FAQs Omeka S module

Troubleshooting

Versions are not being captured

  • Confirm the module is active under Admin > Modules.
  • Check that the page_versions table exists. If it is missing, uninstall and reinstall the module (this also clears any existing versions).
  • Look in the PHP error log for lines starting with [PageVersioning] captureVersion failed:. Capture errors are logged and swallowed on purpose so that a versioning problem can never block a page save.
  • Only site pages are versioned. Items, item sets, media and site settings do not produce versions.
  • Changes written directly to the database with SQL bypass Omeka's entity events and are not captured.

A page shows "No versions recorded yet"

Versions are recorded only for saves made after the module was installed. Save the page once and the first version appears.

I saved a page several times but see fewer versions than expected

  • Only one version is stored per page per request, even though Omeka flushes the page and each block separately.
  • A save that changes nothing (clicking Save without editing) stores no version.
  • The retention limit may have pruned older entries. Check the value under Admin > Modules > Configure and see Configuration.

The Version history button is missing from the edit screen

The button is added to the toolbar of the site page edit screen only. It does not appear on item, item set or media forms. Confirm the module is active.

Opening a page's history says "Page not found"

The page has been deleted. The history URL for a page requires the page to exist, but its versions are still listed in the audit log at /admin/page-versioning, where they can be viewed and exported. They cannot be reverted because there is no page to update.

I cannot revert or delete a version

  • Revert and delete require the Editor role or higher. Reviewers and authors have read-only access. See Configuration.
  • If you see "Invalid request (CSRF token mismatch or form error). Please try again.", the form token has expired. Reload the snapshot page and submit again.
  • "Revert failed: ..." usually means the page no longer exists or the stored content could not be applied. The error text after the colon comes from Omeka's API, for example "The slug "about" is already taken." when another page of the site now uses the version's slug. A failed revert leaves the page and its history as they were.

The revert did not seem to change anything

The chosen version may be identical to the current content. Compare the version with the newest entry in the history to confirm; see Comparing Versions.

Items or media disappeared from blocks after a revert

Reverts made with version 1.1.1 or earlier removed the attachments of every block that has them: the items and media of media embeds, item showcases and similar blocks were dropped, and their captions with them. The text and settings of the blocks were restored as expected. Those versions did not record attachments, so they cannot be brought back from the history: add the items again in the page editor, or restore the page from a site backup.

From 1.1.2 a version records its blocks' attachments and a revert restores them; reverting to a version stored before 1.1.2 keeps the attachments the blocks have at that moment.

The diff shows no changes, or shows the whole block as changed

  • The diff compares the text of each block with HTML tags removed. Formatting-only edits (for example making a word bold) do not appear.
  • Changes to page layout settings or block layout data are not included in the text and do not appear in the diff.
  • The diff is line based. Editing one word in a long paragraph shows the whole paragraph removed and added again.
  • Very large pages are truncated at 5,000 lines and a note is appended to the diff.

Retention does not seem to prune old versions

  • Pruning happens only when a new version is written for that page. After lowering the limit, each page is trimmed at its next save.
  • A limit of 0 means keep everything.

The API returns 403, 404 or 422

  • A 403 means the request has no login session, or the user is below the Author role (below Editor for a revert). A revert also returns 403 when Omeka does not let the user change that page.
  • A 404 when listing versions means the page does not exist or is private and not visible to the requester.
  • A 422 on a revert means Omeka refused to save the page as it was in that version, most often because another page of the site now uses its slug. The errors field of the response lists the reasons.
  • The endpoints use the Omeka login session, not key_identity/key_credential. See REST API.

Does deleting a page delete its versions?

No. Version rows are kept as an audit trail and remain visible in the audit log. They are removed only when deleted individually, pruned by the retention limit (which does not run for deleted pages, since they are no longer saved), or when the module is uninstalled.

Is version data included in backups?

page_versions is an ordinary table in the Omeka S database, so any full database backup includes it. It is not part of Omeka's own export tools.

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