Footer settings disappear when switching theme

Was my question noted? (I created another one on the same day on which I got a reply after several days)

I noticed that the widgets I set in both parts shifted to the sidebar widget and this happened several times so there is something wrong here?

Hi @harm10,

I apologize for the late answer.

As far as I know, the widgets don’t remain in the same area when changing the theme, the same happens with the menus.

Just the Customizer settings are stored for each theme so those shouldn’t be lost when switching to a different theme than back to Neve.

This is the WordPress default behavior, it’s not something related to this theme.

Thank you for your reply.
As far my experience with themes goes specific theme settings (and the footer settings are theme specific or not?) stay in the settings for that theme even when you switch to another.
When you switch back the last settings (if they exist) are reinstated (e.g. button background etc. etc.) so why not all the footer settings?

Hi @harm10,

That’s correct but as you mentioned you are working with widgets and after switching themes widgets do not stay there after switching back to the theme. This is not related to the theme but to WordPress core, you should be able to replicate the same with other themes too.

Ok, that is a clear explanation.
I can understand that widgets allocated to the footer disappear from the settings when you return.
But not that they are moved to the sidebar in another theme and also when you return.
Can you reply on the second part of this report?

Hi @harm10,

The widgets “stay” in widget area declared by the theme, which has a unique name.
When switching themes, if two widget areas have the same name, the widgets are automatically migrated, otherwise, they should become inactive.

In some cases, all the widgets are automatically migrated to the default sidebar declared in the theme, however, this differs from a theme to another one

That’s why, when switching back to Neve, if the widgets were move in the meantime, the theme doesn’t know where to take them back for each area.

I hope this makes sense.

I understand the reasoning but I am advocating this should be registered differently. If Neve would keep the footer settings including the used widgets in its own settings nothing should “migrate”.
I also understand that nothing can be done at this moment so please keep it in mind for future releases to try and find a better solution for this?

Hi @harm10,

Sure, we’ll see if there is something that can be done in the theme to prevent this behavior.

Best regards,
Stefan