There’s nothing more frustrating than posting a public comment with typos you can’t get at. We’ve all done it at some point. This guide shows how to allow site users to edit comments in WordPress. The secret is to allow this feature for a limited period. Most people see their errors right away, so a window of a few minutes should be enough.
Why Contributors Appreciate Comment Editing
Comment editing is not just useful for typos and grammatical errors. An emotional poster may write in haste and regret what they wrote moments after pressing send. They’d surely appreciate the chance to delete such comments. Or, a poster wishes they’d expressed their thoughts differently. Whatever the reasons, letting users edit their comments is a welcome feature.
Simple Comment Editing Plugin
The solution is to install the Simple Comment Editing Plugin. It’s the perfect tool for controlling how long users can edit comments after they post them. The free version works right out of the box. There’s also a premium (paid) addon for webmasters who demand greater flexibility.
Some of the paid addon editing options include:
- Stop the timer and hide the timer
- Add unrestricted editing for logged in users
- Choose button styles that best match active WordPress themes
- Display editing history for comments
- Track the number of people who edit comments
- Receive auto-email notifications when someone edits or deletes a comment
- Enable or disable the comment deletion option
- Set minimum/maximum comment length (word count)
There’s a link to the Simple Comment Editing Options from the free plugin setup screen.
How to Use the Free Simple Editing Plugin
The first step is to install then activate the Simple Comment Editing Plugin by Ronald Huereca.
Read How to Install New Plugins in WordPress before continuing if you need help.
You’re now at the simple timer setup screen.
User editing allows contributors to amend their comments right away. How long you set the time window is up to you. If it’s too short, then it becomes a race against the clock that’s sure to annoy people. A period of time of about 15–20 minutes is reasonable
- Type the duration in minutes for the edit window (default is set to 5)
- Click Save Options
There’s now a visible link to edit comments and a countdown timer that looks like this.
The counter continues to count down when the user enters edit mode.
Your comment editing features may look different depending on the active WP theme.
Editing will only allow users to edit the written comments. Their name, email address, and website URL sections are not editable. Other options include Leave a Reply, Cancel, Edit or Delete comments. There’s a delete confirmation message to avoid accidental deletion.
Leave a comment somewhere on your WordPress website or blog to test the new feature.
