classic Editor and you want to use the new Gutenberg Block Editor to update it. This doesn’t always happen.

Let us take a step back!

If you haven’t changed to Gutenberg Editor on how to switch from Classic Editor, Read this blog. The second option is deleting the Classic Editor plugin. Head over to plugins, look for the plugin then “Deactivate > Permanently delete“

Ok, you are done? Back to the blog post you want to edit. Click anywhere on your blog and the “classic” option should appear. It should look something like this. see the image below.

Scroll down until you locate some parts that were not converted to blocks “Attempt Block Recovery“. Click the three dots/option. Three options are exposed. Choose either “convert to HTML” or “convert to Classic blocks“.

My recommendation is the latter “convert to Classic blocks“. Click on it and the results should be similar to the image below.

On the option that has been converted to the classic blocks, click “convert to blocks” and your problem is solved. Repeat this to all corrupted content. see our result below.

Wait, we have a second and simpler option. But before that, update your blog post to avoid doing 0 work.

Note!!! You can as well “convert to HTML” and repeat the same process. They work the same but I prefer “convert to Classic blocks“. Just don’t interfere with HTML codes!

Alternative Option:

The easiest way to fix this is simply to switch to Classic Editor. Then copy and copy all content from the editor. (How to switch between editors, Gutenberg and Classic Editor).

Done copying? Switch to Gutenberg Block Editor. Open your post and select “Convert to Blocks.” The editor will immediately convert all your content into blocks and show them in a grid format.

Keyboard shortcuts for copy and paste

To select all content > Ctrl + A or ⌘ + A (on Mac) keys. When they are all selected, copy the content by pressing Ctrl + C or ⌘ + C (on Mac). This will place the entire content on your clipboard.

To paste the content > Ctrl + V or ⌘ + V (on Mac). Save the post as Draft and check if it works as expected.

There you go! Save and update your work.

Conclusion

As you have seen from the steps above, Gutenberg block recovery can be accomplished by a variety of methods. While some options are easier than others and will likely be used the most, your experience may vary depending on the complexity of your layout and content. Regardless, with a little preparation, everything will flow smoothly.

Hopefully, this post has helped you better understand Gutenberg’s block recovery.

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If you have any questions or comments regarding Gutenberg block recovery, I would love to hear from you in the comments below.

HAVE A NICE DAY!