Title: Changing theme back removes widgets
Last modified: August 22, 2016

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# Changing theme back removes widgets

 *  [Halo Diehard](https://wordpress.org/support/users/halo-diehard/)
 * (@halo-diehard)
 * [11 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-theme-back-removes-widgets/)
 * Hello, I have been having this problem and I’m trying to track down what exactly
   is responsible for it.
 * When I’m having trouble and need to test if it’s a plugin, I follow the instructions
   to put my theme in a default theme and inactivate plugins to troubleshoot. However,
   every single time I do this, I have widgets that are no longer in my sidebar 
   of my original theme once I switch back.
 * Also, not all of the widgets that disappear can be found in the unused widget
   area, which means I have to reset all of the information in every single one 
   of them.
 * I know where to report this behavior, because I don’t know if it’s being caused
   by WordPress, the theme or the individual widgets.
 * The behavior I am looking for is that the widgets return to where they were with
   the settings they had when I return my website to it’s theme after testing.
 * Thank you for any illumination on this subject 😀
 * Here is a link to my site: [http://www.halodiehards.net](http://www.halodiehards.net)

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  [sffandom](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sffandom/)
 * (@sffandom)
 * [11 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-theme-back-removes-widgets/#post-5252104)
 * WordPress has no way of knowing in advance — when you change a theme — if the
   new theme can support all the widget areas and widgets you were using with the
   old theme, so it resets to a default mode.
 * This is the intended “safe” behavior. I don’t believe you’ll make much headway
   with the developers on allowing some sort of override.
 *  Thread Starter [Halo Diehard](https://wordpress.org/support/users/halo-diehard/)
 * (@halo-diehard)
 * [11 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-theme-back-removes-widgets/#post-5252234)
 * I don’t understand. A ton of my widgets do *not* reset, so something is in place
   that can prevent this. And more often than not if the widgets don’t go back to
   where they already were, they will go into the unused widgets, so I just have
   to drag them back, which isn’t as bad. So *Something* is in place, or this behavior
   wouldn’t occur.
 * You said “it resets to default mode” not sure what you are referring to here,
   the sidebar or the widget. Neither appear to reset to default mode consistently.
   Many times I have changed themes and changed back and everything was just the
   way I left it.
 * It seems to me that a conflict is occurring, as this behavior seems to be getting
   worse with each update. Of course I have switched themes in the last couple months
   too, because the old one became obsolete, but I never had this trouble back then.
 * So really, what you are saying doesn’t make sense to me.
 * Edit: and I don’t understand why a theme wouldn’t have a setting to remember 
   what widgets you are using for it.
 *  [sffandom](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sffandom/)
 * (@sffandom)
 * [11 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-theme-back-removes-widgets/#post-5252235)
 * I maintain several dozen WordPress installations and I can only tell you what
   I have seen happen when I change themes: the widgets generally don’t change with
   the themes. It may be that if a plugin creates a widget then the widget may stay
   in place.
 * For example, if you switch from a theme using two sidebars to a theme using one
   sidebar you can’t expect the widgets to all end up on the one sidebar.
 * Whatever the case, the behavior you describe is very common.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

The topic ‘Changing theme back removes widgets’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [change](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/change/)
 * [disappear](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/disappear/)
 * [lost](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/lost/)
 * [settings](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/settings/)
 * [switch](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/switch/)
 * [widgets](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/widgets/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 3 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [sffandom](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sffandom/)
 * Last activity: [11 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-theme-back-removes-widgets/#post-5252235)
 * Status: not resolved

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