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Troubleshooting Guide: Why Your Events Calendar Isn't Showing Events

47 threads Sep 16, 2025 Plugin → The events calendar

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If you've installed The Events Calendar plugin and created events, but they're not appearing on your calendar page, you're not alone. This is one of the most common issues users encounter. Events failing to display can be frustrating, but the cause is often one of a few common culprits.

Why This Happens

Events not showing up on your calendar or resulting in 404 'page not found' errors is typically related to one of the following:

  • Permalink Structure: WordPress needs to regenerate its URL rewrite rules to recognize the new event pages.
  • Plugin or Theme Conflicts: Another plugin or your theme's code can interfere with how The Events Calendar functions.
  • Caching: Aggressive caching, either from a plugin or your server, can serve old, outdated pages that don't include new events.
  • Security Plugins: Some security plugins can block the AJAX requests the calendar uses to load event data, resulting in a 401 'Unauthorized' error.
  • Migration Status: A recent plugin update may require a migration of your event data to a new system that hasn't been completed.

How to Fix It: Step-by-Step Troubleshooting

Step 1: Always Start with Permalinks
This is the easiest and most common fix. Simply visit your WordPress Dashboard > Settings > Permalinks page and click the 'Save Changes' button without making any changes. This refreshes the site's rewrite rules and often resolves 404 errors for new events immediately.

Step 2: Check for Caching Issues
If permalinks don't work, clear all caching. This includes:

  • Your caching plugin (e.g., WP Fastest Cache, W3 Total Cache, WP Rocket)
  • Your browser cache (try loading the page in an incognito window)
  • Any server-level cache (check with your web host)
  • A Content Delivery Network (CDN) like Cloudflare
After clearing all caches, check if your events appear.

Step 3: Perform a Conflict Test
If the issue persists, a conflict is likely. The standard method for testing is as follows:

  1. Switch to a Default Theme: Temporarily switch your theme to a WordPress default theme like Twenty Twenty-Four. If the events appear, the issue is with your main theme.
  2. Deactivate All Other Plugins: Deactivate every plugin except for The Events Calendar. If the calendar works now, reactivate your other plugins one-by-one to identify which one is causing the conflict.
Important: Always perform this test on a staging site first. If you don't have one, use a plugin like WP Staging to create a copy of your site for safe testing.

Step 4: Investigate Security Plugins
If your calendar navigation (e.g., switching months) returns a 401 error in the browser console, a security plugin is likely blocking the request. Temporarily disable security plugins like Solid Security (iThemes Security) or Wordfence to test. If this resolves the issue, you will need to adjust the settings within your security plugin to allow requests from The Events Calendar.

Step 5: Verify Migration Status
Navigate to Events > Settings > Troubleshooting. Look for the values for 'Custom Tables Migration Status' and 'Custom Tables Health Check'. If a migration is pending or has issues, this could be the root cause. The 'The Events Calendar' team has documentation on this process if needed.

When to Seek Further Help

If you have worked through all these steps and your events are still not visible, the problem may be more specific. When seeking help in community forums, be prepared to share your PHP version, WordPress version, The Events Calendar version, and your theme name and version. This information is crucial for others to help diagnose the problem effectively.

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