If you’re using YOOtheme on a WordPress site hosted by WP Engine, you might run into a frustrating problem where your theme “loses” all page templates and settings overnight – leaving your site broken and unusable.
We recently experienced exactly this issue and want to share my step-by-step journey to find the root cause and fix it permanently. Hopefully, this will save you hours of troubleshooting.
The Problem: YOOtheme Templates Suddenly Disappear
One day we noticed that in the WordPress admin under YOOtheme Builder → Templates, no templates were listed at all. Pages that relied on these templates lost their layouts, and the site looked broken.
We checked the database option table (wp_options) for the yootheme key, where YOOtheme stores all its settings, and found it completely empty — but older backups clearly showed the full data was there before.
The theme options disappearing explained why templates were gone, but I still didn’t know why it was happening.
What We Tried Before Finding the Root Cause
- Disabled all plugins to exclude conflicts.
- Checked error logs for database or PHP errors.
- Confirmed no recent theme or WordPress updates.
- Verified backups contained correct YOOtheme data.
- Ruled out manual deletions or user error.
Nothing pointed to the source of the problem.
The Breakthrough: WP Engine Support Revealed the Cause
After opening a support ticket, WP Engine informed us that their automated nightly backup script includes a security scan of the entire database.
This script looks for suspicious or potentially malicious data patterns and clears or sanitizes those entries to prevent malware.
Unfortunately, the serialized data stored in the YooTheme option triggered a false positive, causing the script to wipe that option every night during backup — erasing all theme settings.
How We Fixed It
WP Engine support whitelisted the YooTheme option key so their script would no longer target it.
After that change:
- The yootheme option remained intact after backups.
- All templates and theme settings reappeared.
- The site returned to normal.
What We Learned
- Hosting providers can run aggressive security/backup routines that may unintentionally interfere with WordPress options.
- Serialized option data from themes or plugins can trigger false positives.
- When theme or plugin settings mysteriously vanish, check with your host about automated cleanup or security scripts.
- Work closely with support and provide detailed information to get exceptions or whitelisting.
- Always keep recent database backups to restore quickly if needed.
Final Thoughts
This experience taught us how hosting environments can silently affect WordPress sites in unexpected ways. If you find your YOOtheme or other theme settings disappearing without explanation, WP Engine’s backup security script might be the culprit.
We hope sharing this helps others save time and frustration.
