WordPress has a built in work flow system so you can take a new post (or page) from a draft stage through an editorial process to a final publication status.

This post will take you through the four work flow stages.

The Work Flow Tool

The work flow tool is located in the post or page editor usually on the top of the right hand sidebar. This allows you to set a posts status as we move through the work flow system.

Draft

The first status in the work flow system is draft.  When a post or page is marked as draft you are able to work on it, but it does not appear on the front end of your site.

Think on this as a work in progress.  It is also the default state of a new post or page.

Pending Review

The next stage is only applicable to multi author sites.  A contributor role only has permission to write a post and then mark it as pending review (not published).

A post marked as pending review requires an editor level or above to review that post and move it onto the published state.

Pending review allows a work flow where multiple contributors to your site create content and pass it to others as an editorial process.

Published

Click on the publish button and a post is moved to the state of published.  This means that a post is visible on the front end of your site.

This is the final stage of work flow and the content is made available to your end users.

Scheduled

Another work flow status is that of scheduled, if you set the publish date on a post, to a date in the future and click on publish, the post does not appear on the front page, rather it is marked as scheduled and will not appear until the date and time you set.

This is an excellent way to drip feed content to your readers without you being present to publish a post.

Changing State

Once you have moved a post through the work flow system it is not set in stone, you can move posts back to draft status to remove it from the front page, change published dates to the past or future.  The system is very flexible.

Wrap Up

The WordPress work flow system, although simple allows you to control the status of your content with ease.