When your book's moderation mode is set to manual, every submission goes into a review queue before it appears publicly.
The moderation queue
When your book has pending submissions, opening it takes you straight to the queue. You can also reach it any time by clicking Submissions in your book's navigation. You'll see a list of submissions, each showing:
- The contributor's name (if provided)
- The submission text
- Any attached photos or media, shown with their original proportions intact in both the queue card and the expanded preview
- When it was submitted and through which channel
Actions
- Approve: the submission goes live and appears in the book.
- Reject: the submission is removed and will not appear in the book.
Setting a memory aside, and changing your mind
When you set a memory aside you can write a short reason. That reason belongs to that memory: it is kept while you work on other memories, while you move between pages, and it survives an attempt that does not go through. It is cleared only once that memory has actually been set aside with those words.
If the same memory was already reviewed by someone else on your team while you were typing, your reason is kept rather than discarded, because it was never recorded.
After you add a memory to the book or set it aside, an Undo appears for a few seconds. It stays put while your pointer or keyboard is on it, and it is offered only for an action that actually took effect. If someone else on your team has already changed that memory since, Undo will tell you so and leave their decision alone.
If a review does not go through, for example while a book is locked, you will be told rather than left looking at an unchanged row.
If your browser is refusing to store data, for example in a private window, a reason you have typed exists only on that page. We will warn you before you navigate away from it, and the swipe deck will not refresh itself while one is waiting. If it is holding back for that reason it will say so and offer to discard.
Auto-approve mode
If you trust all your contributors, you can switch to auto-approve in your book settings. Submissions will appear immediately without review. You can still remove individual submissions later.
Bulk actions
When you have many pending submissions, you can approve or reject them in bulk:
- Select submissions using the checkboxes next to each one, or use Select all at the top.
- Click Approve selected or Reject selected.
The queue updates instantly. Any submissions that were already processed are skipped automatically.
Markdown formatting
Story submissions support markdown formatting. Contributors can use bold, italic, headings, lists, links, and other formatting when writing their memories via the web form. Formatted text renders automatically in the moderation queue and on the public book page.
Photo dates on the timeline
Photos are placed on your book's timeline by the date they were taken, read automatically from the photo when that information is available (it usually survives web uploads, email, and full-resolution sends, but many text and chat apps strip it). When a photo arrives without a recoverable date, it's flagged for review and gathered under the Needs a date tab in your photo gallery, where you can set the right date in one click. You can also change any submission's date from its edit screen.
Tips
- Check your moderation queue regularly, especially after sharing your book link at an event.
- Use manual moderation for public books where anyone can submit, and auto-approve for private books with trusted contributors.
- After a batch of texted-in photos, check the gallery's Needs a date tab, because phone and chat apps often strip the original date.
Ready to try it? Create your free memory book