Adding the ability for readers to comment

By default, comments are disabled on all chapters, front matter and back matter. If you would like to allow readers to comment, you need to first enable comments globally. To do so:

• Go to “Settings” on the left menu, then “Sharing & Privacy”
• Under “Disable Comments”, select “No. I want to leave comments, trackbacks and pingbacks enabled on all front matter, chapters and back matter unless I disable them manually.”
• Save your changes

How to Disable Comments on a Chapter

Sometimes, you may want to turn off the ability for readers to comment on a specific chapter, while leaving comments enabled on others. To do this, go into the chapter in edit mode.

• Scroll down to the section titled Discussion.
• Unselect the box that says Allow Comments.

Moderating Comments

Moderating Comments Individually

Pressbooks sorts your comments into five folders: All, comments Pending moderation, Approved comments, Spam and Trash.

To access and moderate reader comments:

• Click on Comments on the left menu.
• Comments pending moderation will appear on the right by default.
• You can moderate comments individually or as a group.
• To moderate individually, hover over a comment and click on one of the links that appears. Options are as follows: Unapprove (prevents the comment from showing), Reply (lets you reply to the comment), Quick Edit (allows you to edit the comment), Edit, History (shows history of the comment thread and your replies), Spam, or Trash.
• Once you’ve chosen one of these options, select Apply.

• Once you approve a comment, it will move to the Approved Comments section, but you can always take action on it using the dropdown arrows to Unapprove, Mark as Spam or Move to Trash later.
• Once a comment is moved to Trash, you still have the options to Restore or Delete it permanently.

Moderating Comments as a Group

• To apply the same action to all comments, select the checkbox next to Author.
• This will select all comments.
• Then click on the arrow next to Bulk Actions.
• For each selected comment, you can make one of four choices: Approve, Unapprove, Mark as Spam or Move to Trash.
• Select an action.
• Click apply.
• Pressbooks will apply the change to the comment(s) you selected.

Spam Comments

Pressbooks will automatically route comments that appear to be spam to the spam folder. To review these comments:

• Click on Spam to view and moderate these comments.
• Select comment(s).
• Use the dropdown arrow next to Bulk Actions. You can either mark a comment as Not Spam or Delete Permanently.
• Click Apply.