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Troubleshooting Common Essential Addons Filterable Gallery Issues

32 threads Sep 16, 2025 Plugin → Essential addons for elementor

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The Filterable Gallery widget from Essential Addons for Elementor is a powerful tool, but like any complex feature, it can sometimes run into problems. Based on community reports and solutions, here’s a guide to diagnosing and fixing the most common issues.

1. Lightbox Not Working or Behaving Strangely

The Problem: Users frequently report issues where the lightbox doesn't open, fails to close properly, shows a border around the close button, or displays all gallery images instead of just the filtered ones.

Why It Happens: These problems are often caused by conflicts after updates to either the Essential Addons plugin or Elementor itself. The lightbox functionality relies on specific scripts that can break during updates.

Common Solutions:

  • Update Your Plugins: The first step is always to ensure both Essential Addons for Elementor and Elementor are updated to their latest versions. Many lightbox bugs are patched in subsequent releases.
  • Regenerate Assets & Files: A very common fix is to regenerate the plugin's assets. Go to wp-admin -> Essential Addons -> Tools and click the 'Regenerate Assets' button. Also, regenerate files from wp-admin -> Elementor -> Tools -> General.
  • Check for a Fix in a Development Version: In some cases, the Essential Addons team provides a fixed development version for users to test before an official release is available. This was a solution for a specific lightbox closing bug.
  • Understand Known Limitations: Be aware that the lightbox currently shows all images in the gallery, not just those in the active filter. The development team has stated this is a known limitation that requires a significant code overhaul to fix.

2. Gallery Items Not Loading or Displaying Incorrectly

The Problem: Images may not load, appearing as broken thumbnails, white squares, or only showing in the lightbox but not the grid.

Why It Happens: This is frequently a caching or asset generation issue. It can also be caused by conflicts with other plugins, particularly those that lazy load images.

Common Solutions:

  • Regenerate Assets (Again): As with lightbox issues, the first troubleshooting step is to regenerate assets in both Essential Addons and Elementor tools.
  • Purge All Caches: Clear any server-level caching (e.g., Cloudflare purge), hosting-level caching, and plugin-based caching (WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, etc.). After purging, test with caching temporarily disabled.
  • Exclude from Lazy Loading: If you use a lazy loading plugin or feature (like SG Optimizer), you may need to exclude the gallery's CSS classes. The parent class is typically eael-gallery-grid-item and the image class is gallery-item-thumbnail.

3. Filter or Search Functionality Broken

The Problem: The filter buttons don't respond, the search bar doesn't work after selecting a filter, or the 'Load More' button is unclickable, especially on iOS Safari.

Why It Happens: JavaScript conflicts, outdated plugins, or specific browser quirks can prevent the interactive elements from functioning.

Common Solutions:

  • Update Plugins: Ensure everything is up to date, as many filter and search bugs are resolved in updates.
  • Browser-Specific Testing: If an issue is isolated to a specific browser (like Safari), try resetting the browser or checking for OS updates, as this has resolved issues for some users.
  • Check the Console for Errors: Open your browser's developer tools (F12) and check the Console tab for any red error messages when you click the broken element. These errors can provide crucial clues.

4. Video Gallery Issues

The Problem: Videos not playing in the lightbox, opening on YouTube instead of in a popup, or missing overlay text.

Why It Happens: Bugs introduced in plugin updates can break video functionality. There are also intentional design choices, like not showing text overlays on video items.

Common Solutions:

  • Plugin Updates: Video playback issues are often explicitly fixed in new versions of Essential Addons. Updating is the primary solution.
  • Understand Design Limits: The plugin is designed so that title overlays do not appear on video items, only on image items. This is a current limitation of the widget.

General Troubleshooting Steps

If your specific issue isn't listed above, follow this general checklist:

  1. Update: Update WordPress, Elementor, and Essential Addons to their latest versions.
  2. Regenerate Assets: Always do this after an update. (Essential Addons -> Tools -> Regenerate Assets).
  3. Conflict Test: Temporarily deactivate all other plugins except Elementor and Essential Addons. If the problem goes away, reactivate your plugins one by one to find the culprit. Also, switch to a default WordPress theme (like Twenty Twenty-Four) to rule out a theme conflict.
  4. Clear Caches: Purge every cache on your site—browser, plugin, server, and CDN (like Cloudflare).

By methodically working through these common problems and solutions, you can resolve most issues with the Filterable Gallery widget. The community has found that keeping plugins updated and regularly regenerating assets solves a significant majority of reported problems.

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