Title: Revisions
Author: Akira Tachibana
Published: February 24, 2019
Last modified: April 14, 2023

---

# Revisions

## In this article

 * [Description](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/revisions/?output_format=md#description)
 * [Autosaves](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/revisions/?output_format=md#autosaves)
 * [Revision Options](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/revisions/?output_format=md#revision-options)
 * [Revision Storage Method](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/revisions/?output_format=md#revision-storage-method)
 * [Revision Management](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/revisions/?output_format=md#revision-management)
 * [Displaying Rendered Revisions](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/revisions/?output_format=md#displaying-rendered-revisions)

[ Back to top](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/revisions/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

## 󠀁[Description](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/revisions/?output_format=md#description)󠁿

The WordPress revisions system stores a record of each saved draft or published 
update. The revision system allows you to see what changes were made in each revision
by dragging a slider (or using the Next/Previous buttons). The display indicates
what has changed in each revision – what was added, what remained unchanged, and
what was removed. Lines added or removed are highlighted, and individual character
changes get additional highlighting. Click the ‘Restore This Revision’ button to
restore a revision.

The revisions page also includes a ‘compare any two revisions’ mode that allows 
you to compare any two individual revisions. In this mode, the slider has two handles,
one representing the revision you are comparing from and one representing the revision
you are comparing to. Drag the handles to see what has changed between any two specific
revisions. **Note:** the ‘Restore This Revision’ button _always restores the revision
you are comparing to_.

To return to the post edit screen without restoring a revision, click on the post
title at the top of the page.

## 󠀁[Autosaves](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/revisions/?output_format=md#autosaves)󠁿

There is only ever a maximum of one [autosave ](https://wordpress.org/support/article/glossary?output_format=md#autosave)
per user for any given post. New autosaves overwrite old autosaves. This means that
no, your tables do not grow by one row every 60 seconds. In multi-user settings,
one autosave is stored for each user.

Autosaves are enabled for all posts and pages but do not overwrite published content.
Autosaves are stored as a special type of revision; they do not overwrite the actual
post. In fact, whether your power goes out, your browser crashes, or you lose your
internet connection, when you go back to edit that post, WP will toss up a warning
telling you that it has a backup of your post and a link to restore the backup. 
When reviewing revisions, autosaves are clearly marked.

## 󠀁[Revision Options](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/revisions/?output_format=md#revision-options)󠁿

Limit the number of posts revisions that WordPress stores in the database.

The [wp_revisions_to_keep](https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Filter_Reference/wp_revisions_to_keep)
filter allows developers to easily alter how many revisions are kept for a given
post.

Alternately, the limit can be set in wp-config.php:

    ```wp-block-preformatted
    define( 'WP_POST_REVISIONS', 3 );
    ```

WP_POST_REVISIONS:

 * true (default), -1: store every revision
 * false, 0: do not store any revisions (except the one autosave per post)
 * (int) > 0: store that many revisions (+1 autosave per user) per post. Old revisions
   are automatically deleted when the post is updated again.

## 󠀁[Revision Storage Method](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/revisions/?output_format=md#revision-storage-method)󠁿

Revisions are stored in the posts table.

Revisions are stored as children of their associated post (the same thing we do 
for attachments). They are given a post_status of ‘inherit’, a post_type of ‘revision’,
and a post_name of {parent ID}- revision(-#) for regular revisions and {parent ID}-
autosave for autosaves.

By default, WP keeps track of the changes to title, author, content, excerpt.

## 󠀁[Revision Management](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/revisions/?output_format=md#revision-management)󠁿

Deleting: There is an API function to delete revisions, but there is no UI. That
can certainly change.

## 󠀁[Displaying Rendered Revisions](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/revisions/?output_format=md#displaying-rendered-revisions)󠁿

Currently revision comparison “diffs” are rendered in Text (or HTML) view; proposed
filters would allow plugin developers to customize diff encoding/rendering. (see
Trac ticket [#24908](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/24908))

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First published

February 24, 2019

Last updated

April 14, 2023