Overview
In Contently, publication owners may occasionally find that the “Compare versions” control is missing from the top of the story editor for a single specific story, even though it appears for the same users on other stories in the same publication. This behavior can be story-specific and may occur when story content was initially created via a single large paste/copy action, and the UI does not display comparison controls until a subsequent saved edit creates a new version.
The recommended mitigation is to make a minor edit to the affected story, save, refresh, and verify that “Compare versions” appears.
Contents
- Symptoms
- Scope Confirmation
- Solution
- Validation
- If It Still Doesn’t Appear
- Frequently Asked Questions
Solution
Symptoms (How to recognize this issue)
- The “Compare versions” option is not visible in the story editor UI (i.e., “missing from the top of the editor”).
- The affected user is an owner in the publication, but the feature is missing only on one story.
- The same user may still see “Compare versions” on other stories in the same publication.
Scope confirmation (Is it permissions or story-specific?)
- In the same publication, open:
- A story where “Compare versions” is visible, and
- The story where “Compare versions” is missing.
- If the feature appears in one story but not the other (for the same owner), the issue is likely story-specific, not a permissions/role problem.
Resolution (Create a new saved version so Compare Versions appears)
- Open the affected story:
https://your_instance.domain.com/stories/<story_id> - Make a small, safe edit (for example: add a word, adjust punctuation, or add a short phrase in a paragraph).
- Save the story.
- Refresh the page (hard refresh if needed).
- Re-check the editor controls; “Compare versions” should now be available.
Notes / likely cause
- This has been observed when the story’s content may have been initially added by pasting/copying the entire text in one action. In that scenario, the compare UI may not appear until a subsequent edit is saved and a new version is created.
- In troubleshooting, this behavior was reproducible across multiple publication owners and appeared to be isolated to the affected story (other stories in the same publication displayed the control as expected).
Validation
- Confirm “Compare versions” is now visible on the affected story for:
- The original user, and
- At least one additional publication owner (optional, but useful to confirm it’s not user-specific).
- Optionally, make a second small edit and confirm versions can be compared as expected.
If it still doesn’t appear
- Make an additional minor edit and save again (to ensure at least two distinct saved states exist).
- Test in a private/incognito browser window to rule out cached UI.
- If the issue persists, collect the following for deeper investigation:
- Affected story URL:
https://your_instance.domain.com/stories/<story_id> - Publication URL:
https://your_instance.domain.com/admin2/publications/<publication_id> - Screenshots of the editor toolbar where “Compare versions” should appear
- Approximate time of the last successful/unsuccessful attempt
- Affected story URL:
Frequently Asked Questions
- 1. How can this happen if the user is an owner?
- This can be story-specific. Owners can have correct permissions, but the “Compare versions” control may still be missing on a particular story until a subsequent saved edit creates a new version that the UI can compare.
- 2. What’s the quickest way to restore “Compare versions”?
- Open the affected story, make a small edit, save, then refresh. After that, “Compare versions” should appear.
- 3. How do I verify it’s not a publication-wide configuration issue?
- Open a different story in the same publication where “Compare versions” is visible for the same owner. If it works elsewhere, the issue is isolated to the specific story.
- 4. What should I do if “Compare versions” is still missing after multiple saves?
- Try an incognito/private window (to avoid cached UI), then collect the story/publication URLs and screenshots of the editor toolbar and provide them to support for deeper investigation.