Floating footer in WP Classic Editor after upgrade to Jetpack 7.9

That’s odd, there’s really nothing in Jetpack 7.9 that would have caused that, and I don’t see it myself with the Classic Editor plugin.

Here’s what I see under WordPress 5.3, Jetpack 7.9, and Classic Editor 1.5: https://cld.wthms.co/FbJBVU

I’d be curious to hear if there’s any improvement after you upgrade to WordPress 5.3.

If you’d rather not do that, or there is no improvement, please attempt to disable all plugins except Jetpack, and switch to the default Twenty Nineteen theme. If the problem goes away, enable them one by one to identify the source of the problem.

Hi, James. The “floating footer” issue is only happening to our WordPress users who use PCs and Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. I use multiple macs and Safari and Firefox browsers and am not experiencing the issue.

I have put in a support message to the Classic Editor plugin support page to see if they, too, can look into this problem.

In regards to one of your suggestions, I will not be updating to WP 5.3 soon as numerous of my plugins have not yet tested with 5.3. And in fact, the Classic Editor plugin is currently experiencing major issues with WP 5.3, based on the many commenters over there on that support page. So, updating my WP to 5.3 would only multiply my problems with Classic Editor use.

I could try disabling the Classic Editor plugin as a test, but then that would change our site admin to the Gutenberg editor, which I don’t think would help me troubleshoot. (Plus, our team has had no training on Gutenberg editor and are extremely happy with the Classic Editor and are dependent on the plugin.)

I think my best fix in the short run is to go back to JetPack 7.8. I would suspect that’s easy to do, but I’m not sure how to do that.

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by bruceparker1.

I checked using Chrome on Windows, on WordPress 5.3, Jetpack 7.9 and Classic Editor 1.5, and I don’t see the issue you’re describing on my test site.

Please upgrade to WordPress 5.3 to see if that resolves the issue. If not, it could be another plugin causing this, so try disabling everything except Classic Editor in that case to see if that helps.

I think my best fix in the short run is to go back to JetPack 7.8. I would suspect that’s easy to do, but I’m not sure how to do that.

You can download older versions of Jetpack directly from GitHub at https://github.com/automattic/jetpack/releases, but we don’t recommend using an outdated version of Jetpack, and we won’t be able to help with any issues caused by using an outdated version.

Hi Kokkie and James. I have disabled all my plugins except Jetpack 7.9 and Classic Editor 1.5 and still have the “floating footer” problem for my PC users who have Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers.

I run WordPress 5.2.4 and PHP 7.3.8, and I will NOT upgrade WordPress to 5.3 right now because the Classic Editor plugin is having many serious known issues with WP 5.3. (Just check the many complaints on that plugin’s support page.)

As a result, my only fix for now is to go back to Jetpack 7.8 temporarily.

Can I do this by deleting the JetPack folder located in my files at: public_html/wp-content/plugins/jetpack

And then uploading my backup folder (which is Jetpack 7.8)?

Can I do this by deleting the JetPack folder located in my files at: public_html/wp-content/plugins/jetpack

And then uploading my backup folder (which is Jetpack 7.8)?

I would rather delete Jetpack from WP-Admin, and reinstall version 7.8 which you can download directly from our GitHub repository.

But I repeat that we can not provide support for issues caused by using an outdated version of the plugin, and it is also not recommended at all from a security perspective.

I will NOT upgrade WordPress to 5.3 right now because the Classic Editor plugin is having many serious known issues with WP 5.3. (Just check the many complaints on that plugin’s support page.)

For what it’s worth, I did check a few of the issues there, and I can’t replicate any of them on my test site using WordPress 5.3, Jetpack 7.9, and Classic Editor 1.5. Uploading and inserting images, switching between visual and text mode, pasting text, all work for me just fine in the classic editor.

Kokkie, why would you rather I delete JetPack from WP-Admin and reinstall 7.8 from GitHub repository instead of my suggestion of deleting the JetPack folder located in my files at public_html/wp-content/plugins/jetpack and then uploading my backup folder, which is JetPack 7.8. (I backed-up right before I upgraded to 7.9.)

If I follow your suggestion, I would then have to set up all my JetPack settings and widgets and connections all over again from scratch. It’s a lot more work, I think, than my suggestion. Am I misunderstanding JetPack and its file structure?

I’m glad to hear you checked the Classic Editor complaints on your test site using WordPress 5.3, Jetpack 7.9, and Classic Editor 1.5. However, I compiled a list of Classic Editor 1.5 glitches being reported by more than one person who just upgraded their WordPress to WP 5.3:

“Gallery not displaying”
“can’t paste anything on the visual editor”
“not able to switch to HTML/text mode”
“popup for adding links to text doesn’t work”
“placeholder text ‘Add title’ not going away once you add post title”
“Cannot upload images/media using Classic Editor”

Any one of those glitches would be severe for our web publishing business. And I notice these glitches are not being addressed in a timely manner right now at the support site. I can’t risk it. (And I’m still waiting on someone there to respond to my “floating footer” problem.)

Until those are addressed, and as much as I love staying current, the safe solution for me is to use JetPack 7.8.

One more point worth mentioning. I have been using the 1.5 version of Classic Editor since at least June 2019. I think that means that some new JetPack change in 7.9 has created a conflict with status quo 1.5 Classic Editor code, not the other way around.

I’m not a developer or programmer, but I think that logic applies.

It’s not so much a matter of your installation method, as it is that we can’t support or recommend using an older version of Jetpack, or of WordPress itself.

Everyone, I understand. You can’t support or recommend an older version.

Having established that, my question now has to do with which installation process I will use to go back to 7.8.

I had asked if I can I accomplish this down-grade by deleting the JetPack folder located in my files at: public_html/wp-content/plugins/jetpack and then uploading my backup jetpack folder (which is Jetpack 7.8)

But Kokkie responded: “I would rather delete Jetpack from WP-Admin, and reinstall version 7.8 which you can download directly from our GitHub repository.”

And now I am asking why someone might choose one method over the other for going back to a prior version. Thanks in advance for your response.

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by bruceparker1.

Either method could work, but please keep in mind that downgrading could break things, and we cannot help if that happens.

Got it, thanks. I see 7.8.1 on the GitHub, but not 7.8. My version was 7.8.

One last question. Are you JetPack contributor and supporter folks able to contact the Classic Editor plugin support folks to see about a fix to my “Floating footer in WP Classic Editor after upgrade to Jetpack 7.9” bug? I can’t seem to get anyone over there at that support page to answer my help request.

Thanks for all your help. For sure, upgrading from JetPack 7.8 to 7.9 on my WordPress 5.2.4 is what caused a conflict with Classic Editor 1.5. And it only affects PC users who have the browsers Chrome and Microsoft Edge. My multiple mac computers that use FireFox and Safari do not encounter the floating footer.

I see 7.8.1 on the GitHub, but not 7.8. My version was 7.8.

If you do this, you’ll want 7.8.1, see https://jetpack.com/2019/11/19/jetpack-7-9-1-maintenance-security/

Are you JetPack contributor and supporter folks able to contact the Classic Editor plugin support folks

No, in this case, we have no more access than you do.

James and Kokkie, I may have a new piece of information that could help you all fix the “Floating footer in WP Classic Editor after upgrade to Jetpack 7.9” glitch.

One of my staff showed me the message he is getting while he is inside the classic editor posting his usual text and photos. It reads:

Notice: Undefined index: options-general.php in MYHOSTINGSERVER/public_html/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/_inc/lib/class.jetpack-keyring-service-helper.php on line 56

Does this help advance us toward a fix?

The cause for that particular error has already been fixed in Jetpack 7.9.1, released earlier this week. Please make sure you’ve updated to that version, as it also contains a critical security fix for Jetpack.

If you’re still seeing the issue in the editor after updating to Jetpack 7.9.1, check if disabling the Publicize module in Jetpack makes a difference (assuming you’re using Publicize).