Divi has a somewhat unusual history: it started as a theme with a built-in visual builder, and many older sites built their content that way, rather than with the separate Divi Builder plugin available today — switch away from the Divi theme itself to a different theme without accounting for that, and the theme-level integration that rendered those shortcodes goes with it, leaving raw bracketed text like [et_pb_row] sitting on the page. This catches people off guard specifically because nothing about the new theme itself is broken — it simply never had any reason to know how to render Divi’s shortcode syntax in the first place.
Before you buy, one quick check
Read-only. Check your Plugins page for the separate “Divi Builder” plugin, distinct from the Divi theme itself.
If that plugin isn’t installed and active, and your site was previously running the Divi theme, that confirms exactly this mechanism — the content was relying on the theme’s built-in rendering, which a theme switch removed.
Viewing the affected page’s Text or Code view in the editor, rather than the visual view, will also show you the raw shortcode content underneath, confirming the diagnosis directly.
It’s worth checking a handful of pages rather than just the one you noticed, since this issue typically affects every page built with the old Divi theme builder at once, not just isolated cases.
Divi shortcode residue after theme switch
Raw Divi shortcode text is showing where a page's layout should be, after a theme switch. We restore proper rendering without redoing the content.
- Full backup taken before we start
- If we can’t fix it, you get your money back
- We never ask for your own password
This or something else?
| Raw Divi shortcode text appears after switching away from the Divi theme | This fix covers it |
| A Divi module renders incorrectly but no raw shortcode text is visible | Divi module rendering errors |
| The raw shortcode text is from WPBakery, not Divi | A different, WPBakery-specific fix |
| You want to convert this content into native blocks rather than restore Divi rendering | A conversion service, not this fix |
| Multiple unrelated page builders are active on the site | Multiple builders active – consolidation plan |
What you are seeing
- Bracketed shortcode text such as [et_pb_row] or [et_pb_column] visible on the page
- The problem appearing specifically after switching away from the Divi theme
- Pages that previously displayed correctly now showing raw text instead
- The separate Divi Builder plugin not installed or not active on the site
- The issue affecting older content built before the site used a different theme
Common causes
- Switching away from the Divi theme without installing the separate Divi Builder plugin
- Content originally built using the Divi theme’s built-in builder rather than the plugin
- A new theme with no shortcode-rendering integration for Divi-formatted content
- Content copied or migrated from a Divi-theme site without its rendering dependency
- Cached page output serving a version from before the theme switch
What we do
- Confirm the raw shortcode content and identify which Divi elements are affected
- Determine the cleanest path back to proper rendering for your current setup
- Restore rendering, typically by reintroducing the necessary Divi Builder functionality
- Verify the restored content matches what the page originally looked like
- Clear caches and confirm correct display across all affected pages
- Check other pages built the same way for the same latent issue
What is included
- Restored rendering for the affected pages’ Divi shortcode content
- A check of other pages for the same latent issue
- Verification against the page’s original appearance where possible
- The pre-fix backup, kept for 30 days
Not included
- Converting the content into a different builder’s native format
- Redesigning pages beyond restoring their original appearance
- Fixing shortcode residue from a different builder, such as WPBakery
- Ongoing maintenance as you continue changing themes in future
Questions about this fix
Do I need to switch back to the Divi theme to fix this?
Not necessarily — installing the separate Divi Builder plugin on your current theme is usually enough to restore rendering without giving up the new theme.
Will this look exactly the same as before the theme switch?
That's the goal, and we verify against the original appearance where we can, though a genuinely incompatible new theme's styling can occasionally affect fine details.
Why does this only happen with Divi and not other builders?
It's specific to Divi's history as a theme with a built-in builder — most other builders were always separate plugins, so switching themes doesn't remove their rendering the same way.
Could this happen again if I switch themes a second time?
Not if the separate Divi Builder plugin stays installed and active going forward, since that decouples the rendering from whichever theme is currently in use.
Is my content actually damaged, or just not rendering?
Just not rendering — the shortcode content itself is intact, which is exactly why restoring the rendering mechanism recovers it without needing to rebuild anything.
Related fixes
If this is the second time this year
A bad update breaking the site is a symptom of updates not being tested first. Care plans run every update on a staging clone before it reaches your live site, which is the actual fix for this happening again.
Your access, your rules
Create a separate admin account for us and delete it when we are done. For anything else, we get in touch and agree a method — never a form field on this site, never by reply to an email.
We back up first, always
Before anything is touched we take a full backup and keep it for 30 days. If a fix goes wrong, we put the site back exactly as it was.
If it is not what you bought
If the problem turns out smaller than what you ordered, we refund the difference. If it is bigger, we stop and send a quote before doing any extra work.
If we cannot fix it
You get back what we received. Diagnosis is on us — you only pay when the problem is actually solved. The payment processor takes its fee before the money reaches us, so we never hold it and it is not ours to return. That is true here as everywhere else.
If it comes back
Reply within seven days of delivery and we put it back on the bench at no cost. The fix is not finished until it holds.
What we are responsible for
If something goes wrong with a fix, our responsibility is limited to what you paid for it. We take a full backup first so mistakes can be undone, and we tell you before doing anything outside what you bought.