Welcome email editor seized up

Hi @mechtraveller,

Thanks for the screenshot. I can see the template loaded fully but the entire page is frozen — nothing clickable.

This is MailPoet’s newer block-based email editor, used specifically for automation emails. It’s different from the classic drag-and-drop editor used for regular newsletters, which is why your normal email editing works fine.

There was a known issue where certain versions of the Gutenberg plugin caused this exact editor to become unresponsive. The fix has been released, so here’s what to try:

1. Check if the Gutenberg plugin is installed — go to Plugins → Installed Plugins and look for “Gutenberg.” If it’s there, update it to the latest version and try again. If you don’t specifically need it (most sites don’t — WordPress already includes the block editor), try deactivating it.
2. Test in incognito/private browsing — browser extensions like ad blockers can also freeze MailPoet admin pages.
3. Clear your browser cache and reload.
4. If none of the above helps, run a plugin conflict test: https://kb.mailpoet.com/article/204-how-to-test-for-plugins-conflict

About custom welcome emails: you can also create them via MailPoet → Emails → Welcome Emails, which uses the classic drag-and-drop editor with full design freedom.

Could you share the following so we can dig deeper?

• MailPoet version, WordPress version, and active theme
• Whether the Gutenberg plugin is installed (and its version)
• The info from MailPoet → Help → System Info

Looking forward to helping you get this sorted!

Hi @mechtraveller,

Thanks for trying those steps and sharing your version details.

Since the Gutenberg plugin wasn’t installed before and adding it hasn’t helped, I’d recommend removing it.

The automation email editor uses the block-based editor under the hood, and the Sally theme is the most likely candidate for causing it to freeze. The key step that would help us narrow this down is:

1. Go to Appearance > Themes and temporarily switch to Twenty Twenty-Five (or another default WordPress theme)
2. Then go back to MailPoet > Automations and try opening the email editor again

If it works with a default theme, then we know the Sally theme is the cause of the conflict.

If it’s still frozen with a default theme, could you also check for errors in the browser console? Here’s how:

1. Open the frozen automation email editor page
2. Press F12 (or right-click > Inspect) to open DevTools
3. Click the Console tab
4. Take a screenshot of any red error messages shown there

That will tell us exactly what’s failing.

Also, could you copy and paste the information from MailPoet > Help > System Info? That will give us a fuller picture of your environment.

Regarding the Welcome Emails feature: you’re right that you can’t assign a classic-editor welcome email to an Automations step — those are separate systems. As an alternative while we sort out the editor issue, MailPoet > Emails > Welcome Emails lets you set up an automatic welcome email that sends when someone subscribes to a list, without needing Automations at all. It’s available on the free plan and uses the classic editor. It’s not a fix for the frozen editor, but it could get you up and running in the meantime.

Let me know what happens with the theme switch — that’s the most important next step.

Hi @mechtraveller,

Thank you for testing that. Since the theme switch didn’t resolve it, let’s look at what the browser console is telling us.

There are several errors and warnings that together could be causing the editor to freeze:

1. Gutenberg plugin conflict

The console shows Uncaught (in promise) AbortError: Transition was skipped. Your site is running WordPress 7.0.1, which already includes the block editor. Having the standalone Gutenberg plugin active alongside it can create version mismatches in the block editor internals. The automation email editor relies on the block editor, so this conflict can cause it to become unresponsive.

2. TinyMCE errors from the Sally theme

The console shows Uncaught ReferenceError: tinymce is not defined originating from your Sally theme’s shortcodes-button.js. Even though switching to Twenty Twenty-Five didn’t fix the freeze on its own, this error is still significant. The Sally theme loads a script that expects TinyMCE to be available, but the block editor doesn’t load TinyMCE. When this script fails, it can disrupt other scripts on the page. This error will return when you switch back to Sally, so it’s worth reporting to the theme developer (TCD).

3. TinyMCE Advanced injecting styles incorrectly

The console shows warnings that tadv-block-editor-styles-css was added to the iframe incorrectly. The TinyMCE Advanced plugin is inserting its stylesheet directly into the block editor iframe instead of using the proper block.json or enqueue_block_assets method. This incorrect injection can interfere with how the editor renders.

4. Classic Editor

Having the Classic Editor plugin active alongside the block-based automation email editor can also cause loading conflicts, since it changes how WordPress handles editors.

What to try next

These issues are likely compounding. Could you try deactivating these three plugins at once and then opening the automation email editor:

• Gutenberg
• Classic Editor
• TinyMCE Advanced

If the editor works after that, re-enable them one at a time to identify which one (or which combination) is the cause.

The Gutenberg plugin is the most likely primary culprit here, since WordPress 7.0.1 already includes everything it provides. Removing it permanently shouldn’t affect your site’s functionality.

Let us know how it goes!