About pending messages

When a message that needs approval is posted to a group, owners and moderators who have chosen to receive pending message notifications receive an email or web/app notification (or both) that has a subject line starting with “Message Approval Needed.”

Note:

• For email notifications, the owners’ and moderators’ group subscriptions must be set to receive emails sent to the owner address. See Making a member an owner or moderator.
• Pending messages expire after 14 days. If no action is taken within that period, the message is deleted. The sender does not receive any notification.
  Exception: The 14-day timeout period does not apply to pending messages that have been claimed by a moderator on the group’s website.

Tip: You can visit your Pending home page to see all the messages that are currently pending in all the groups you own or moderate.

Approving, rejecting, or deleting pending messages by email

To approve a pending message by email: Reply to the “Message Approval Needed” email message without adding anything to it or clearing any text (if your email application is set up to include or quote messages you are replying to).

To reject a pending message by email: Forward the “Message Approval Needed” email message to the rejection link included in the message. The sender receives an automatic notification with a simple statement that the message was not approved by the moderators. To provide more feedback to senders, you can create a customized Rejected Message notice with additional information.

To delete a pending message by email: Forward the “Message Approval Needed” email message to the deletion link included in the message. The sender does not receive any notification that the message was deleted.

Note: If the pending message has been claimed by another moderator, you will receive an email delivery failure notification containing a statement that the pending message was claimed and including the claiming moderator’s display name.

Handling pending messages on the group’s website

Note: In groups that are fully moderated, or in groups where #xxx-notice system hashtags are moderated, notifications to be sent to the group (such as for file uploads, photo uploads, calendar invites, and so on) must be approved like any other messages. These notifications are listed on the Pending Messages page and are identified by a blue Notification badge.

Example:

Handling an individual pending message

1. In the “Message Approval Needed” email message, click the View this message online link, which takes you to the Pending Messages page on the group’s website. Or, on the group’s website, select Admin > Pending (in a desktop browser) or More > Admin > Pending (on a mobile device) to display the Pending Messages page.
2. On the Pending Messages page, click or tap the link in the row of the pending message you want to handle. The page with the individual message appears.
3. Under the text of the message, click or tap the button for the action you want to take:
   • Approve

     Approve the pending message.

   • Edit

     Edit the pending message. Note: This action also claims the message.

   • Reject

     Reject the pending message. You can include a personal message to the sender, or select a Rejected Message notice (if any exists in the group), or both.

   • Delete

     Delete the pending message. This action does not send a notification to the sender.

Tip: From this page, you can also send a private message to the sender or ban the sender. Click or tap the down arrow next to their display name to display a dropdown menu, then select Send Message or Ban Sender, as applicable.

Handling multiple pending messages at the same time

1. Desktop browser: Go to a group’s page and click Admin on the left menu, then select Pending.
   Mobile device: At the bottom of a group page, tap the More icon, then select Admin > Pending on the More menu.
   Tip: A number to the right of “Pending” indicates the number of items that are pending approval. 
2. On the Pending Messages page, select the checkboxes next to the rows of the pending messages for which you want to take the same actions.
3. Click or tap the button for the action you want to apply to the selected pending messages:
   • Approve

     Approve the selected pending messages.

   • Approve & Unmoderate Senders

     Approve the selected pending messages and set their senders’ moderation status to Use Group Moderation Settings.

   • Edit

     Edit the selected pending message.

     Note: 
     

     • This button is active for only one message at a time (that is, only one message is selected). You cannot edit more than one pending message at the same time.
       
     • Editing also claims the selected message.
   • Reject

     Reject the selected pending messages. You can include a personal message to the senders, or select a Rejected Message notice (if any exist in the group), or both.

   • Delete

     Delete the selected pending messages. This action does not send a notification to the senders.

Working with claimed pending messages

While an owner or moderator is editing a pending message, or if they edit a pending message and save it without approving (for example, to work on it later), that person effectively claims the pending message. Next to the message on the Pending Messages page, other moderators will see the Claimed by badge with the claiming moderator’s display name, along with the Moderator Edited badge. The Claimed by badge indicates to other moderators that someone is already handling that message.

Note: When someone saves an edited pending message using the Save button at the bottom of the edit page, an Undo button appears on the subject line the next time someone opens that message on the group’s website. Any moderator with the appropriate permissions can click or tap the Undo button to remove any edits that were made to the pending message and restore it to its original state.

Other moderators with the appropriate permissions can still take action on a claimed message on the group’s website. If a different moderator later edits the pending message and saves it (or uses the Undo button), that moderator becomes the claimer, and their name replaces the original name in the Claimed by badge. Another moderator can still take action on that pending message on the website, but in any confirmation popup that appears, that moderator will see “Warning: This message was claimed by [moderator’s display name]”.

If a pending message has been claimed and a different moderator tries to approve, reject, or delete that message by email, that moderator will receive a delivery failure notice containing a statement that the message was claimed and including the claiming moderator’s display name.