WordPress revisions are all or nothing. If someone deleted a paragraph last week and the post has been edited ten times since, “Restore This Revision” brings the paragraph back but throws away the ten edits. The usual workaround is copying text out of the revisions screen by hand, which loses the block’s formatting and settings.

Axle Block Restore works inside the block editor and restores single blocks, with all their settings.

Part of Axle by AryanX, a family of free plugins for running WordPress sites safely.

Restore one block to an earlier version

Select the block and open its menu (⋮).
Choose Restore from a revision…
Pick a revision. You see the versions of that block in it, best match first.
Click Replace current block, or Insert below it to compare them side by side.

Bring back a deleted block

Open the editor’s main menu (⋮ at the top right).
Choose Restore blocks from a revision.
Pick a revision. Its blocks are labelled Not in the post now, Changed since or Same as now.
Click Restore it here to put a deleted block back where it was.

Find text you deleted

Can’t remember which revision had the sentence you need? Type a few words into “Find text in old revisions”. Every block that contained them is listed, with how many revisions it appears in. Click one to jump to it.

See what was removed recently

Open the editor menu, choose Restore blocks from a revision, then the Removed blocks tab (or run “Show removed blocks” from the command palette). It lists every block, top level or nested, that was in the newest 20 revisions and is gone now, newest removal first, with who saved the last revision that had it, when, and a preview. Put it back where it was returns it next to its old neighbours (or inside its old group), and Insert below the selected block or Insert at the end put it elsewhere. A block that stayed gone for many revisions is listed once, and one that was only edited is not listed.

Copy a block from another post

The Another post tab searches the posts and pages you can edit. Pick one, choose its current version or one of its revisions, and insert any of its blocks below the selected block or at the end. Only posts you can edit are offered, and the server checks that as well.

Restore only the content, or only the styling

With one block selected, each older version also has Restore content only (the words, links and inner blocks, keeping the block’s current colours, fonts, spacing and layout) and Restore styling only (the old look, keeping what the block says now). An option that would change nothing is greyed out, and “Show changes” shows what the option you pick would change.

Restore a whole group in one step

A group, columns or any block with inner blocks comes back with everything inside it, and one Ctrl+Z undoes it. When the group still exists, the list shows what differs inside it (blocks added, removed and changed) and lets you restore one inner block without touching the rest.

In the Site Editor and the command palette

Templates, template parts and synced patterns have revisions too, and the same two menu entries work on them. A block inside a template part restores from the part’s own revisions. The command palette (Ctrl+K, ⌘K) has “Restore blocks from a revision”, “Restore selected block from a revision”, “Find text in old revisions” and “Show removed blocks”.

Every restore is a normal edit: press Ctrl+Z (⌘Z on a Mac) to undo it, and nothing is saved until you update the post.

“Show changes” highlights the words that differ between the block now and its old version.
Previews show each block as it looked in that revision.
Each revision shows who saved it and how many blocks differ from now. Autosaves are labelled, and the window opens on the newest revision that actually differs.
Works with any block, including blocks from other plugins, and with every post type that has revisions.
Revisions are loaded without rendering them on the server, so posts with many revisions open quickly.

No settings and nothing stored in the database.

Free and open source under the GPL. No pro version, no upsells, no ads in wp-admin, no tracking. And it stays that way.

Try it before you install. try.axlewp.com/axle-block-restore opens a private WordPress in your browser with this plugin and some demo content.