How to Notify a Post Author About Post Approval with JetFormBuilder

If your site allows users to submit posts from the front end, you probably review those submissions before they go live. But once you approve a post, how does the author find out? Most sites leave that step manual — or skip it entirely, leaving the author checking the site over and over to see if their post went through.

With JetFormBuilder and the Formless Actions Endpoints add-on, you can automate this. When an administrator approves a pending post, an endpoint fires the actions configured in a related form — including sending an email straight to the post’s author. This guide walks through building the workflow so the right person gets notified, with the right post title, at the right time.

Table of Contents:

Install the Formless Actions Endpoints Addon

To install the add-on, go to WordPress Dashboard > JetFormBuilder > Addons tab and find the Formless Actions Endpoints add-on in the All Available Addons section.

Press the “Install Addon” button, and once installed, it will appear in the Your Installed Addons section.

Click the “Activate Addon” button.

install the formless actions endpoints add-on

Prepare the Approval Form

The form itself won’t be filled out by a person — it exists to define which actions run and what data those actions need. Start by creating it.

Navigate to WordPress Dashboard > JetFormBuilder > Add New Form. Enter the form’s title (“Post Approval Form” in this example).

The Welcome block appears by default. From here, you can select a form pattern or generate a form with OpenAI. 

The Welcome block will be closed, and the Hidden Field, the Text Field, and the Action Button will be added by default. You can delete these blocks. We hit the “Start from scratch” button, and in this case, the form needs three Hidden Fields with:

  • Post ID;
  • Post Author Email;
  • Post Title.
hidden fields added

None of these need to be visible to anyone filling out a form — their only job is to carry data through to the endpoint and, from there, into the email.

For that, add three Hidden Fields and, in the FIELD VALUE dropdown, select the “Current Post ID”, “Current Post Author Email”, and “Current Post Title” options, respectively.

NOTE

“Current User” is not the same as “Post Author.” When an administrator approves a post, the current user in that request is the administrator — not the person who wrote the post. If your email action pulls its recipient from the current user, the notification goes to the admin instead of the author.

Configure the Formless Action Endpoint

With the form ready, the next step is creating an endpoint that can trigger it from outside the form itself — in this case, from your approval action in the admin.

Proceed to WordPress Dashboard > JetFormBuilder > Endpoints and click the “Add new route” button.

add new route

Once the new page opens, select the form you created earlier in the RELATED FORM field. 

In the ACTION TYPE dropdown, choose the ”REST API Endpoint” option. Enter the ROUTE NAMESPACE (“croco” in this case) and ROUTE (“add-website” here) inputs.

We keep the Is restricted toggle disabled and turn on the Log Requests toggle.

endpoint settings

In the Fields section of the Data Fields tab, all the fields you added to the form are presented. Add values to the Sample Value – it will help the builder understand your needs better. 

When you switch to the Sample Request section, you see the request we get. The information from the “data” field needs to be saved to pass the info to the builder.

data field in the sample request

Click the “Publish” button once you are ready.

Configure the Post Submit Actions

Now that the form has the data it needs, add the action that actually sends the notification.

Open the form’s Post Submit Actions and add a “Send Email” action.

In the MAIL TO field, select the “Email from submitted form field” option. In the newly appeared FORM FIELD dropdown, reference the author’s email — resolved from the Hidden Field with the “Post Author ID” value you set up earlier, not from any “current user” value. This is the setting most worth double-checking, since a misconfigured recipient here is the most common way these notifications end up going to the wrong inbox.

sent email mail to settings

JetFormBuilder’s “Send Email” action supports macros pulled from form field values, so you can drop the post title macro directly into the subject line or body — for example:

Your post “%post-title%” has been approved.

The exact macro syntax will depend on the field names you used when building the form – you can click the “wrench” icon next to the CONTENT teaxtarea to see all of the macros from your form.

email content settings

Trigger the Endpoint When the Post Is Approved

This is where the pieces connect. When an administrator approves a post, that action needs to send a request to the endpoint you built.

The full sequence looks like this:

  1. The admin opens the pending post.
  2. The admin approves the post’s status.  
  3. The approval action sends the post ID (and any other required data) to the endpoint.
  4. The endpoint resolves the author’s information and the post title.
  5. JetFormBuilder runs the form’s configured actions.
  6. “Send Email” sends the notification to the post author.

The specifics of “how the admin’s Approve action sends the request” will depend on how your approval mechanism is built — whether that’s a custom button, a status-change hook, or another integration point.

Check the Result

Once everything is configured, test the full flow before relying on it:

  1. Submit a test post as a regular (non-admin) user.
  2. Leave the post in a pending state.
  3. Log in as an administrator.
  4. Approve the post.
  5. Check the author’s inbox — not the admin’s.
  6. Confirm that:
    • The email went to the post author, not the administrator.
    • The post title is correct.
    • Any link in the email works.
    • The post’s approval status updated correctly.

FAQ

How can I notify a post author when their WordPress post is approved?

You can use JetFormBuilder with the Formless Actions Endpoints add-on to automate post approval notifications. When the approval action triggers the endpoint, JetFormBuilder runs the form’s Post Submit Actions, including the “Send Email” action that notifies the post author.

Can JetFormBuilder send an email to the author of a submitted post?

Yes. You can pass the post author’s information through a Hidden Field and use it to determine the email recipient in the “Send Email” action. This is especially useful for front-end post submission workflows where posts need to be reviewed before publication.

Why is the approval email being sent to the administrator instead of the post author?

This usually happens when the notification uses the “Current User” instead of the “Post Author”. When an administrator approves a post, the current user is the administrator. To notify the author, pass the post author’s information through the endpoint and use it when configuring the email recipient.

Can I include the approved post title in the notification email?

Yes. Add a Hidden Field that passes the current post title to the form, then use its field macro in the “Send Email” action. You can include the post title in the email subject or message to make the approval notification more informative.

Does the Formless Actions Endpoint automatically detect when a post is published?

No. The endpoint itself does not automatically monitor WordPress post status changes. Your approval mechanism must send a request to the endpoint when the post is approved. Once the endpoint receives the request, JetFormBuilder can process the submitted data and run the form’s configured actions.

That’s it. Now you know that with the WordPress JetFormBuilder plugin and the Formless Actions Endpoints add-on, you can connect a post-approval workflow directly to an automatic email notification.

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