Hi,

I have had very similar issues with each of the recent updates.

I’ve been using Newspaper Theme since 2014 and never had any problems until the last few updates, beginning with V11+. Since then, every update causes my theme options to reset to default. When this happened the first time, I had to rebuild my site completely, causing me a huge loss of time and money. (I had years worth of monthly backups but each of them gave an error message when I tried to import. I also had daily server backups, but again, they didn’t restore the theme options.)

After learning that lesson the hard way, I’ve been more careful to make full manual backups prior to updating the theme, and, now they work. But, I still have to import my backup theme settings and then go through the entire theme options/widgets/menus and make several other changes to restore additional settings, menu’s, widgets, etc… This takes several hours for every theme update.

Newspaper has always been a very stable theme and works great for our purpose, but at this point, I have to consider moving to another theme unless I can fix this issue permanently – obviously, I can’t continue to rebuild the site after each update.

Reading the forum, I see other posts similar to mine and still have not seen any definitive answers as to why this is happening. It’s been months now and several updates but still no resolution.

Is this an issue that you are actively working on a solution?

Same issue here. Again! The last update destroyed my site to the point that I had to rebuild it. Contacted support and got no reply. And now again, my theme registration is gone, all theme settings default, css all gone, and all widgets gone. Basically everything is gone again.

Best part is that I didn’t even do the 11.2 update. Is there an auto update now?

Hi Vlad – this is not my experience. I originally updated the theme to 11 via FTP. This is the only way I have ever updated the theme. I also made a backup both on my server and manually via copying custom code (CSS, HTML), the Theme export option, PHPmyadmin backup and WordPress XML backup.

Now none of these backups work. The Newspaper txt file says it is invalid which is basically impossible. I have multiple backups going back years, and I’ve tried several to see if my last backup really was corrupt and none work.

There obviously seems to be an issue with V11 as there are many many posts here on the forum with people having the same exact issues. I’ve been using Newspaper for 5 years and done all backups the same way and never had one single issue until now. The theme was basically reset to all default values and I have no way of restoring them.

Even when I try to restore a server backup (SiteGround) from days before I did the 11 update, I get V10.4(?) but my options/widgets/customization is still all missing. I know that it is pulling the old backup because the more recent posts are missing.

I have tried all available options that I have and nothing is working other than importing my CSS. Everything else related to the theme is gone. I am at a total loss with no other options to move forward other than to rebuild the site.

If you have any additional suggestions, PLEASE let me know. This has caused a MAJOR issue for me and my client. They are VERY unhappy and the site has been down for days now and still no answers.

Hi. Thanks for your reply.

I have already attempted to reinstall the theme and plugins via FTP. I also have daily server backups but even when I restore to a date prior to the upgrade to 11, my theme options are gone.

I have an export of my theme options from a week ago. When I try to import it, I get the following error message:

Imported data is not valid. Failed to update the theme settings.

Here is a copy of the txt I’m trying to import
YTo1NTE6e3M6MjI6InRkc19hdXRob3JfcGFnZV9sYXlvdXQiO3M6MjoiMTAiO3M6MjQ6InRkc19jYXRlZ29yeV9wYWdlX2xheW91dCI7czoyOiIxMCI7czoxOToidGRzX3RhZ19wYWdlX2xheW91dCI7czoyOiIxMCI7czoxNToidGRzX2xvZ29fdXBsb2FkIjtzOjEwMzoiaHR0cHM6Ly9ibG9nLmNvbnRhY3RjZW50ZXJwaXBlbGluZS5jb20vd3AtY29udGVudC91cGxvYWRzLzIwMjAvMTEvYmxvZy1jb250YWN0LWNlbnRlci1waXBlbGluZS1sb2dvLnN2ZyI7czoxODoidGRzX2Zhdmljb25fdXBsb2FkIjtzOjc5OiJodHRwczovL2Jsb2cuY29udGFjdGNlbnRlcnBpcGVsaW5lLmNvbS93cC1jb250ZW50L3VwbG9hZHMvMjAyMC8xMS9mYXZpY29uLTEuc3ZnIjtzOjMxOiJ0ZHNfZmVhdHVyZWRfaW1hZ2Vfdmlld19zZXR0aW5nIjtzOjg6Im5vX21vZGFsIjtzOjIwOiJ0ZHNfc2ltaWxhcl9hcnRpY2xlcyI7czowOiIiO3M6MjA6InRkc19mb290ZXJfY29weXJpZ2h0IjtzOjQwOiIjI3llYXIjIyBQaXBlbGluZSBQdWJsaXNoaW5nIEdyb3VwLCBJbmMuIjtzOjIwOiJ0ZHNfaG9tZV9wYWdlX2xheW91dCI7czoyOiIxNiI7czoxODoidGRzX2F1dGhvcl9zaWRlYmFyIjtzOjA6IiI7czoyMjoidGRzX3NlYXJjaF9wYWdlX2xheW91dCI7czoyOiIxMCI7czoxNToidGRzX3RoZW1lX2NvbG9yIjtzOjc6IiMwMDRiOTEiO3M6MTI6InRkc19sb2dvX2FsdCI7czozMzoiQmxvZyBDb250YWN0IENlbnRlciBQaXBlbGluZSBMb2dvIjtzOjE0OiJ0ZHNfbG9nb190aXRsZSI7czozMzoiQmxvZyBDb250YWN0IENlbnRlciBQaXBlbGluZSBMb2dvIjtzOjEyOiJ0ZF9hbmFseXRpY3MiO3M6NDM0OiI8c2NyaXB0Pg0KICAoZnVuY3Rpb24oaSxzLG8sZyxyLGEsbSl7aVtcJ0dvb2dsZUFuYWx5dGljc09iamVjdFwnXT1yO2lbcl09aVtyXXx8ZnVuY3Rpb24oKXsNCiAgKGlbcl0ucT1pW3JdLnF8fFtdKS5wdXNoKGFyZ3VtZW50cyl9LGlbcl0ubD0xKm5ldyBEYXRlKCk7YT1zLmNyZWF0ZUVsZW1lbnQobyksDQogIG09cy5nZXRFbGVtZW50c0J5VGFnTmFtZShvKVswXTthLmFzeW5jPTE7YS5zcmM9ZzttLnBhcmVudE5vZGUuaW5zZXJ0QmVmb3JlKGEsbSkNCiAgfSkod2luZG93LGRvY3VtZW50LFwnc2NyaXB0XCcsXCcvL3d3dy5nb29nbGUtYW5hbHl0aWNzLmNvbS9hbmFseXRpY3MuanNcJyxcJ2dhXCcpOw0KDQogIGdhKFwnY3JlYXRlXCcsIFwnVUEtNzA2NDgxMi0yXCcsIFwnYXV0b1wnKTsNCiAgZ2EoXCdzZW5kXCcsIFwncGFnZXZpZXdcJyk7DQoNCjwvc2NyaXB0PiI7czoxNjoidGRzX3Bfc2hvd192aWV3cyI7czo0OiJoaWRlIjtzOjE5OiJ0ZHNfcF9zaG93X2NvbW1lbnRzIjtzOjQ6ImhpZGUiO3M6MTI6InRkc190b3BfbWVudSI7czo0OiJoaWRlIjtzOjY6InRkX2FkcyI7YToxNzp7czo2OiJoZWFkZXIiO2E6MTA6e3M6NzoiYWRfY29kZSI7czoyNzM6IjxhIHN0eWxlPVwib3V0bGluZTpub25lO2JvcmRlcjowO1wiIGhyZWY9XCJodHRwczovL2JpdC5seS8yVzU4T0hNXCIgcmVsPVwibm9yZWZlcnJlciBub2ZvbGxvd1wiIHRhcmdldD1cIl9ibGFua1wiPjxpbWcgc3JjPVwiaHR0cHM6Ly9ibG9nLmNvbnRhY3RjZW50ZXJwaXBlbGluZS5jb20vd3AtY29udGVudC91cGxvYWRzLzIwMjAvMDEvVkVSWDcyOFgyMDIwMDEwMTUyQjlDQjZDMDQ2My5naWZcIiBhbHQ9XCJWZXJpbnRcIiBoZWlnaHQ9XCI5MFwiIHdpZHRoPVwiNzI4XCI

Hi Yes I have tried restoring from server backup and restoring Newspaper settings export. Neither works. I tried reverting to V10.xx and that doesn’t allow me to reimport settings either. I have copies of my CSS so was able to get that back but I’ve lost all custom widgets, footer, header, thumbnails, basically my entire site is completely broken.

I have made sure all plugins are installed several times.

Hosting with Siteground and they no longer have cpanel access. But this issue doesn’t seem to be unique to me, there are MANY posts here in the forumn of the same or similar issue.

Yes I’m having the same problem. My site has been down for two days. Restoring from server backups doesn’t fix the problem. Importing backups of theme settings gives error messages. I have too much customization to recreate the site. I’ve lost all sidebars, footer, etc… All Theme options are reset to default. Header is gone…. guys this is a major issue. I see many people on here having similar issues. Can you please let us know what is being done to resolve these issues? Thanks

Update: my widgets and theme options that have disappeared are still missing when I restore from backups. I even went back 30 days when I know 100% that everything was in place and still all theme options and widgets are missing.

Hopefully someone from TagDiv responds because this is a serious issue. My site is completely broken.

Yes I’ve also updated to 11 and lost my entire site. Newspaper basically looks like a clean install. All Custom CSS – gone. All client ads – gone. All thumbnails – gone. Homepage – gone. Logos – gone.

Only thing left are the post pages themselves.

Thankfully I have daily backups but as of now they aren’t any different. This happened about a week-2 weeks after the update.

Hi – I’m also having the same issue where the – Homepage Latest Articles – section is not showing in the same way as the original post described above. I am also using Classic Editor plugin.

I disabled Classic Editor as suggested and again tried to edit the page, but the ‘Homepage Latest Articles’ section still is not showing.

When I go to ‘Screen Options’ or the equivalent in Gutenberg, the checkbox for ‘Homepage Latest Articles’ is visible and is checked. I tried checking and unchecking it but nothing happens. If I uncheck other screen options, they disappear as expected, and return when I re-check them.

So I am not able to get ‘Homepage Latest Articles’ to appear in either editor.

WP 5.0.3
Theme 9.5
All plugins are updated

Thank you.

Hi. I’m also having trouble trying to change the number of posts that appear on the homepage. I have the homepage set to static page – using Newspaper V9.2.

When I go to Homepage Latest Articles, there is no tab for Posts Loop Settings. I’ve tried with both Gutenberg and with the Classic Editor Plugin activated. I do not see the option either way.

Please see screenshot here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/05yku1u3458nq9v/Screenshot%202019-02-02%2022.02.09.png
Please help. I’ve spent hours searching for a solution to this. Thank you!

So I haven’t changed anything but it appears to be working now.

Hi – I’m showing the following 13 errors and 10 warnings in the inspector console on the admin page ( /wp-admin/admin.php?page=td_theme_panel )

– https://pastebin.com/0ygQDdJN

Came here looking for a solution. Having the same issue starting today.