Content Flow Manager

Content Flow Manager adds a structured, professional editorial review workflow to WordPress. It is designed for multi-author blogs, editorial teams, news platforms, content agencies, and organizations that need to review, approve, or reject content before it is published. Instead of relying on informal checks, chat messages, or external tools, Content Flow Manager introduces a clear approval process directly inside the WordPress editor. Why Content Flow Manager? WordPress is powerful — but out of the box, it needs a true editorial approval layer. On multi-author sites, this often leads to:

• Posts being published accidentally
• Feedback scattered across emails or chat tools
• No clear approval history
• Editors lacking visibility into content status Content Flow Manager bridges this gap by introducing a structured review step between content creation and publication — without changing how authors write.

Real-World Use Cases 1. Multi-Author Blogs\ Authors create content freely while editors retain full control over what gets published.\ Posts are submitted for review, feedback is given directly in WordPress, and only approved content goes live. 2. News & Editorial Websites\ Designed for editorial teams that need accountability and traceability.\ Editors can approve or reject stories with notes, creating a clear approval trail for every post. 3. Corporate & Marketing Teams\ Marketing teams draft announcements, campaigns, or updates while managers review and approve content before publishing — preventing mistakes and maintaining brand consistency. 4. Educational & Community Platforms\ Ideal for platforms where instructors, moderators, or administrators must review submitted content before it becomes public. 5. Agencies Managing Client Content\ Writers prepare content while clients or internal reviewers approve final versions, keeping everything auditable and centralized inside WordPress. How It Works (Simple Flow)

1. An author creates or updates a post
2. The post is marked as Pending Review
3. An editor or administrator reviews the content
4. The reviewer approves or rejects the post with a note
5. The author sees feedback and can revise accordingly
6. Approved content is published with full traceability

No emails. No spreadsheets. No confusion. Everything happens inside WordPress. Why I Built This Plugin I built Content Flow Manager after working on multi-author and editorial WordPress sites where content quality mattered, but proper approval workflows were missing. Too often, review processes lived outside WordPress — in chats, emails, or shared documents — leading to confusion, missed feedback, and accidental publishing. This plugin was built to:

• Keep the entire editorial process inside WordPress
• Provide clear accountability for approvals
• Give authors transparent feedback
• Offer a clean, extensible foundation developers can trust The goal is not to replace WordPress — but to complete it for serious content teams.

Key Features

• Editorial review system with approve / reject actions
• Reviewer notes and feedback visible to authors
• Clear pending review state after content submission
• Author dashboard to track review status and feedback
• Admin/editor dashboard showing full approval history
• Review activity logs stored in a custom database table
• Secure implementation using nonces, sanitization, and capability checks
• Cron-based reminders for pending reviews
• Developer-friendly, extensible architecture using modern PHP

1. Upload the content-flow-manager folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
2. Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu in WordPress.
3. The plugin will automatically create its required database table on activation.
4. Create or edit a post and use the Review Status panel to manage approvals.

1.0.2

• Fixed issue where restoring a trashed post caused an error
• Improved workflow handling for system-triggered post state changes

1.0.1

• Minor security improvements
• Internal workflow refinements

1.0.0

• Initial release
• Editorial workflow system implemented
• Review logging database schema added
• Admin and author dashboards introduced
• Cron-based review reminders
• Secure and extensible architecture