Uncaught Error: cannot call methods on sortable prior to initialization

This Bug has nothing to do with any plugin, although the bug can be triggered through some plugins which add their own post boxes to the post editor. The bug can also sometimes be triggered by only moving a random postbox within the editor to the top.

This Bug resists in the avia_builder.js:127 place_top function wich calls a save_order function on uninitialised postboxes.
I found no trigger to hook in within the postbox js, so I had to change the line

window.postboxes.save_order(pagenow);
to:
setTimeout(function() { window.postboxes.save_order(pagenow); }, 100);

and now everything works like a charm.

Best,
Markus

Hi all,

I have the same problem and am trying to solve it. Can you tell me:

Where excatly I would find the postbox.js. I am looking at the one in ../wp-admin/js/postbox.js and I can’t see the line: window.postboxes.save_order(pagenow);

Thanks !

I am getting this exact same error years later. This is the stack trace. I hope it is okay to drag this topic up from the dead, but this was the only thing I could find based on what I am seeing. This is causing intermittent issues with the editor screen. Clickable items like “screen options”, “Visual Editor”, “Text Editor” do nothing.

Uncaught Error: cannot call methods on sortable prior to initialization; attempted to call method ‘toArray’
at Function.error (https://www.meridianhm.com/wp-includes/js/jquery/jquery.js:2:1814)
at HTMLDivElement.<anonymous> (https://www.meridianhm.com/wp-includes/js/jquery/ui/widget.min.js:11:2115)
at Function.each (https://www.meridianhm.com/wp-includes/js/jquery/jquery.js:2:2881)
at a.fn.init.each (https://www.meridianhm.com/wp-includes/js/jquery/jquery.js:2:846)
at a.fn.init.a.fn.(anonymous function) [as sortable] (https://www.meridianhm.com/wp-includes/js/jquery/ui/widget.min.js:11:1857)
at HTMLDivElement.<anonymous> (https://www.meridianhm.com/wp-admin/js/postbox.min.js:1:3165)
at Function.each (https://www.meridianhm.com/wp-includes/js/jquery/jquery.js:2:2881)
at a.fn.init.each (https://www.meridianhm.com/wp-includes/js/jquery/jquery.js:2:846)
at Object.save_order (https://www.meridianhm.com/wp-admin/js/postbox.min.js:1:3103)
at $.AviaBuilder.place_top (https://www.meridianhm.com/wp-content/themes/meridian/config-templatebuilder/avia-template-builder/assets/js/avia-builder.js:135:34)
error @ jquery.js:2
(anonymous) @ widget.min.js:11
each @ jquery.js:2
each @ jquery.js:2
a.fn.(anonymous function) @ widget.min.js:11
(anonymous) @ postbox.min.js:1
each @ jquery.js:2
each @ jquery.js:2
save_order @ postbox.min.js:1
place_top @ avia-builder.js:135
set_up @ avia-builder.js:118
$.AviaBuilder @ avia-builder.js:107
(anonymous) @ avia-builder.js:1376
i @ jquery.js:2
fireWith @ jquery.js:2
ready @ jquery.js:2
K @ jquery.js:2

Ismael,

Thank you for the response. I have 3.8.5 installed. I am using php 5.6.30.

markusperl’s solution worked for me. replaced the one line in avia-builder.js as described.

a client has an older site that i don’t want to be updating everything so it was great to do this temporary fix.