Months back, the free version of WordPress took away what they now call the Classic Editor used to write and edit blog posts and replaced it with something that for me is almost unusable; Gutenberg. I tried to work with it at first, but it was (and is) terrifically awkward.
Then I discovered that if you create a post, publish it, and then edit it again, there was an option for the Classic Editor. I figured I was saved.
Then today or yesterday, I saw that my blog’s menu had changed again. Instead of “Dashboard,” there’s now something called “My Home” which doesn’t behave quite the same way. Actually, it’s a dumbed down version of the old Dashboard. What’s worse is when you put a blog into edit mode, the Classic Editor is just plain gone.
I’ve tried various settings but there’s no way I can trick it back.
The first time the Classic Editor disappeared, I Googled hoping to find a way to have it return, but the only option I could find was installing a plugin. You can’t install plugins with the free version of WordPress.
I Googled again and still no go. I can’t even find help pages for the current changes and what I can find about the plugin doesn’t mention the account type you need to follow the instructions.
So I decided what the heck. This is obviously WordPress trying to get people to pay for their product (I can’t blame them, but it still feels like they’re playing dirty). I looked at my upgrade options (but not very closely as you’ll see) and selected Premium. It’s only eight bucks a month or just under $100.00 a year, so it wasn’t going to break the bank.
After my purchase, nothing seemed different.
I looked closer and you can only install plugins with the Business version or higher, which is something like $300.00 a year. No, I’m not paying that much just because I want one plugin.
Fortunately, I was able to cancel my purchase and can expect a refund, but now I’m stuck. I guess I’ll have to break down and use the current Gutenberg editor. It’s supposed to be easier with a lot of additional features over Classic, but it seems incredibly non-intuitive and overly complicated.
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Hey! I was super pissed about losing the classic editor too but someone was kind enough to leave a comment on how to get it back! Here’s how:
1) Go to your account settings
2) Keep scrolling to the bottom where it says dashboard appearance and switch on the “show advanced dashboard settings” option.
This should solve the problem and you should get the option to use the classic editor again. Hope this helps 🙂
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My menu doesn’t have that option. There is “Settings” but nothing inside that will allow me to show the advanced dashboard. Look at the first screenshot and you’ll see my menu options.
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Don’t go to those settings. Go to your account settings by clicking your profile picture on the upper right corner. There will be an option that says “profile settings” and if you click this and keep scrolling you will find the dashboard settings where you can switch on the “show advanced dashboard settings” option.
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You’re a genius. It works. Thanks.
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Pardon my silly question, based on my complete lack of experience at managing a WordPress blog, but is there something special about its embedded editor that requires it to be used at all? That is, can you formulate your essays “offline” using any editor you like and then simply dump/paste a copy of the completed product into WordPress, eliminating or at least minimizing any interaction with its embedded editor? I find that an analogous process saves me much aggravation in my interactions with a number of online comment-posting media.
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The Gutenberg editor imposes it’s own formatting so yes, I’ve tried composing in raw HTML but after pasting everything in and testing, I still have to do a lot of work.
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I started as a Blogspot blogger, and I created a Word Press blog because people seemed to think that it was the industry standard expected of a professional. After a couple of posts I basically gave up because I didn’t like the interface.
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I’ve used blogger in the past, but I quit it for the same reasons you did.
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