Preview of Draft posts returns 404 error

[tanjoymor]

Steps to reproduce the behavior

1. Go to any Simple site
2. Open a saved Draft Post (not Page, not Published) - in the Block editor
3. Click the Preview link
4. New tab opens and displays a 404 error

What I expected to happen

A preview of the post to display.

What actually happened

• New tab opens and displays a 404 error.
• All browsers I've tested: Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Opera - all return a 404 error.
• It doesn't happen when you use the SU feature within our tools.
• I've tested this on a few different user accounts as well as my own test accounts.
• However, returning to the same site and post and trying again, may sometimes result in the draft preview loading - but not always.

Context

I've seen 2 reports of this, both initially reported on June 25th.
4094520-zd (Theme: Independent Publisher 2)
4094467-zd (Theme: Baskerville 2)
Both Simple sites on Personal plan.

Browser / OS version

Is this specific to the applied theme? Which one?

Does this happen on simple or atomic sites or both?

Is there any console output or error text?

Level of impact (Does it block purchases? Does it affect more than just one site?)

So far as I can tell it affects numerous sites.

Reproducibility (Consistent, Intermittent) Leave empty for consistent.

Screenshot / Video: If applicable, add screenshots to help explain your problem.

Sample using an incognito browser in Chrome not via SU: https://d.pr/v/twaBqq

[ivan-ottinger]

Another report: 4100473-zd-woothemes

I could reproduce the issue in Safari, Ghost and Firefox. On the other hand, everything is working correctly when I SU via Chrome.

The user can see the preview when they use Chrome.

[mrfoxtalbot]

Related? #54018

[ivan-ottinger]

Related? #54018

Thanks, @mrfoxtalbot! Yes, it seems to be the issue.

[mrfoxtalbot]

Thank you for reporting this @tanjoymor!

I am doing some tests to preview drafted posts on simple sites (with and without a custom domain name) but I cannot reproduce this. The previews load fine. I tried these two sites:

• https://mrfoxtestingsite.wordpress.com/
• https://juliagomez.es/

Are you seeing this consistently or only in some instances? If the bug is not showing consistently, can you tell any pattern regarding when it is happening?

Also, do you think it might be related to this other issue? #54018?

Thank you!

[bryandev602-gh]

Some new reports: 4101401-zd and 4101957-zd.
I was able to reproduce this issue once in my test website (Google Chrome, Premium Plan), but on my second try with another post I didn't see the same issue.

[tanjoymor]

Another report: 30344191-hc (follow up: 4104797-zd)

[tanjoymor]

@mrfoxtalbot

Are you seeing this consistently or only in some instances? If the bug is not showing consistently, can you tell any pattern regarding when it is happening?

It happened on three or four sites that I tested - and then suddenly it didn't happen on some, but continued on others. If you access the customer's site from this ticket: 4094520-zd you'll find it still occurs but you have to SSP (just tried again now) - doesn't happen when you SU. I get the same result in Safari, Firefox, Ghost, Opera and even Chrome (so long as I don't use SU).

Also, do you think it might be related to this other issue? #54018?

It's possible, as the preview module isn't pulling up, it is opening the preview in a new tab.

[hacchism]

Another case in 4097663-zen

you'll find it still occurs but you have to SSP (just tried again now) - doesn't happen when you SU.

What @tanjoymor said above is happening to me too. I can repro the issue when I use SSP but not with SU.

[pablinos]

I can't reproduce the 404 either, but I'm about to merge a fix (#54127) for #54018, so it would be good to see if we can reproduce this afterwards.

[pablinos]

I've just deployed #54127 which fixes, the possibly related, #54018. If anyone is able to test this and see if we can reproduce it with this change, then we can start investigating what else could be causing this.

[Marcia-HC]

Another report @ 4104178-zen

[ivan-ottinger]

I've just deployed #54127 which fixes, the possibly related, #54018. If anyone is able to test this and see if we can reproduce it with this change, then we can start investigating what else could be causing this.

Thanks @pablinos! I couldn't reproduce the issue anymore and asked the user in 4100473-zd-woothemes to check on their end as well.

[pablinos]

Great thanks @ivan-ottinger! I notice @Marcia-HC's instance of it was reported before the fix was deployed too, so there's still hope that this is fixed also.

[tanjoymor]

I've tested on two different customer sites in Ghost, Firefox and Safari - can confirm that the issue is fixed :-) Yay! Thank you :-)

[hacchism]

Same here! It looks like the fix has worked for my user's site too. Thanks @pablinos✨

[kuropixel]

User reported this error in Firefox. Usual browser techniques did not help, but eventually, Chrome worked. User would prefer if Firefox issue could be resolved.
29023986-hc
32241197-hc

[kuropixel]

4381908-zd
Report for Safari (Safari 14.1), non-atomic site. User also said they tried Chrome and had the same error.

[kuropixel]

Another: 4382379-zd
non-atomic User is using Safari. Awaiting specific browser/OS info and suggested trying in Chrome.

[rickmgithub]

4381908-zd
Safari 14.1. Same on Chrome
https://whatismybrowser.com/w/L4WGFZN

[metabreakr]

26036006-hc / 4386170-zen

[ktyfuller604]

Another: 4382379-zd non-atomic User is using Safari. Awaiting specific browser/OS info and suggested trying in Chrome.

Specific details: https://www.whatismybrowser.com/w/LJW5WFN

They reported back that they were able to preview in Edge.

[formosattic]

The reopened issue appears more related to this new bug #57011

But it's resolved by now, so will close this. If the issue happens, please comment on the other thread.

[Greatdane]

Another report: 4430152-zd-woothemes

The initial workaround worked.