PublishPress Statuses is a new plugin. The Free version is available on WordPress.org. There is no Pro version yet.
This plugin allows you to create custom statuses for WordPress posts. The plugin is optimized for the new block editor, but should also support Classic Editor and some pages builders.
This screenshot below gives you an idea of how PublishPress Statuses will appear on your site:
Pre-Publication Statuses #
Go to the “Statuses” link in the WordPress admin and you will see the “Post Statuses” screen below. You are looking at the pre-publication statuses.
There are several statuses in the “Main Workflow” area. This is key part of the plugin. It contains statuses such as “Draft” and “Pending Review” that can not be removed. The “Main Workflow” must be used for posts, but you are able to add new statuses and re-arrange them.
- Draft: This is the WordPress default status and can not be modified. It can not be removed from its “Default” position.
- Pitch: This is a new status created by the plugin and can be re-ordered or disabled.
- Assigned: This is a new status created by the plugin and can be re-ordered or disabled.
- In Progress: This is a new status created by the plugin and can be re-ordered or disabled.
- Pending Review: This is a core WordPress status and can be re-ordered but not disabled.
- Approved: This is a new status created by the plugin and can be re-ordered or disabled.
The “Main Workflow” must be used. This workflow contains the core WordPress statuses and it offers control over how posts move through the workflow. In the “Settings”, you can decide whether posts move to the next available status, or the highest available status.
However, PublishPress Statuses also offers an “Alternate Workflows” area. Users can manually select these statuses. These statuses should be used for posts that are being sidelined and don't need to keep following the main workflow.
We call this the “Alternate Workflows” area because you can create more than one alternate workflow. PublishPress Statuses provides a “Committee” workflow as an example. Users can manually move the posts through these mini-workflows.
Visibility / Post-Publication Statuses #
The “Visibility” tab shows the post-publication statuses in WordPress. These statuses are mainly used to restrict the visibility of posts once they have been published.
- Scheduled: This is a core WordPress status and can not be re-ordered or disabled.
- Published: This is a core WordPress status and can not be re-ordered or disabled.
- Privately Published: This is a core WordPress status and can not be re-ordered or disabled.
Statuses in the Post Editing Screen #
When using PublishPress Statuses with the block editor, look for the “Workflow” button in the top-right corner of the screen.
- Click the “Workflow” button and you'll be able to see the available statuses. These statuses are illustrated with the icons and colors from the options we saw earlier in this guide.
You can configure the operation of this feature using the “Settings” area in PublishPress Statuses. In the “Workflow sequence” area, you can choose to default the user choice to the next setting in the workflow, or the highest available setting.
