Publishing & updating your page in Elementor
Learn how to save and publish your Elementor edits, the difference between Save Draft and Publish, and how to preview before going live.
Making edits in Elementor does not automatically update the live website. You need to explicitly save and publish your changes. This guide explains exactly how to do that — and how to preview before anyone else sees your work.
Quick summary
When you finish editing, click the green "Publish" or "Update" button in the bottom-left corner of the Elementor panel (or the top-right area). Your changes go live immediately. Use the preview option first if you want to check how it looks before publishing.
Publish vs. Update
The button label depends on whether the page is already published or not:
| Page status | Button label | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Already published (live) | Update | Saves and makes changes live immediately |
| Draft (not yet live) | Publish | Makes the page live for the first time |
| Draft (not yet live) | Save Draft | Saves without publishing |
If your page is already live (which is the case for most content edits), you will see an Update button.
How to publish or update a page
Finish making your edits in Elementor.
Look for the green button in the bottom-left of the editor panel. It will say "Update" or "Publish."
Click the button. A brief loading indicator appears.
When the loading completes, your changes are live. You will see a brief confirmation notification.
Changes are live immediately
There is no staging step between clicking Update and the change going live on your website. Visitors will see your changes as soon as the page finishes saving. Preview your work first if you are unsure.
How to preview before publishing
Elementor lets you preview your changes in the browser without publishing them:
Click the small arrow next to the Update/Publish button. A small menu opens.
Click "Preview Changes." Your page opens in a new browser tab, showing your current edits.
Check the page on this preview — check desktop and mobile. Make any further adjustments back in the editor.
Return to the editor tab and click Update when satisfied.
Saving a draft
If you are in the middle of editing and not ready to publish yet, you can save your progress as a draft:
Click the small arrow next to the Update/Publish button.
Click "Save as Draft" (only available if the page is not yet published).
For already-published pages, there is no draft mode — your edits either stay unpublished (only saved in the editor's auto-save) or are published live. If you need a staging environment, contact us.
Exiting the editor without publishing
If you make changes but want to discard them:
Do not click Update or Publish.
Close the browser tab or navigate away. You will usually see a browser warning asking if you want to leave without saving.
Confirm that you want to leave to discard changes.
Elementor may auto-save changes
Elementor has an auto-save feature that may save your edits to the revision history even if you did not click Update. Your live page is not affected, but the auto-saved draft may appear in the revision history.
What happens when you publish
- Elementor saves the page layout data to your WordPress database
- Any existing caches are cleared (on most configured hosting)
- Visitors loading the page now see the updated version
Most of the time, this is seamless. On rare occasions, browser caches can cause some visitors to see the old version for a few minutes.
Common questions
Related guides
- Undoing changes with revision history
- Previewing tablet & mobile views
- Common Elementor mistakes to avoid
- A tour of the Elementor interface
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