Comment Editing

Comment editing is enabled by installing Comment Edit Lite alongside Comment Edit Pro.

Please see the links below for the various comment editing features that Comment Edit Pro enables.

Enable or Disable Comment Editing

Enabling comment editing is a great way for users to fix their own mistakes when leaving a comment.

Comment Editing Requires Comment Edit Lite. Comment Edit Lite is a free plugin on the WordPress Plugin Directory.

As of Comment Edit Pro 3.0, there is no longer a requirement to have Comment Edit Lite installed. However, if you want comment editing, Comment Edit Lite must be activated.

Enabling Frontend Editing

Frontend Editing is by far the most favorite feature of Comment Edit Pro.

It's easy to enable. Just toggle the frontend editing option in the admin settings, save, and you're good to go.

The Edit Comment Link

Most themes display an "Edit" link when you are logged in and viewing a comment on the frontend.

The default behavior is to take you to the backend comments section.

Comment Edit Pro overrides this behavior and launches a modal where you can edit the comment without having to visit the admin.

If you are logged in and the author of the post or an Editor/Admin, you can simple click the "Edit" link for the individual comment.

Frontend editing depends on having an "Edit" button in the individual comment. If your theme does not provide this button, frontend editing will not work.

Frontend Editing Demo

Here's a quick demo of frontend editing in action.

When the modal launches, you can edit just about every aspect of the comment.

The following features are available in the popup modal:

Edit the commenters name, email address, and URL
Edit the comment
Change the comment status (approved, pending, spam)
Delete the comment
A shortcut to the comment in the admin

The frontend moderation menu is a small meatball icon on the frontend of a comment.

It expands to reveal editing options:

Editing a comment
Approving a comment
Marking a comment as pending (moderated)
Marking a comment as spam
Deleting a comment

The moderation menu is designed for quick actions, but hidden in a way that isn't so obtrusive.

There are three themes available:

Editing the Timer Length

By default, users have 5 minutes to edit their comment. You can adjust this value to make the timer shorter or longer.

Be careful of long edit times. Comment editing is cookie based, so having a reasonable time is recommended.

The Timer on the Frontend

When you adjust the timer, new comments will be able to edit for the number of minutes you have set.

Unlimited Editing and Anonymous Users: Unlimited editing is not possible for anonymous (non-logged-in users). Since anonymous users do not have an account, comment editing is cookie based, which limits the editing experience to the user's current session.

Unlimited Editing on the Frontend

Another popular feature is you can enable unlimited editing for logged-in users.

With Unlimited Editing enabled, users are shown a "Click to Edit" button with no timer present.

Users will be able to edit their comment as long as unlimited editing is enabled.

Enable email notifications and comment logging to keep track of edits.

Cancel the Timer

One requested feature was for allowing the timer to be canceled when a user is done editing.

If the timer is available, a "Cancel Timer" button will be shown.

Clicking "Cancel Timer" will stop editing for the comment.

Comment Logging and Stats

Enabling Comment Logging

Comment Logging is taking an extra precaution when users edit their comments. If you have a long timer or unlimited editing enabled, logging will store all edits of a comment.

The edited comment is stored on the individual comment in the admin, and you can easily revert back to the original comment.

Restoring a Comment

With Comment Logging and Stats enabled, when a user leaves a comment, it is stored for reference so you can keep track of edits for a particular comment.

You can check out the edits for the comment, and even restore a previous edit.

Here's a quick demo of reverting a comment.

Comment Deletion

Sometimes comments are left in haste or in the moment, and the user would simply like to remove the comment rather than edit it. Allowing users to delete their comments is a nice way of self-policing their comments.

Enabling Comment Deletion

Comment deletion is enabled by default

When a user edits a comment, they will see a button allowing them to delete their own comment.

When a user chooses to delete their own comment, a confirmation is shown.

Delete Only Option

The "Delete Only" option is designed to only show the Delete option when editing a comment. The Edit button isn't visible, but a Delete option instead.

Removing the Confirmation

When editing their comment, the Delete button is shown.

By default, a confirmation is shown to the user to prevent accidental clicks.

You can disable or enable this confirmation by toggling the setting.

Delete Comments Demo

Here is the behavior of a user deleting a comment.

As you can see, when a user deletes a comment, a status update shows and the comment is removed from view.

Email Notifications

If you enable email notifications, you will receive an email with a before and after of the comment edit.

Within this section you can:

Enable email notifications
Set an email address to send the comments to
Set an email address for the "From" field in the email.
Set the subject of the email

Recommended SMTP (Email) Plugin: WP Mail SMTP.

Sending Emails: Comment Edit Pro is not an email or SMTP plugin. If you have set up email successfully on your site, Comment Edit Pro will use that mechanism.

Here is a sample of the emails you will receive.

As you can see, the email contains the original comment and the edited one.

With logs enabled, you can also see a history of all the edits a commenter makes.