Salient fix
Salient Page Builder Not Loading or Not Saving? Check the Edition
Salient does not use the WPBakery you can buy on its own. It ships a modified edition called Salient WPBakery Page Builder, and that edition expects Salient Core beside it at a matching version. When the editor will not load or will not save, start by checking which builder is actually installed.
- [plugins] js_composer_salient: active
- [plugins] js_composer: active
- PHP Fatal error: Cannot redeclare vc_map()
- in plugins/js_composer/include/helpers/helpers_api.php
- GET /wp-admin/post.php?post=214&action=edit 500
What you are seeing
- The backend editor shows a gray box or a spinner where the rows should be
- The frontend editor opens to a white frame
- Salient's own elements are missing from the Add Element window
- You click Update, the page reloads and the old content is back
- A second WPBakery appeared in the plugin list after someone tried a fix
Why it happens on Salient
Most common first.
- 1
The standard WPBakery is installed in place of Salient's edition
Salient's builder is its own plugin, Salient WPBakery Page Builder, modified to work with the theme. The WPBakery sold separately is a different plugin that shares most of its code. Install it beside or instead of Salient's edition and the two compete for the same pages: WordPress may refuse to activate one, throw a fatal error or load an editor that has never heard of Salient's elements. You bought a builder to fix the builder, which is a reasonable instinct and the wrong plugin.
- 2
Salient Core is inactive or older than the theme
The rows come from the builder, but most of the elements inside them come from Salient Core. If that plugin is deactivated, missing or several releases behind the theme, the editor loads with half its elements gone or stops on a script error partway through drawing the page.
- 3
Another plugin's script halts the editor
The editor is a JavaScript application running inside wp-admin. One error from an unrelated plugin, or an optimization plugin that combines and defers scripts in the dashboard, is enough to stop it before the rows appear. The spinner you see is the editor waiting for code that never ran.
- 4
The server turns the save away
A long Salient page is a large block of shortcodes sent to the server in one request. Some host firewalls read that as an attack and answer with a 403, and an expired login does the same thing more quietly. The editor shows no error. The page simply comes back as it was.
- 5
The frontend editor cannot frame the page
The frontend editor loads your live page inside a frame so you can edit in place. A security header that forbids framing, or a site address that mixes http and https, leaves that frame white while the backend editor keeps working.
How to fix it, in order
Least invasive first. Stop at the step that fixes it.
- 1
Back up, then read the plugin list
Take a full backup or clone the site to staging. Then open Plugins, Installed Plugins and find every entry with WPBakery or Salient in its name. Write down which are active.
- 2
Remove the standard WPBakery
If a plugin named plain WPBakery Page Builder is present, deactivate and delete it. Your page content is stored in the database and is not removed with the plugin. Then make sure Salient WPBakery Page Builder is active. If it is missing, install it from the list of required plugins that Salient shows in the dashboard.
- 3
Match Salient Core and the builder to the theme
After a theme update, Salient posts a notice listing the plugins that need updating. Follow it and update Salient Core and Salient WPBakery Page Builder together. Reload the editor before changing anything else.
- 4
Open the editor with the console showing
Press F12, choose Console and reload the edit screen. A red error that names a plugin folder points at the culprit. Deactivate that plugin on staging and try again. If it is an optimization plugin, exclude the dashboard from its script handling.
- 5
Watch what happens to a failed save
With the Network tab open, click Update. A 403 on post.php or admin-ajax.php means the host's firewall refused the request. Ask the host to check its firewall log for your address and relax the rule that fired. A redirect to the login screen means the session expired, so sign in again in another tab and save.
- 6
Compare the two editors
If the backend editor works and the frontend editor is white, check Settings, General and confirm both site addresses begin with https. Then ask whoever configured the site's security headers whether framing is blocked. Keep editing in the backend editor in the meantime.
Keep it from coming back
- Never install a separately purchased WPBakery on a Salient site
- Update Salient Core and the builder on the same day as the theme
- Keep script optimization away from the WordPress dashboard
- Rehearse theme updates on a staging copy before the live site
The permanent fix
A faster Next.js build, with a CMS made for your business
If the editor breaks after most updates, the site is telling you how many moving parts sit between you and a changed paragraph: a theme, a modified builder, a core plugin and whatever else loads in the admin. A Next.js build with a custom CMS has no builder edition to match. Your team edits fields designed for your content, and the pages are published as static files.
| On Salient today | On Next.js with a custom CMS | |
|---|---|---|
| What you keep updated | WordPress, the theme, its builder and every bundled plugin, all in step | Nothing on a schedule. There is no theme or plugin stack to fall out of step |
| How a page is served | Built from the database on each visit, through the theme and its builder | Built ahead of time and served as finished files from servers near the visitor |
| How you edit it | A general-purpose builder with every option the theme ships | A CMS built around what your business actually changes: services, prices, photos, posts |
| What can break it | An update to any one of those parts, or a license that lapses | A change someone makes on purpose, tested before it goes live |
Your content, your addresses and your rankings come with you: every page is moved, every old address is redirected, and you get a login to an editor that only shows what you need. A repair is still the right call for many sites, and we will say so when it is.
Want this fixed on your Salient site?
Tell us what you are seeing. We look at the site, tell you plainly what is wrong and what it takes, and quote a fixed price before any work starts.
Which of these sounds like you? (pick any)
Frequently asked
No. The pages are stored in the database as shortcodes and neither plugin deletes them. Remove the standard WPBakery, activate Salient WPBakery Page Builder and Salient Core and the layouts draw again as before.
Those elements are registered by Salient Core, not by the builder. If Salient Core is inactive, or older than the theme expects, the list shrinks to the builder's basic set. Activate or update it and the Nectar elements return.
The builder is switched on per post type. Its Role Manager settings list the post types it may edit, and a type that is not ticked there opens in the ordinary WordPress editor. Tick the missing type, save and reopen the item.
You can open it there, but it is the wrong tool. The block editor treats the builder's shortcodes as one block of text, which makes layout changes impractical and mistakes easy. Use the Salient builder for pages built with it and keep the block editor for posts written as plain articles.
Keep reading
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