Revisions Control

Control how many post revisions WordPress keeps per post, with automatic cleanup on save and bulk cleanup tools. Set any limit from 0 to 100, trim excess revisions, or remove all revisions with one click.

Use Cases#

• Limit revisions to 5 per post on content-heavy sites to prevent database bloat
• Speed up database backups by reducing the wp_posts table size
• Clean up years of accumulated revisions on an existing site
• Cap revisions on WooCommerce sites where product descriptions change frequently
• Enforce company policies requiring a specific revision count for audit compliance

How It Works#

1. Set your desired maximum revision count (0-100)
2. Save the setting
3. Automatic enforcement: Whenever any post is saved, excess revisions are automatically deleted
4. Bulk cleanup: Use “Trim Now” to apply the limit to all existing posts immediately
5. Nuclear option: Use “Delete All” to remove every revision in your database

Setting 0 disables revisions entirely. Any positive number caps revisions at that amount.

Settings#

Where to Find It#

Location: Switchboard → Optimization → Revisions Control

The settings panel shows:

• Your current total revision count
• How many posts exceed your limit
• How many excess revisions can be removed

Cleanup Options#

The settings panel provides two cleanup buttons:

Trim Now (Keep N per post)#

This button appears when your limit is set above 0. It:

• Scans all posts with revisions
• Keeps only the most recent revisions up to your limit
• Deletes older revisions beyond the limit
• Reports how many posts were trimmed and revisions deleted

Example: If your limit is 5 and a post has 12 revisions, “Trim Now” keeps the 5 most recent and deletes the 7 oldest.

Delete All Revisions#

This removes every single revision from your database, regardless of your limit setting.

Automatic Enforcement#

The module automatically enforces your revision limit whenever any post is saved. You don’t need to manually clean up — excess revisions are deleted on every save.

This means:

• New posts never exceed your limit
• Existing posts are trimmed when next edited
• No need to run cleanup regularly

If you want to clean up all existing posts at once (without editing each one), use the “Trim Now” button.

Verification#

To confirm the module is working:

1. Set your desired revision limit (e.g., 5)
2. Edit any post and make several changes, saving between each edit
3. Open the “Revisions” panel in the post editor sidebar
4. You should see at most the number of revisions you configured
5. Excess revisions are automatically deleted on each save

Quick test: If you set the limit to 0, the Revisions panel should be empty after editing and saving a post.

Trim test: Click “Trim Now” and check the confirmation message showing how many posts were trimmed and revisions deleted.

Choosing Your Revision Number#

Conservative (More History)#

• 15-25 revisions: For sites that need substantial edit history
• Good for: Legal, healthcare, financial sites with compliance requirements

Balanced (Recommended)#

• 5-10 revisions: Enough to recover from mistakes, won’t bloat database
• Good for: Most business sites, blogs, portfolios

Aggressive (Minimal Storage)#

• 1-3 revisions: Bare minimum for quick recovery
• Good for: High-volume news sites, e-commerce with frequent updates

Disabled#

• 0 revisions: No revision storage at all
• Good for: Sites with external version control, temporary content sites

FAQ#

Technical Details#

This module works by defining the WP_POST_REVISIONS constant during WordPress initialization:

// What the module does internally
if (!defined('WP_POST_REVISIONS')) {
    define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', $your_setting);
}

Additionally, it hooks into post_updated to automatically trim excess revisions after each save.

If the constant is already defined (in wp-config.php or by another plugin), this module won’t override it.

Database Impact#

Here’s a real-world example of how revisions affect database size:

Each revision stores the full post content. On content-heavy sites, limiting revisions and cleaning up old ones can reduce your wp_posts table by 90% or more.