Title: Comments in WordPress
Author: Akira Tachibana
Published: October 14, 2018
Last modified: June 24, 2025

---

# Comments in WordPress

## In this article

 * [Comment screen](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#comment-screen)
 * [Discussion settings](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#discussion-settings)
    - [Notification](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#notification)
    - [Comment rules](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#comment-rules)
    - [Comment display](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#comment-display)
    - [Comment administration](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#comment-administration)
    - [Comment spam](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#comment-spam)
    - [Avatars](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#avatars)
 * [Enabling comments on your site](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#enabling-comments-on-your-site)
    - [Turning on comments for a single post or page](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#turning-on-comments-for-a-single-post-or-page)
    - [Turning on comments from the posts or pages screen](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#turning-on-comments-from-the-posts-or-pages-screen)
    - [Turning on comments for multiple posts or pages](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#turning-on-comments-for-multiple-posts-or-pages)

[ Back to top](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Comments allow your website’s visitors to have a discussion with you and each other.
When you activate comments on a [Page](https://wordpress.org/support/article/pages/?output_format=md)
or post, WordPress inserts several text boxes after your content where users can
submit their comments. Once you approve a comment, it appears underneath your content.
Whether you want to customize how you receive comments or tweak how your site displays
comments, WordPress provides a thorough set of options to build a community from
the visitors to your site.

## 󠀁[Comment screen](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#comment-screen)󠁿

All comments on a WordPress website are displayed on the **Comments** dashboard 
in your WordPress admin area. It displays all comments by default

![The 'Comments' page in the admin dashboard](https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/documentation/
files/2020/04/comments-dashboard.png?fit=1024%2C572&ssl=1)

You can switch the view to see Pending, Approved, Spam, and Trash comments:

 * **Pending:** comments submitted by your visitors, but won’t be visible on your
   blog posts unless you approve them.
 * **Approved:** comments published and are publicly visible on your blog posts 
   by all your website visitors.
 * **Spam**: comments flagged as possibly unwanted or irrelevant, and aren’t visible
   to your site visitors.
 * **Trash**: comments marked as unwanted and will be automatically deleted for 
   good after 30 days.

Moving your mouse over to a comment will display the action links for it. You can
approve a comment to make it visible to all your site visitors, or unapprove it 
to put it in pending status again.

You can also reply to comments. By replying to a specific comment, your reply will
appear right under that comment. This is called “threaded” or “nested” comments.

You can also choose to edit anyone’s comments on your own site. The **Quick Edit**
option opens a text area so you can edit the comment without reloading the page.**
Edit**, on the other hand, gives you more options to edit the name, user email, 
and more.

Once a visitor submits his or her comment, WordPress follows your preferences and
either hold the comment for your approval or posts it immediately.

If you see a comment marked as spam that’s actually a real comment, then you can
mark it as **Not Spam** by hovering your mouse over it.

Comments in the trash section are comments that have been deleted by you. Any comment
in the trash can be restored by clicking on **Restore**. Comments in trash remain
there for 30 days after this time WordPress deletes them permanently.

## 󠀁[Discussion settings](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#discussion-settings)󠁿

Before you enable comments on posts or [Pages](https://wordpress.org/support/article/pages/?output_format=md),
reviewing the options under [Settings](https://wordpress.org/support/article/settings-general-screen/?output_format=md)
> [Discussion](https://wordpress.org/support/article/settings-discussion-screen/?output_format=md)
can help make your life as a moderator easier. Use these settings to restrict comments
and reduce the amount of spam you receive.

### 󠀁[Notification](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#notification)󠁿

![The 'Discussion Settings' section of the 'Settings' page in the admin dashboard](
https://wordpress.org/documentation/files/2020/04/default-post-settings.png)

If you link another site post on your site, **Attempt to notify any blogs linked
to from the post** will enable your site to notify the website owners that you have
linked to them. They can then choose to tell their users that another site linked
to them through a [trackback or pingback](https://wordpress.org/support/article/introduction-to-blogging/?output_format=md).

Just like the option above, you can enable your site to accept pingbacks and trackbacks
from other websites by checking **Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks
and trackbacks) on new posts**.

### 󠀁[Comment rules](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#comment-rules)󠁿

**Allow people to post comments on new articles** will enable you to disable comments
if you don’t need comments on your websites.

![Other comments options on the 'Settings' page of the admin dashboard](https://
wordpress.org/documentation/files/2020/04/other-comment-settings.png)

**Comment author must fill out name and e-mail** prevents people from leaving anonymous
comments.

**Users must be registered and logged in to comment** will only allow registered
users of your site to post comments.

**Automatically close comments on articles older than _____ days** will close comments
on a post that have reached a set time. This is a good way to limit spam comments.

### 󠀁[Comment display](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#comment-display)󠁿

**Enable threaded (nested) comments _____ levels deep**: will allow your users to
reply to one another. A reply to a comment is shown “nested” underneath the original
comments. You can limit how many levels (a reply to a reply) of replies your site
will allow by changing the number of levels.

**Break comments into Pages with _____top level comments per Page and the _____ 
Page displayed by default** will change how your comments are displayed. You can
set how many comments you see per Page and if the oldest or newest comments are 
displayed first.

**Comments should be displayed with the _____ comments at the top of each Page**
will place newer or older comments at the top of each page.

![Email and comment options on the 'Settings' page in the admin dashboard](https://
wordpress.org/documentation/files/2020/04/comment-administration.png)

### 󠀁[Comment administration](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#comment-administration)󠁿

**Email me whenever … Anyone posts a comment** and/or **A comment is held for moderation**
will help you stay up to date on your comments. If you don’t check your site often.

**Comment must be manually approved** will help you moderate the comments published
on your site.

**Comment author must have a previously approved comment** will help moderate the
comments published on your site.

### 󠀁[Comment spam](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#comment-spam)󠁿

![The comment moderation and blocklist options on the 'Settings' page](https://i2.
wp.com/wordpress.org/documentation/files/2020/04/comment-moderation.png?fit=1024%
2C338&ssl=1)

**Hold a comment in the queue if it contains _____ links**, Spam comments are designed
to get users to click on links in order to drive traffic to other sites. As a result,
many spam comments contain multiple links. Setting this option to hold all comments
that contain 2 or more links will help catch more spam.

You can experiment with **Comment Moderation and Comment Blacklist** to catch spam
that contains certain words or is posted from a particular IP address. Comments 
caught through blacklisting are not deleted but instead [moved to your spam folder](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comment-moderation/).

Because spam is pervasive on the Web, some of the comments you receive will most
likely be spam. However, WordPress developers and administrators have already developed
a number of [successful strategies to help you prevent spam comments](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/faq-working-with-wordpress/#what-can-i-do-to-stop-comment-spam)
from appearing on your site. In addition to experimenting with different options
in [Settings](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/settings-general-screen/)
>[ Discussion](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/settings-discussion-screen/),
you can install a [WordPress Plugin](https://wordpress.org/plugins/) like [Akismet](http://akismet.com/)
or [make other changes](https://codex.wordpress.org/Combating_Comment_Spam) to help
you keep spam comments under control.

### 󠀁[Avatars](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#avatars)󠁿

The settings under “Avatars” control the images your site displays next to comments.
For an introduction to Gravatars, read the WordPress Lesson about [ How to Use Gravatars in WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/article/how-to-use-gravatars/?output_format=md).

## 󠀁[Enabling comments on your site](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#enabling-comments-on-your-site)󠁿

Once you have decided on your discussion options, you are ready to enable comments.
If you chose not to enable comments on all articles automatically, you can turn 
on comments for a specific post or Page in several ways.

### 󠀁[Turning on comments for a single post or page](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#turning-on-comments-for-a-single-post-or-page)󠁿

![WordPress block editor interface showing an empty post titled ‘Enter the article
title here.’ On the right-hand side under the ‘Document’ tab, various post settings
are visible. The ‘Discussion’ section is highlighted in yellow, with checkboxes 
for ‘Allow comments’ and ‘Allow pingbacks & trackbacks’ both checked.](https://i2.
wp.com/wordpress.org/documentation/files/2020/04/enable-comment-on-page-1.png?fit
=1024%2C480&ssl=1)

On the post or page you wish to add comments to, find the “Discussion” box, and
check “Allow Comments.” (If you do not see the “Discussion” box on the Edit Page,
click “Screen Options” in the upper right corner of the browser window. Make sure
the box next to “Discussion” is checked.) Save your changes by clicking “Publish”,“
Save Draft” or “Update.

### 󠀁[Turning on comments from the posts or pages screen](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#turning-on-comments-from-the-posts-or-pages-screen)󠁿

![WordPress Quick Edit panel for a post. The panel displays fields for title, slug,
date, author, categories, template, tags, and status. On the right side, the options‘
Allow Comments’ (checked) and ‘Allow Pings’ (unchecked) are highlighted in yellow,
with the post status set to ‘Published.’](https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/documentation/
files/2020/04/enable-comment-from-quick-edit.png?fit=1024%2C228&ssl=1)

Navigate to the Posts/Pages screen. In the list of pages or posts, find the one 
you want and hover your cursor over the title of the post. You will see several 
links appear underneath the title. Click “Quick Edit” and check “Allow Comments.”
Click “Update” to turn comments on for that post.

### 󠀁[Turning on comments for multiple posts or pages](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#turning-on-comments-for-multiple-posts-or-pages)󠁿

From the Posts/Pages screen, check the boxes next to the posts or Pages on which
you want to enable comments. Select “Edit” from the “Bulk Edit” Dropdown box and
click Apply. Then, select “Allow” next in the Comments dropdown box and finish by
clicking “update.”

## Was this article helpful? How could it be improved? 󠀁[Cancel reply](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/comments-in-wordpress/?output_format=md#respond)󠁿

[Log in to submit feedback](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fdocumentation%2Farticle%2Fcomments-in-wordpress%2F&locale=en_US).
If you need support with something that wasn't covered by this article, please post
your question in the [support forums](https://wordpress.org/support/forums/).

First published

October 14, 2018

Last updated

June 24, 2025