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Q&A No way to discard draft edit to user profile

There is now a "cancel" button on the profile edit page, which discards changes and returns to the main profile page, analogous to canceling a post. There is also a "discard draft" button on the e...

posted 1y ago by Monica Cellio‭ · edited 1y ago by Monica Cellio‭

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#2: Post edited by

Monica Cellio‭ · 2025-09-09T15:03:03Z (about 1 year ago)

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~~There is now a "discard draft" button on the editor (everywhere, including posts):~~
![red trash can to the right of existing save button](https://meta.codidact.com/uploads/5w2yuhkvwypio69vocl0zbdrjgw2)
Discarding a draft discards the saved version and makes no changes in the editor itself. If you continue editing, you haven't lost anything; if you leave the page, when you return you'll see the original (unedited) content, just as if you had never started the edit.
We had a lot of discussion about how to design this, because while the "save" button is attached to the editor, in reality, when you save (or auto-save) a draft *post*, it saves other fields too (title, tag, license). The placement of the "save" button on the editor rather than some "container" for all that stuff is a little misleading, but there's really no other place to put it. On your profile, "save" also covers other fields -- user name, external links, and Discord. For both posts and your profile, "save" and "discard" affect all of these fields, not just the editor textbox.
Note: There is a single saved draft, not a stack. If you make some changes, use the "save" button, make some more changes, and use the "discard" button, it does not restore you to that first save-point: it discards everything. If you're working on something really complicated that might take a few tries to get right (for example, a complex MathJax equation), consider making a durable copy of your own too, just in case.

There is now a "cancel" button on the profile edit page, which discards changes and returns to the main profile page, analogous to canceling a post.
There is also a "discard draft" button on the editor (everywhere, including posts), for when you want to discard the temporary saves but continue editing:
![red trash can to the right of existing save button](https://meta.codidact.com/uploads/5w2yuhkvwypio69vocl0zbdrjgw2)
Discarding a draft discards the saved version and makes no changes in the editor itself. If you continue editing, you haven't lost anything; if you leave the page, when you return you'll see the original (unedited) content, just as if you had never started the edit.
We had a lot of discussion about how to design this, because while the "save" button is attached to the editor, in reality, when you save (or auto-save) a draft *post*, it saves other fields too (title, tag, license). The placement of the "save" button on the editor rather than some "container" for all that stuff is a little misleading, but there's really no other place to put it. On your profile, "save" also covers other fields -- user name, external links, and Discord. For both posts and your profile, "save" and "discard" affect all of these fields, not just the editor textbox.
Note: There is a single saved draft, not a stack. If you make some changes, use the "save" button, make some more changes, and use the "discard" button, it does not restore you to that first save-point: it discards everything. If you're working on something really complicated that might take a few tries to get right (for example, a complex MathJax equation), consider making a durable copy of your own too, just in case.

#1: Initial revision by

Monica Cellio‭ · 2025-09-09T14:52:56Z (about 1 year ago)

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There is now a "discard draft" button on the editor (everywhere, including posts):

![red trash can to the right of existing save button](https://meta.codidact.com/uploads/5w2yuhkvwypio69vocl0zbdrjgw2)

Discarding a draft discards the saved version and makes no changes in the editor itself.  If you continue editing, you haven't lost anything; if you leave the page, when you return you'll see the original (unedited) content, just as if you had never started the edit.

We had a lot of discussion about how to design this, because while the "save" button is attached to the editor, in reality, when you save (or auto-save) a draft *post*, it saves other fields too (title, tag, license).  The placement of the "save" button on the editor rather than some "container" for all that stuff is a little misleading, but there's really no other place to put it.  On your profile, "save" also covers other fields -- user name, external links, and Discord.  For both posts and your profile, "save" and "discard" affect all of these fields, not just the editor textbox.

Note: There is a single saved draft, not a stack.  If you make some changes, use the "save" button, make some more changes, and use the "discard" button, it does not restore you to that first save-point: it discards everything.  If you're working on something really complicated that might take a few tries to get right (for example, a complex MathJax equation), consider making a durable copy of your own too, just in case.

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