Troubleshooting GT Page Blocks Builder

When GT Page Blocks Builder behaves unexpectedly, first separate stored content from its preview. A missing section, a wrong template and an unloaded stylesheet need different fixes.

The checks below include the conditions encountered with the downloadable course demos. Keep a saved copy before replacing sections or changing a template.

The Page Block doesn’t appear in the Gutenberg block inserter

Since 2.6.0 the block is registered under the “Page Blocks” category (legacy content used “Marketers Delight”). Make sure you’re searching for “Page Block” in the inserter. If you still can’t find it, check that the plugin is activated and that there are no JavaScript errors in the browser console that might prevent block registration.

Page Blocks troubleshooting in the 2.x era starts with two new questions before the classic ones: are you looking for the right block name (the inserter shows Page Blocks category, gt-page-block namespace), and did the content migrate? This lesson updates the failure catalog accordingly.

The “Page Blocks Builder” link doesn’t appear in the admin bar

This link only appears on singular posts/pages when viewing them on the frontend. It won’t show on archive pages, the WordPress admin, or in the builder itself. Check that.

• You’re viewing a single post or page on the frontend (not the admin).
• The post type is enabled in Page Blocks > Settings.
• You’re logged in with a user account that has the edit_post capability for that post.

The builder shows “403 Forbidden”

This means one of the access checks failed.

• Expired nonce. WordPress nonces expire after a set time. Go back to the frontend view of the post and click the admin bar link again to generate a fresh nonce.
• Insufficient permissions. Make sure your user account has the edit_post capability for the target post.
• Disabled post type. Check that the post’s type is enabled in the plugin settings.

The preview is blank or doesn’t show theme styles

The preview iframe loads your theme’s stylesheets by collecting them from the builder page. If the preview is blank or unstyled.

• Make sure your theme’s stylesheets are loading on the builder page. Open the browser’s Network tab and verify CSS files are being loaded.
• If your theme loads styles conditionally (e.g., only on certain templates), they may not be available to the preview. Use the gt_page_blocks_builder_preview_injection filter to add required stylesheets.
• Check the browser console for mixed-content errors. The preview iframe and the stylesheets must be on the same protocol (both HTTPS or both HTTP).

Changes don’t appear on the frontend

After editing sections in the visual builder, you must click “Save” to save. Until you save, your changes only exist in the browser (with autosave backing them up to localStorage).

If you’ve saved but changes still don’t appear.

• Check if a caching plugin is serving a stale version of the page. Clear the cache.
• Verify that the page template is set to “Page Blocks Builder” or “Full Page Builder.” Without one of these templates, your theme’s default template may apply width constraints or layout wrappers that interfere with your sections.
• Check the Gutenberg editor to confirm the Page Block instances contain the expected content.

PHP code shows as plain text instead of executing

First check the block setting and the site gates. The checkbox alone is insufficient.

• Confirm the appropriate site-level PHP opt-in.
• For library code, save through the library editor so its checksum matches.
• For inline code, confirm the separate inline-PHP gate.
• Use an administrator for PHP previews.
• Check a custom gt_pb_can_execute_php filter only if the site has one.

Denied PHP is normally stripped. If tags appear literally, inspect the stored markup for escaped PHP or a different renderer instead of assuming that enabling PHP will fix it.

The wpautop formatting produces unexpected results

The format option passes your HTML through wpautop(). This filter adds <p> and <br> tags based on whitespace in your content.

If wpautop is producing unwanted paragraph breaks.

• Make sure your HTML doesn’t have extra blank lines between elements that should be in the same paragraph.
• Consider wrapping your content in block-level elements (<div>, <section>) to prevent wpautop from inserting paragraphs.
• If you don’t need paragraph formatting and just want shortcodes, leave format disabled. Shortcodes are always processed via do_shortcode.

Autosave draft recovery dialog keeps appearing

If you see the “An unsaved draft was recovered” dialog every time you open the builder, it means a draft is stored in localStorage and you’re not saving (via Save) or declining the recovery.

To resolve this.

• Click Cancel on the dialog to discard the draft.
• Or click OK to load the draft, then click Save to save it.

You can also manually clear the draft from your browser’s developer tools. In the Application tab, find localStorage for your site and delete the key md_pb_draft_{post_id}_u{user_id}.

CodeMirror editors don’t load

The code editors depend on WordPress’s bundled CodeMirror library. If CodeMirror fails to load, the editors fall back to plain textareas. This can happen if.

• Another plugin or theme is interfering with the code-editor and wp-codemirror scripts.
• JavaScript errors earlier on the page prevent the code editor initialization.

Check the browser console for errors. The builder will still work with plain textareas, just without syntax highlighting, line numbers, and code folding.

License activation fails

If you get an error when activating your license.

• Verify the license key is correct (no extra spaces).
• Check that your server can make outbound HTTPS requests to gauravtiwari.org. Some hosting providers block outbound HTTP requests.
• If you’re behind a firewall or proxy, make sure the license server is accessible.
• The license server may be temporarily unavailable. Try again later.

Updates don’t appear after activating the license

After activating your license, the plugin checks for updates every 12 hours (cached via a transient). To force an immediate check.

• Go to Dashboard > Updates and click “Check Again.”
• Or deactivate and reactivate the license, which clears the update transient and forces a fresh check.

The Builder Opens the Homepage

In stock 3.0.0, a plugin template assigned to the static homepage can replace the builder shell selected earlier in the request. The builder URL then shows homepage content instead of the editor.

Keep the static homepage on its normal theme template while editing the separate demo pages. This workaround changes the conflicting page template; it does not require disabling permissions or sharing a nonce.

An Imported Demo Loses Its Styling

The supplied JSON files include inline copies of shared sections and embed their images and fonts. They should not need library IDs from the original site.

• Import a page-blocks-*.json file, not the collection manifest.
• Set Full Page Builder manually under a classic theme.
• Keep the imported navigation section: it contains the page-wide demo CSS.
• If you changed the page slugs or installed WordPress in a subdirectory, update the root-relative navigation links.

Ordinary linked blocks can be missing from the browser-only preview in stock 3.0.0. The inline exports avoid that dependency. A blank Gutenberg canvas on WordPress 7.1 was also observed while code view and the standalone builder remained usable; that symptom alone is not evidence of lost content.

Quick answers to common questions:

The Page Block disappeared from the inserter after updating. Where is it?

Search for “Page Block” or look in the Page Blocks category; since 2.6.0 the block lives in the gt-page-block namespace. The legacy marketers-delight block intentionally hides from the inserter while continuing to render existing content.

My sections render but styles are missing. What do I check?

First the toggles: if the page relied on utility classes, confirm Utility Classes is enabled in Page Blocks > Settings. Then caching, then whether the section’s CSS editor content saved (open the builder and check the CSS tab actually has rules).