Title: Sitemap Preview error message
Last modified: January 25, 2021

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# Sitemap Preview error message

 *  Resolved [RuthVant](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ruthvant/)
 * (@ruthvant)
 * [5 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemap-preview-error-message/)
 * This page contains the following errors:
    error on line 2 at column 6: XML declaration
   allowed only at the start of the document Below is a rendering of the page up
   to the first error.
 * The page I need help with: _[[log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Fsitemap-preview-error-message%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US)
   to see the link]_

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

 *  Plugin Author [arnaudbroes](https://wordpress.org/support/users/arnaudbroes/)
 * (@arnaudbroes)
 * [5 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemap-preview-error-message/#post-13953899)
 * [@ruthvant](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ruthvant/) there’s whitespace
   at the beginning of your sitemap, which is caused by your theme or a bad plugin.
   I’d recommend following the steps outlined here to track down the “culprit” –
   [https://aioseo.com/docs/this-page-contains-the-following-errors/](https://aioseo.com/docs/this-page-contains-the-following-errors/)
 *  Thread Starter [RuthVant](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ruthvant/)
 * (@ruthvant)
 * [5 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemap-preview-error-message/#post-13997672)
 * Thanks, a sneaky space at the bottom of my functions.php file was causing it.
 *  Plugin Author [arnaudbroes](https://wordpress.org/support/users/arnaudbroes/)
 * (@arnaudbroes)
 * [5 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemap-preview-error-message/#post-14001653)
 * Ha, there we go! I’m glad to hear you were able to sort it out. 🙂

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

The topic ‘Sitemap Preview error message’ is closed to new replies.

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 * 3 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [arnaudbroes](https://wordpress.org/support/users/arnaudbroes/)
 * Last activity: [5 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemap-preview-error-message/#post-14001653)
 * Status: resolved