Make the route from draft to approval easy to follow
Unlimited submissions, member listing management, moderation, claims, messages, essential emails and standard safety controls are included in Free. A completed submission enters Pending; drafts remain private until the contributor is ready. Pro adds editable notification templates, previews, sample sends, per-listing overrides and configurable timed reminders, plus scheduled Needs Attention digests.
Design the whole conversation
Decide who can submit, which fields are essential, who reviews each item, how changes are requested and whether later edits need approval. Test the full loop with a normal member account.
Gate the form without blocking legitimate publishers
In User-Generated mode, new members can receive the submitter role and create their own listings. In Single-Organisation mode, only administrators create new items. Choose the operating mode first, then give editors moderation access only when they are responsible for reviewing other people’s work.
Free includes login checks, a hidden spam field, rate limiting, optional reCAPTCHA and first-submission email verification. Keep the safeguards proportionate: contributors should see a clear explanation when they need to verify an address or complete a missing field.
Use drafts, autosave, and validation to reduce abandoned work
The form supports draft and preview intent, rich text, section navigation, uploads, taxonomy choices, and an autosave interval from 15 to 600 seconds. A completed submission validates required fields and sends the record to Pending rather than publishing it immediately.
Duplicate detection can warn about the same title, date, and location. It is a quality signal, not a replacement for moderator judgment. Near-duplicate events, recurring sessions, franchises, and similarly named businesses may be legitimate.
Choose a predictable moderation decision
The Moderation Queue combines pending listings, reports and held claim requests. Approve publishes the listing. Request Changes returns it to Draft with a moderator note. Reject also returns it to Draft and records the decision. Essential status messages are included in Free; Pro adds editable templates, previews, sample sends, per-listing overrides and timed reminders.
For published-item edits, choose Allow, Require Approval, or Disallow. If approval is required, the optional “auto-approve future edits” setting can bypass review after a user has at least one approved listing. Explicit trusted-editor status and moderator capability can also bypass normal edit approval.
Create a submission process people understand
Connect Submit and My Listings
Publish pages with [nexdirectory_submit] and [nexdirectory_my_listings], connect both routes, then add an obvious “Add a listing” action.
Choose the minimum required fields
Ask only for information needed to review and publish a useful listing. Configure verification, autosave, duplicate warnings, reporting, reCAPTCHA and uploads around that form.
Assign the smallest useful permissions
Let submitters create their own content and give moderation access only to the administrators or editors responsible for review.
Decide what happens after publication
Choose Allow, Require Approval or Disallow for edits to published listings. Document when a reliable contributor may become trusted.
Rehearse every decision
Submit as a contributor, then approve, request changes, resubmit and reject as a moderator. Confirm the dashboard status and email wording after each action.
Moderation checklist
- Submit and My Listings routes are connected
- A non-admin submitter can open the form
- First-submission verification behaves as intended
- Autosave interval is reasonable
- Spam and duplicate checks are enabled as needed
- Editors have only the required capabilities
- Moderator notes reach the listing owner
- Published edit policy has been tested
Questions you may have
Why was a new front-end submission not published immediately?
Completed submissions are saved as Pending so a moderator can review them. Draft and preview actions remain Draft until the contributor submits for approval.
Can guests submit listings?
No. A contributor must sign in with submission permission. Provide a clear Login / Sign Up page and connect its route.
What is the difference between Request Changes and Reject?
Both move the post to Draft. Request Changes supplies an update-and-resubmit path with a moderator note; Reject records a rejection decision. Use clear notes so the author understands the outcome.
Who should be allowed to open the moderation queue?
Administrators always can. Enable the editor moderation option only for people who are responsible for reviewing other users’ content, and test their access before launch.
When would Pro help this workflow?
Use Pro when the team needs editable notification templates, timed reminders, scoped collaboration roles or daily or weekly Needs Attention digests. Free covers the core submit-review-publish journey.