{"id":20249,"date":"2026-07-20T14:04:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T12:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/surver.nl\/?post_type=kennisbank&p=20249"},"modified":"2026-07-20T14:18:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T12:18:22","slug":"undo-wordpress-changes","status":"publish","type":"kennisbank","link":"https:\/\/surver.nl\/en\/kennisbank\/wordpress-wijzigingen-ongedaan-maken\/","title":{"rendered":"Undoing WordPress Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You shouldn't have clicked that one button. You deleted a paragraph and saved it, deleted a page, ran an update that broke everything, or changed a setting and now can\u2019t remember what it was set to. The first reaction is usually mild panic, and the second question is always the same: can I undo this? Almost always, yes. WordPress doesn\u2019t have a single \u201cundo\u201d button but a stack of safety nets layered on top of each other, ranging from light to heavy. The trick is choosing the right level: don\u2019t restore from a full backup to fix something a single revision could solve, and don\u2019t search through revisions for something that was never there in the first place. Let\u2019s go through the levels from smallest to largest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Level 1: Undo in the editor<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Are you still in the editor and haven't saved the page yet? Then the answer is the undo arrow in the upper-left corner of the toolbar, or the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac). You can undo any step in your current editing session this way. This safety net disappears as soon as you exit the editor, and that\u2019s where level two begins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Level 2: Revisions, the history of each page<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

WordPress automatically saves previous versions of every page and post: revisions. Every time you save or update, a new version is added, and while you\u2019re typing, WordPress also creates an automatic interim version (autosave) every minute. So if you\u2019ve messed up a piece of text and saved it, open the page, click \u201cRevisions\u201d on the right side of the settings panel, and scroll through the history. You\u2019ll see exactly what changed in each version, and you can restore an older version with a single click. Even after a browser crash in the middle of writing, you\u2019ll usually find an autosave here that\u2019s no more than a minute old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be aware of the limitations of this safety net: revisions only apply to the content of pages and posts. Menus, widgets, settings, and anything saved by a plugin or theme are excluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Level 3: the Recycle Bin for deleted items<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A deleted page, post, or comment isn\u2019t gone\u2014it\u2019s just been moved to the trash. Go to Pages or Posts and click the Trash tab at the top: there you\u2019ll find everything that\u2019s been deleted in the past thirty days, with a restore option for each item. After those 30 days, WordPress automatically empties the Trash, and the item is permanently gone. If it\u2019s been deleted and is no longer in the Trash, then move on to step five: the backup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Level 4: Reverting a plugin or theme to the previous version<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If a plugin or theme update broke your site, you don\u2019t want to restore your entire site\u2014just that one component. There\u2019s a targeted solution for this: a rollback plugin like WP Rollback displays previous versions of every plugin and theme and restores the one you want with a single click. It\u2019s faster and more precise than a full restore, and your recent content changes remain intact. Do use this only as a temporary measure, though: a rolled-back version lacks the latest security fixes, so report the issue to the developer and update again as soon as a fixed version is available. To learn how to manage updates going forward so that a failure doesn\u2019t cause any stress, read our A Complete Guide to WordPress Management<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Level 5: the backup, the safety net that underpins everything<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For anything not covered by the previous levels, there\u2019s the backup (a backup copy of your files and database): deleted settings, a failed experiment in the code, a page that\u2019s been out of the trash for months, or a site that just isn\u2019t working properly anymore after a series of changes. Restoring a backup returns your site entirely to the selected point in time. That\u2019s both its strength and its caveat: everything reverts to that point, so even the successful changes and new submissions made after that point will be lost. Therefore, choose the most recent restore point from before the error, and for an online store or high-traffic site, first consider whether a more targeted restore level will suffice. How to create, store, and restore backups is explained in full in our A Complete Guide to WordPress Backups and Migration<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Surver: With our managed plans, we automatically back up your site every day. This means there\u2019s always a restore point available that\u2019s no more than one day old, and our support team is available seven days a week to help you restore your site if you\u2019d rather not do it yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Level That Doesn't Exist: Institutions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Just a fair warning, because this is the trap people fall into: there is no version control system for individual settings. A changed option in Settings, your theme, or a plugin doesn\u2019t have a \u201crestore previous value\u201d button; the only safety net for that is the Level 5 backup. So here are two habits that help minimize this risk: take a screenshot of a settings screen before you change anything, and change settings one at a time, checking the results after each change, so you always know which change caused which effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recovery is nice, but prevention is even better<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

All these features combined make WordPress remarkably forgiving, but you\u2019ll only truly feel at ease if you\u2019ve set up your safety nets in advance: revisions are included for free, as is the trash can, and you\u2019ll need to handle the backups yourself (or have them handled for you). If you\u2019re still building your site, make sure to adopt those habits from the start; our A Beginner's Guide to Creating a Website with WordPress<\/a> guides you at the right moments. Then the next wrong click won't cause a panic\u2014it'll just take five minutes to fix.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Die ene klik had je niet moeten doen. Een alinea gewist en opgeslagen, een pagina verwijderd, een update gedraaid die de boel brak, of een instelling omgezet waarvan je niet meer weet hoe hij stond. De eerste reactie is meestal lichte paniek, en de tweede vraag is altijd dezelfde: kan dit terug? Vrijwel altijd wel. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20250,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"kennisbank_categorieen":[62],"class_list":["post-20249","kennisbank","type-kennisbank","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","kennisbank_categorieen-wordpress"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/surver.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kennisbank\/20249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/surver.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kennisbank"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/surver.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/kennisbank"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surver.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surver.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/surver.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"kennisbank_categorieen","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surver.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kennisbank_categorieen?post=20249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}