This guide details how, when activating a new WordPress theme, the formatting and content of articles and pages can be altered, this if the new theme does not use the same shortcodes and/or the same page builder (page constructor).

Layout issues

Here is an example of how your articles and pages may appear after changing your WordPress theme:

Unfortunately, there is no automatic solution to fix this issue: you will have to:

• either revert to the old theme you were using
• or manually adapt the content of your site with the tools provided by your new WordPress theme.

Obviously, you can also uninstall and reinstall WordPress, the site content will be erased and you will start fresh.

Avoiding future issues

Here are some tips to avoid having to reformat all the content of your site in case of a theme change:

• Use WordPress theme-specific shortcodes as little as possible.
• Use a universal page builder that is compatible with all WordPress themes (for example Visual Composer or Thrive Content Builder).
• Take the time to test and evaluate the quality of a theme by comparing it with 2-3 similar themes before using it and adapting all the content of your site.

Useful resources

• Find and automatically remove all unused shortcodes (article in English)…