Page Attributes: Pages sometimes missing from parent page list

[donalirl]

Steps to reproduce

We haven't been able to reproduce this on a test site yet, but see #1724424-zen for a user site where it can be seen.

1. Edit an existing page or create a new page at /wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=page
2. Open Page Attributes in the sidebar and select the Parent Page dropdown
3. Note some pages are missing and cannot be selected

In this example activating the Classic Editor plugin allows the missing pages to be set as a parent page. Possibly related to WordPress/gutenberg#9441

Also note that this is an Atomic site so the user is being redirected to WP Admin's Block Editor from Calypso.

What I expected

I expected all pages to show in the list of pages under Page Attributes → Parent Page while using the new editor.

What happened instead

Some pages are missing.

The pages are not missing when using the Classic Editor or when using Quick Edit in WP Admin.

Browser / OS version

Chrome Version 71.0.3578.98

Context / Source

#user-report

#1724424-zen

[designsimply]

Are the missing parent pages private or draft or pending by chance? (I expect not since you mentioned the same pages appear in the parent page selector when using the classic editor, but it might be worth noting just in case.)

How many pages does the affected site have in total?

What theme is active? Does the problem go away if you temporarily switch to a default theme such as Twenty Nineteen?

After loading a page and trying to set a parent page, can you switch to the "Network" tab in Chrome Developer tools, find the specific failed API request, and share the full contents of the response?

[donalirl]

Are the missing parent pages private or draft or pending by chance?

No.

How many pages does the affected site have in total?

135

What theme is active?

Goran

Does the problem go away if you temporarily switch to a default theme such as Twenty Nineteen?

No.

After loading a page and trying to set a parent page, can you switch to the "Network" tab in Chrome Developer tools, find the specific failed API request, and share the full contents of the response?

I do not see any failed requests in the Network tab. If it helps, I can provide an HAR file from here.

[chad1008]

Sharing a similar report from p9F6qB-3cC-p2

The site has 155 pages, and some are regularly missing from the Parent Page selector under Page Attributes. Others appear more than once.

A current workaround is the Quick Edit menu in WP Admin, which displays all pages correctly.

I checked the Network tab in the console and didn't see any failed requests for this one either.

[designsimply]

Sounds like WordPress/gutenberg#13624 and WordPress/gutenberg#9441 (comment) but it's interesting to note the relatively low number of pages here compared to the other reports which have mentioned sites with hundreds or thousands of pages.

[liviopv]

Similar report in #5834024-hc. Atomic site using ColorMag.

User has 18k+ pages - it took the editor about 10 minutes to process all the API requests, since it seems to be fetching pages into batches of 100.

User found a good workaround which is using the Quick Edit option in WP Admin.

[AtrumGeost]

Hi folks!

Got another case in 14148141-hc

The site has 144 published pages. Some pages are missing when they click on the "Parent Page" dropdown.

I also noticed the "Parent Page" option takes some time to load after the rest of the settings have loaded in the editor.

Activating the "Classic Editor" shows all the pages when clicking on "Parent Page".

Gonna suggest the user the "Quick Edit menu in WP Admin" workaround in a follow-up here: 2207268-zen

[kathrynwp]

Also reported in 10818429-hc

112 total published and draft pages, some missing in the Page Attributes menu.

Gave them the WP Admin Quick Edit workaround for now.

[gwwar]

One of my favorites! We'll need to fix this upstream WordPress/gutenberg#13624 (plus lots of other duplicates).

Gutenberg basically tries to fetch all pages before displaying the Parent Page dropdown. When a site has many many pages this can lead to long delays before UI appears (each request only fetches 100 pages at a time), and should any of the requests error, I believe the UI fails to load.

I've been trying to help unstick the upstream patch WordPress/gutenberg#7385

[gwensmithx]

Another case here: 2777652-zd / 19283171-hc

Site has 118 published pages. We've tried to set the parent page on some new pages created and in the Block Editor the child pages that we've set to have parent pages is showing as (no parent).

When using Classic Editor or Quick Edit the parent page does show up so this is only an issue with the Block Editor.

Site is AT.

[carinapilar]

Another report here: 3253509-zd.

It's a Simple site on the Premium plan, it has 336 published pages. I shared the Quick Edit workaround.

[galakhyati]

Another case here: 3069951-hc.

It is a Simple Site with 337 pages published, the Parent page repeats a lot of pages and doesn't show all of the pages on the site.

https://d.pr/v/OkEugH/7IMuWZ8OG3

Suggested the workaround to use the WP-Admin page editor to select the Parent page.

[jerrysarcastic]

Another report here: https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/parent-page-no-longer-usable/

The site owner discovered the "quick edit" workaround on their own, so i suggested they continue to use that for now

[carladoria]

Another report in 24615019-hc
I suggested the Quick edit workaround.

[liviopv]

A somewhat similar report in #3448365-zen

In this case, the Parent Page drop-down is not loading at all for the customer on any of their simple sites.

Screenshot: https://d.pr/i/QnNXKQ

I was able to reproduce it on the user's site, but not on any of my sites running the same theme and on two different browsers (Chrome/Firefox).

Looking at the Console, I see this:

Screenshot: https://d.pr/i/b8iWMP

[fstath]

I got another report of a site with more than 500 pages. I suggested the Quick Edit workaround from wp-admin.

Forum thread: https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/cannot-change-a-parent-page-any-more/

[fresatomica]

Another report: https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/cannot-assign-a-parent-page/

[fresatomica]

Another report in 7445457-hc.
Quick edit workaround worked for the user.

[fresatomica]

Another case: https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/page-attributes-parent-page-list-not-listing-all-possibilities/

[xpurichan]

Another report in 1406809-hc. This site had 174 total pages, which I assume is too many and is breaking the process. Suggested the Quick Edit option in WP Admin as others have.

[liviopv]

Another #3551115-zen

[AtrumGeost]

Another report here: 26935374-hc

Site has 150 pages

[jartes]

Had another one on 3649694-hc with 173 pages. Suggested to set the parent page via Quick Edit and worked.

[github-actions]

This issue is stale because it has been 180 days with no activity. You can keep the issue open by adding a comment. If you do, please provide additional context and explain why you’d like it to remain open. You can also close the issue yourself — if you do, please add a brief explanation and apply one of relevant issue close labels.

[arunsathiya]

📌 HOUSEKEEPING

• Labels ✅
• Priority ✅
• Replicable on Core - Yes, based on the links above but they are all very old

📌 SCRUBBING

• Tested on P2 - Did not test
• Tested on Simple - Did not test
• Tested on AT - Did not test
• Tested on Self-hosted ✅

📌 FINDINGS/SCREENSHOTS/VIDEO

• I tested on a WordPress.org site and I cannot reproduce this issue with 86 pages. I generated the pages with FakerPress.
• Perhaps the number of pages is not enough?

📌 ACTIONS

• Considering that the number of reports is has been less over the last several years, I am inclined to close this and troubleshoot individual sites better with @Automattic/reactor's help (assuming the issues are mostly on Atomic)
• If this happens on simple sites too, we can move that to a relevant internal P2 to investigate better.

📌 SUGGESTED NEXT STEPS

Unless there are any objections, I'll close this issue in the next few days.

[ash1eygrace]

Considering that the number of reports is has been less over the last several years, I am inclined to close this and troubleshoot individual sites better with https://github.com/orgs/Automattic/teams/reactor's help (assuming the issues are mostly on Atomic)

Thanks for the ping, @Arun! I see there are a few reports above that are happening on non-Atomic sites, so it doesn't seem Atomic specific), but FWIW, I spot-checked some of the interactions and specific sites above to get more context.

Based on my understanding, we're expecting to see all pages to show in the Page Attributes Parent Page dropdown when initially clicked open? If so, while I don't see all the Pages in the dropdown, when I click into the dropdown it turns into an input field where I can search for the name of the page I want to make the parent. In the 3 sites I spot-checked above I didn't see any mention of typing the name into the box to search for the page, but maybe this feature was implemented since this was reported? Also, I was able to test and find the specific page on those three sites using the search method, too.

I'm thinking that the limit in the dropdown is by design for cases when there are 100s of pages, but the option to search for the specific page is baked into the dropdown for this purpose. That said, this doesn't seem broken to me, and I think we can close this one out.

[jordesign]

I'd be inclined to agree we can close this out - with the Core issues closed, limited recent reports, and the fact it appears resolved.

Will leave it up to you @arunsathiya

[arunsathiya]

Sorry I missed this, and thanks for the detailed inputs, @ash1eygrace! Agree on closing this out as well as this does seem by design, and the search input field should help. ✅

[github-actions]

Support References

• 1724424-zen
• 5834024-hc
• 14148141-hc
• 2207268-zen
• 10818429-hc
• 2777652-zen
• 19283171-hc
• 3253509-zen
• 3069951-hc
• 24615019-hc
• 3448365-zen
• 7445457-hc
• 1406809-hc
• 3551115-zen
• 26935374-hc
• 3649694-hc