How To Fix Your Save Has Failed Error In Divi

Your Save Has Failed Message

Let’s first review the actual message in Divi. It’s easily to skip over it since it is long and ambiguous, but it is important information to understand.

An error has occurred while saving your page. Various problems can cause a save to fail, such as a lack of server resources, firewall blockages, plugin conflicts or server misconfiguration. You can try saving again by clicking Try Again, or you can download a backup of your unsaved page by clicking Download Backup. Backups can be restored using the portability system while next editing your page.

Contacting your host and asking them to increase the following PHP variables may help: memory_limit, max_execution_time, upload_max_filesize, post_max_size, max_input_time, max_input_vars. In addition, auditing your firewall error log (such as ModSecurity) may reveal false positives that are preventing saves from completing.
Lastly, it is recommended that you temporarily disable all WordPress plugins and browser extensions and try to save again to determine if something is causing a conflict.

I get the “Your Save Has Failed” error message, with “Try Again” and “Download Backup”.

Suggestions From The Message

Does Anyone Read The Message?

I know it’s easy to just want to fix something without looking at instructions, but we do need to do our part and check the message. I imagine there are a variety of reactions to the message, from skipping it, to reading it carefully and trying everything it says, to reading and being totally confused. Let’s break the message down into easy to understand sections with some action steps.

It’s About Saving

The first important thing to note is that this message is about the save function. This means it is different from any other functionality or code error you may face within a Divi layout or module, but instead this is related to the save feature. It could be triggered by a manual click on the save button, or by an automatic save by the system. Since we know it is related to saving, this means it involves the database, and this is the first clue. There is some issue somewhere between the content displaying on the frontend and the data stored in the database, and this issue is often (but not always) highlighted when saving.

Lack Of Server Resources

The first suggested cause in the message is a lack of server resources. Thankfully this is easy to check from your WordPress dashboard by going to Divi>Support Center>System Status. Here you will see a report of your server resources with either a green or red dot to indicate if it is meeting the recommended value. If something related to PHP is red with a value less than the recommend value, then this could be the cause, and you absolutely need to take care of it first. Of all the options there, it is probably the PHP values, and most likely the PHP Memory Limit. You will need to update the values from your hosting account, and it may be rather technical, so feel free to contact your hosting provider for assistance. After updating any values, be sure to flush your server cache.

RELATED: Recommend Hosting Providers For Divi

Firewall Blockages

The second suggested cause in the message is firewall blockages. More than likely, this issue is caused by ModSecurity IF you are using a host that uses cPanel or a cheaper shared host like Bluehost or GoDaddy. This can happen when the hosting server misinterprets jQuery requests sent by Divi, and thinks they are virus or something security related, and blocks them. When this happens, the save fails because the jQuery process of saving is blocked. When this happens, you should be able to see errors in the Console (right click on any page, choose “inspect”, then select the Console tab) and may be a 403 php-admin error.

To solve this, you can talk to your hosting provider to disable the ModSecurity, or you can turn if off yourself. If you are using cPanel hosting, you can log into cPanel and go to the Security section and click on the ModSecurity icon and on the next screen you should find the option to disable it.

Another possible firewall blockage could be caused by any security plugin you may have running such as WordFence. If you are using WordFence specifically, you will need to turn on a feature they have called WordFence learning Mode. Please check this link to learn more. You can also try disabling any security plugin to see if that helps, as that will deactivate any firewall that is causing the blockage.

If deactivating your security plugins has no effect, or if you do not have any security plugins, check with your hosting company regarding security apps they use on their server. There is likely a security software somewhere that is not allowing code within a page to be saved. Ask your web host to review the logs on their end to see what they find.

Plugins/Custom Code/Child Theme Conflict

The last suggestion in the message is about plugin conflicts, and I will extend this to any type of conflict. This is also one of the main causes for this issue, but it can be easily ruled out by enabling Safe Mode. Go to the Divi>Support Center and enable the toggle for Safe Mode. This disables all child themes and plugins, isolating the admin user to only pure Divi and WordPress. If the issue no longer happens, this means it is a conflict with either a child theme, a plugin(s), or custom code. In that case you would need to manually narrow it down by disabling them one by one.

More Suggestions, Tips, And Workarounds

The things mentioned so far in this article are related to the recommendations in the message from Divi. But those suggestions may not solve the issue, and so more helps is needed. I have compiled a list of suggestions, tips, and workarounds that I have found myself or read about from other Divi users. I am confident this list will be very helpful. NOTE: These are not in any particular order.

Session Timed Out

This save has failed issue happens most often when your session has timed out. For me, this sometimes happens when I forget to exit the Visual Builder when I’m not actively working on the page, then I come back to it later. Even though it appears to let me continue working just fine, the database session has already timed out and disconnected from the site, so whenever I attempt to save it will fail. To avoid this, be sure to always exit the visual builder when you are not actively working.

WordPress Idle User Logout

This is very similar and perhaps the same as the previous item, but may be different. WordPress has a default time when it logs out idle users, for security reasons. I cannot find the official information on what this is, but it may vary depending on your setup or any plugins that modify it. The point is that you may be working in Divi and if you do not save within the time interval, WordPress thinks you are idle and logs you out. This will cause the save failed issue. You can adjust the automatic logout time with a plugin if needed.

Saving Theme Builder Template From Post/Page

This one happens to me a lot! Pay attention, it is a very specific scenario that you may face. If I am working in the Visual Builder which is enabled on a post/page that also has a Theme Builder template applied to it, and I switch from the post content body area to edit something in the template area, and then try to save – I always get this Your Save Has Failed message. Read that all again if needed, because this happens to me very often, and the good news is that it is easy to solve. In this very specific scenario, the solution is to simply click back into your post body area, and then click save, and it will save perfectly. I think this happens because there are two instances of Divi that are trying to save at once, and this causes the conflict – the template is trying to save, ADN the page/post at the same time.

Try Again

This is going to sound silly, but don’t laugh. I have tried this, and I know others have tried this. It works more often than you may expect. I guess something goes wrong on the first attempt, but the conditions are different on the second, I don’t know. But I know it has worked for me at least sometimes, so at least try a few times.

Close Page, Open URL In New Tab

You may be surprised, but sometimes you just need to get out of there. Just this week it happened to me, and I literally closed the entire browser tab and opened the URL again, and it was actually saved – so it was a false positive. Definitely worth a try!

VPN

I have read of other Divi users who face this problem when they use a VPN. I don’t actually have experience with this, but if you are using a VPN it’s something to check for sure.

Network Connection

Similar to the WordPress logout or Divi Builder timeout, a loss of internet connection can do the exact same thing. If you are switching networks or on a network with connection issues, it could be causing the save failed issue. 

Emojis

I have no idea why, but I have heard of some users reporting that they cannot save a page which contains emoji. 

Code Module

If there is a code module in the page, this save failed issue may occur. I have heard of this happening quite often. I don’t think it is related to the Code module, but rather to the code in the module. This is similar to shortcodes below.

Shortcodes

Just like the Code module, you may face the save failed issue when you have shortcodes in your page. I’m not sure why, but I have seen an increase in this kind of user reports lately.

SEO Plugins

I have heard of various SEO Plugins like Rankmath, Yoast, and All-In-One SEO causing this. Again, I don’t know why, I’m just reporting what I see and hear and experience. I do know that some of these plugins conflict with some Divi builder structural suffixes _0, _01, etc, but not sure if there is a connection. It may be worth disabling your SEO plugin to check.

Avoid Duplicate Divi

Sometimes you may unknowingly have both the Divi Theme installed AND the Divi Builder plugin. If you have the Divi Theme installed, be sure to delete the Divi Builder plugin.

Avoid Editing From Frontend And Backend Simultaneous

Depending on how you work, and I won’t judge you, you may have the same page open in the Divi Visual Builder and also open in the backend WordPress editor screen. This can cause conflicts when you are saving.

Check The Console Errors

This is something you should learn to do with any issue you face. Open the browser tools by right-clicking and choosing inspect. If you are in the Visual Builder, you can usually right-click on the WordPress toolbar at the top. In the browser tools, click on the console tab and check the errors.

Restore From Revisions

Your changes might still be auto-saved and you can recover them if you go into the edit history via the backend by going to the page and then clicking on Revision History.

Patience When Saving

When saving changes, wait for the save button change back to check mark & then change to “Save”. Then only exit from Visual Builder mode.

Do Not Interrupt Saving

Along with patience, do not interrupt the process. To be absolutely sure, don’t even switch to another tab. Stay on the same tab and don’t click anything.

Clear Cache

When all else fails, blame cache! I’m somewhat kidding, but somewhat serious. Be sure to clear and purge all cache on your site, including the pesky Divi static CSS cache.

Save To Library/Cloud/Desktop And Add Again

Save the page as a template, create a new page, load the page template. Problem solved!