Description
Editorial Workflow Manager adds an editorial checklist to the WordPress block editor (Gutenberg) so your team can follow a consistent pre-publish checklist every time you publish.
It’s built for content teams, agencies, and editors who want a lightweight publishing checklist workflow inside the editor — with clear “ready vs incomplete” feedback — without hard publish blocking.
This plugin does not output anything on the front end.
What you can do
- Create reusable checklist templates (required + optional items).
- Assign different editorial checklists to different post types.
- Track per-post checklist progress in the editor sidebar.
- See readiness and progress in the sidebar, the post status panel, and the pre-publish panel.
Typical use cases
- Blog posts: SEO checks, featured image, categories/tags, internal links, fact check.
- News/Editorial: legal review, source confirmation, editor sign-off checklist.
- Agencies: client approvals checklist, accessibility checks, brand requirements.
- Teams: consistent publishing workflow across authors and editors.
Key features
- Checklist templates – manage reusable checklists as a custom post type.
- Template editor (row-based UI) – add, remove, reorder items; mark each item Required or Optional.
- Required vs Optional items – readiness is based on required items only.
- Per-post checklist state – each post/page stores its own checklist progress.
- Gutenberg / Block Editor sidebar – “Editorial Checklist” panel inside the editor.
- Readiness + progress indicators
- Sidebar summary with Ready / Incomplete and required progress
- Post Status panel summary while editing
- Non-blocking pre-publish warning when required items are missing
- Different checklist per post type – assign templates in Settings.
- Default templates included on activation.
- Fresh-install quickstart wizard – choose post types, assign starter templates, and jump straight into the editor.
- Lightweight editor tour – auto-open the checklist sidebar once and explain required-item readiness.
- Backward compatible upgrades – legacy templates still work and upgrade to UUID-based v2 items when saved.
Getting started
- Activate the plugin and complete the Quickstart wizard.
- Choose the post types where editorial checklists should appear.
- Confirm the starter template mappings, then open the editor.
- Follow the one-time sidebar tour in the block editor.
- Complete checklist items and watch the readiness/progress summary update.
- Adjust mappings later in Settings Editorial Workflow or edit templates in Checklist Templates.
Screenshots
Installation
- Upload the
editorial-workflow-managerfolder to/wp-content/plugins/, or install via Plugins Add New. - Activate the plugin in wp-admin.
- On activation, default checklist templates are created.
- On fresh installs, a Quickstart wizard opens to help you assign starter templates and launch the editor tour.
FAQ
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What does the Quickstart wizard do?
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On fresh installs, the plugin can guide an administrator through choosing post types, assigning starter templates, and opening a post editor screen with the checklist sidebar highlighted.
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Can I dismiss the quickstart or editor tour?
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Yes. Dismissal is stored per user, so one admin can skip onboarding without affecting another admin’s setup flow.
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Does the plugin block publishing when required items are missing?
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No. The pre-publish warning is non-blocking.
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Does this work with Classic Editor?
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No. The checklist UI is built for Gutenberg / the block editor only.
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Can I use different checklists per post type?
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Yes. Assign templates in Settings Editorial Workflow.
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Do optional items affect readiness?
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No. Readiness is based on REQUIRED items only.
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What happens to older templates/checklist data?
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Legacy templates and label-based checked state remain supported.
Templates are now stored in an upgraded v2 format with UUID-based item IDs for more stable matching. When a legacy template is edited and saved in the new editor, it is upgraded to v2 automatically. A compatibility meta mirror is still maintained for legacy support.
Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
“Editorial Workflow Manager” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
ContributorsTranslate “Editorial Workflow Manager” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
0.6.0
- Added a fresh-install Quickstart wizard for selecting post types and assigning starter templates.
- Added a lightweight one-time editor tour that auto-opens and highlights the Editorial Checklist sidebar.
- Stored quickstart and editor-tour dismissal state per user.
0.5.0
- Changed Checklist Template permissions to use WordPress page capabilities.
- Only Editors and Administrators can now manage Checklist Templates by default; Authors and Contributors may lose access.
- Added a one-time admin notice after update to warn site owners about the capability change.
0.4.0
- Added Required vs Optional checklist items.
- Added clearer readiness/progress indicators across the sidebar, post status panel, and pre-publish panel.
- Improved template editing UX with a row-based editor (add/remove/reorder, required/optional per item).
- Introduced UUID-based v2 template items and checked-state tracking for stable matching when labels change (after template upgrade).
- Hardened template saving against malformed/empty submissions to reduce accidental data loss.
- Kept backward compatibility by continuing to read/write legacy label-based meta.
0.3.4
- Various security improvements (better data validation and sanitization).
0.3.3
- Small syntax fix in uninstall.php.
0.3.2
- Added uninstall.php cleanup to remove plugin data when the plugin is deleted.
0.3.1
- Added non-blocking pre-publish checklist warning when checklists are incomplete.
- Added checklist activity hint (“Last updated by X on [date/time]”).
0.3.0
- First public release.




