Block Editor Is Blank After Updating Gutenberg to 22.6.0

If your block editor appears completely empty after updating the Gutenberg plugin to version 22.6.0, you are not alone. This guide explains why the issue happens, how to fix it permanently by updating Neve, and how to apply a temporary workaround while you prepare for the update.

Symptoms

After updating Gutenberg to 22.6.0, you may notice the following when trying to edit a post or page:

• The block editor loads but the editing canvas is completely blank or white.
• No blocks, toolbar, or content are visible — just an empty editor area.
• The issue goes away if you deactivate the Gutenberg plugin or switch to a different theme.

This issue affects sites running all of the following together:

• WordPress 6.9.1
• Gutenberg plugin 22.6.0
• Neve theme version earlier than 4.2.3
• PHP 8.3

📝 Note: If only some of these conditions apply to your site, you may not be affected. If your block editor is blank for a different reason, this guide may not resolve it.

Cause

Gutenberg 22.6.0 introduced a change to how the block editor loads stylesheets inside its iframe-based canvas. A stylesheet registered by Neve — neve-gutenberg-style — conflicts with this new loading behavior, which causes the editor canvas to render as blank.

This is a compatibility issue between Neve and Gutenberg 22.6.0 that was resolved in Neve 4.2.3.

Fix

The permanent fix is to update Neve to version 4.2.3 or later. This version removes the conflict with Gutenberg 22.6.0.

1. In your WordPress Dashboard, go to Appearance > Themes.
2. Locate the Neve theme and click Update now if an update is available.
3. Wait for the update to complete.
4. Open any post or page in the block editor to confirm the editor loads correctly.

💡 Tip: If you do not see an update available, go to Dashboard > Updates and click Check Again to refresh the list of available updates.

⚠️ Important: If you are using a child theme of Neve, updating the parent Neve theme is safe and will not affect your child theme customizations. See How to create a child theme for Neve for more details.

Workaround

If you cannot update Neve immediately, you can apply a temporary workaround by adding a small code snippet to your theme's functions.php file. This deregisters the conflicting stylesheet and restores the block editor.

⚠️ Warning: Editing functions.php directly modifies your theme files. A syntax error in this file can make your site inaccessible. It is strongly recommended to use a child theme or a code snippets plugin instead of editing the parent theme's functions.php.

1. In your WordPress Dashboard, go to Appearance > Theme File Editor (or use your preferred code snippets plugin or FTP client).
2. In the file list on the right, select functions.php.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the file and add the following code:

add_action( 'admin_enqueue_scripts', function() {
    wp_deregister_style( 'neve-gutenberg-style' );
} );

4. Click Update File to save.
5. Open any post or page in the block editor to confirm the editor loads correctly.

📝 Note: This workaround only suppresses the conflicting stylesheet. It is a temporary measure — remove the snippet after you update Neve to 4.2.3 or later, as the fix is already included in that version.

Verification

After applying either the theme update or the workaround, confirm that the editor is working correctly:

1. In your Dashboard, go to Posts > All Posts (or Pages > All Pages).
2. Click Edit on any post or page to open it in the block editor.
3. Verify that the editor canvas loads with your content visible and the block toolbar accessible.

If the editor is still blank after updating Neve, try clearing your browser cache and reloading the editor. If the problem persists, contact Themeisle support.