BugWP logo BugWP
Back to Community
Home / Community / Core → Everything else wordpress

How to Hide Post Revisions from WordPress Admin Search Results

14 threads Sep 7, 2025 Core → Everything else wordpress

Content

If you've noticed that your WordPress admin search results are cluttered with post revisions, you're not alone. This behavior can make it difficult to find the live, published content you're looking for. This guide explains why this happens and provides the most common solutions to clean up your search results.

Why Do Revisions Appear in Search?

By default, WordPress should not include post revisions in admin search results. The core software is designed to search only published posts, pages, and other public post types. If you are seeing revisions in your search, it is highly likely that a plugin or your theme is modifying the default WordPress query behavior. A plugin might be altering search parameters to include all post statuses or all post types, which inadvertently pulls in revision records.

How to Troubleshoot and Fix the Issue

Since this is not standard WordPress behavior, the solution involves identifying and resolving the conflict. Follow these steps to diagnose and fix the problem.

1. Perform a Plugin and Theme Conflict Test

The most effective first step is to deactivate all your plugins temporarily. This will help you determine if a plugin is causing the issue.

  1. Go to your WordPress Admin Dashboard > Plugins.
  2. Deactivate all plugins. You can do this quickly by selecting all plugins, choosing the Deactivate action from the bulk actions dropdown, and clicking Apply.
  3. Once all plugins are deactivated, perform a search in your posts list again. If the revisions no longer appear, you know a plugin is the culprit.
  4. To find the specific plugin, reactivate them one by one. After activating each plugin, check your search results. When the revisions reappear, you have identified the problematic plugin.

If deactivating plugins does not resolve the issue, consider temporarily switching to a default WordPress theme like Twenty Twenty-Four. If the problem goes away with the default theme, the issue lies with your main theme, and you should contact the theme's support community for assistance.

2. Review Plugin Settings

If you identified a specific plugin causing the conflict, check its settings. Some advanced admin or search plugins may have options to include or exclude certain post types or statuses from search. Look for a setting that might be configured to include "all" post statuses and change it to only include "publish."

3. Consider Custom Code (Advanced)

If the conflict test does not yield results or you are a developer, you can use a code snippet to explicitly prevent revisions from being included in admin searches. The following code can be added to your child theme's functions.php file or via a code snippets plugin.

function exclude_revisions_from_admin_search( $query ) {
    // Only modify the query in the admin area and for the main search query
    if ( is_admin() && $query->is_main_query() && $query->get( 's' ) ) {
        // Get the current post_type query, if it exists
        $post_type = $query->get( 'post_type' );
        
        // If no post_type is set or it's set to 'any', we need to define what to search
        if ( empty( $post_type ) || $post_type === 'any' ) {
            // Get all public post types, but exclude 'revision'
            $post_types = get_post_types( array( 'public' => true ), 'names' );
            unset( $post_types['revision'] ); // Ensure revisions are removed
            $query->set( 'post_type', array_values( $post_types ) );
        }
    }
}
add_action( 'pre_get_posts', 'exclude_revisions_from_admin_search' );

Warning: Editing theme files directly can break your site if done incorrectly. Always use a child theme and create a full backup before making any changes.

Conclusion

Seeing post revisions in your admin search is almost always a sign of a plugin or theme conflict. The recommended path is to systematically deactivate plugins to find the source of the problem. For most users, this will resolve the issue quickly. If you need to pursue a code-based solution, proceed with caution and consider seeking help from a developer.

Related Support Threads Support