What is Autosave in WordPress?

WordPress autosave saves a copy of the post or page you’re editing automatically. If your power goes out, your browser crashes, or your internet connection drops, that copy is your way back. Autosave works in both the Block Editor and the Classic Editor and has been a default feature since WordPress 2.1, released in January 2007.

WordPress actually keeps 2 kinds of backup, in 2 different places. On the server, WordPress saves an autosave to your site’s database every 60 seconds by default, stored as a special type of revision. In the Block Editor, your browser keeps its own local backup as well. That second copy matters when your device can’t reach the server: a server-side autosave needs a working connection, so the browser backup catches typing the server never received.

Autosave never publishes your changes

Autosave is a safety net, not a replacement for saving. WordPress keeps at most 1 autosave per user for each post, and each new autosave overwrites the last. WordPress’s revisions documentation is explicit about the boundaries: an autosave never overwrites the actual post, and it never overwrites the published version your visitors see. For a published post, the autosave sits as a separate revision precisely so unfinished changes can’t replace what’s live. Restoring a backup is always an action you take yourself, and you still need to click Save draft, Update, or Publish to keep a permanent version of your work.

How to restore an autosave

Reopen the post. What WordPress shows you depends on whether the post is published, because the 2 backups surface differently:

• For an unpublished draft in the Block Editor, you’ll see “The backup of this post in your browser is different than the version below.” Click Restore this backup and the local copy from your browser comes straight back into the editor.
• For a published post, you’ll see “There is an autosave of this post that is more recent than the version below.” Click View the autosave to open the revisions screen, where the autosave is clearly marked, and restore it from there. Until you do, it stays a separate revision and your live post is untouched.

You can also reach autosaves manually: open the Settings sidebar, select the Post or Page tab, and click the number next to Revisions. Since WordPress 7.0, this opens a revisions screen with a slider that shows what changed in each version; find the autosave and click Restore. Review what came back before you keep writing, because an autosave can be up to a minute older than the last thing you typed.

Autosave vs. revisions

Autosaves and revisions live in the same system but do different jobs:

• A revision is a permanent snapshot WordPress stores each time you click Save draft, Update, or Publish. By default WordPress stores every revision; developers can cap the number with the WP_POST_REVISIONS setting in wp-config.php, and once a cap is set, WordPress deletes the oldest revisions automatically as the post is updated.
• An autosave is a temporary snapshot WordPress takes automatically. There is at most 1 per user per post, each new autosave overwrites the last, and WordPress marks it clearly as an autosave on the revisions screen. In the database, its name is the parent post’s ID followed by -autosave.

Where WordPress stores autosaves

Server autosaves live in the WordPress database, in the same posts table as regular revisions, as children of the post they belong to. Autosaves are enabled for all posts and pages, and because there is at most 1 autosave per user per post, the table doesn’t grow by a new row every 60 seconds. That single autosave also survives when regular revisions are turned off (WP_POST_REVISIONS set to 0 or false). The Block Editor’s browser backup is the exception: that copy lives in your browser on your device, not in your site’s database.

Changing the autosave interval

WordPress core has no dashboard setting for autosave frequency. To change it, define the AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL constant, in seconds, near the top of wp-config.php, above the “Absolute path to the WordPress directory” comment. For example, define( 'AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL', 600 ); makes WordPress autosave every 10 minutes instead of every 60 seconds; the constant is documented in the wp-config.php guide in the WordPress Advanced Administration handbook. A longer interval means fewer database writes, but it widens the window of unsaved work you can lose, so don’t raise it without a reason.