Moderating Participation Submissions | Civio Engage Knowledge Base [Skip to content](#main) [ ![Civio Engage Knowledge Base](/civio-light.svg) ](https://nginx.deploy-lagoon-production.civio-engage-docs.dh1.amazee.io) [Product documentation](/articles) [Release notes](/releases) [Roadmap](/roadmap) [ Support portal ](https://nginx.deploy-lagoon-production.civio-engage-docs.dh1.amazee.io/portal/login) Toggle navigation [Product documentation](/articles) [Release notes](/releases) [Roadmap](/roadmap) [Support portal](https://nginx.deploy-lagoon-production.civio-engage-docs.dh1.amazee.io/portal/login) 1. [Home](/) › 2. [Product documentation](/articles) › 3. [Getting Started with Civio Engage](/articles?category=15) › 4. Moderating Participation Submissions Moderating Participation Submissions ==================================== Updated 6 hours ago · 5 min read Search Search When community members submit ideas, questions, or feedback through your participation tools, you control whether those submissions go live immediately or need to be reviewed first. This is called **moderation**. The three moderation options ---------------------------- Every participation tool with public-facing submissions has a moderation setting. There are three options: **Option****What happens**[**Publish immediately**](/articles/9184083413647-View-moderate-and-export-participation-tool-submissions)Submissions go live on the public site as soon as they are submitted. No review step.[**Automatic moderation**](/articles/9184083413647-View-moderate-and-export-participation-tool-submissions)Submissions are automatically checked against community guidelines. If they pass, they are published. If they fail, they are rejected.[**Manual moderation**](/articles/9184083413647-View-moderate-and-export-participation-tool-submissions)Submissions stay hidden from the public until a team member reviews and publishes or rejects each one.For a full breakdown of how each moderation workflow functions, including what happens when a submission fails automatic moderation, see [View, moderate, and export participation tool submissions](/articles/9184083413647-View-moderate-and-export-participation-tool-submissions). Which tools use moderation -------------------------- Moderation applies to participation tools where community submissions are **publicly visible** to other visitors: **Tool****Has moderation?****Why**[Idea boards](/articles/9184062005007-Create-and-edit-an-idea-board)YesIdeas are displayed publicly and can be voted on[Q&A boards](/articles/12347854585743-Create-and-edit-a-Q-A-board)YesQuestions are displayed publicly with official responses[Map feedback](/articles/10028992146575-Create-and-edit-a-map-feedback)YesFeedback pins are visible to other visitors on the map[Surveys](/articles/9182830898191-Create-and-edit-a-survey)NoResponses are private, only visible to your team in the admin[Polls](/articles/9184031782799-Create-and-edit-poll)NoVotes are aggregated, individual responses are not displayed[Budgets](/articles/14158973375759-Getting-started-with-Budgets)NoParticipants allocate a budget, individual allocations are not displayed publiclySetting your site-wide default ------------------------------ You can choose a default moderation setting that applies automatically whenever a new participation tool is created. To update it: 1. Click **Settings** in the left-hand menu. 2. Under **Configuration**, click **Participation**. 3. Find the **Default submission moderation** dropdown. 4. Select your preferred option: **Publish immediately**, **Automatic moderation**, or **Manual moderation**. 5. Click **Save**. ![The Default submission moderation dropdown under Settings, Configuration, Participation.](https://engage.knowledge.civ.io/storage/W0eRz5Cs1GScS3srupNCCXtAQnHygce6NTIBnisv.png) This default is applied when creating new tools. You can always override it on a per-tool basis. For more on the Settings page, see [Settings](/articles/9175641395215-Settings). Setting moderation per tool --------------------------- ![A Q&A board's settings, showing the submission close date, card call to action text and question voting options](/storage/WbgwGuZ7MOmwMJ0ouO7H9CdrV93ftyVyOHVx5SnK.png) Each participation tool can have its own moderation setting, overriding the site default. To change it: 1. Open your project and navigate to the participation tool (e.g. **Q&A boards**). 2. Click the **ellipsis** next to the tool and select **Edit**, or click into the tool and select the **Edit** tab. 3. In the right-hand sidebar, find the moderation dropdown (labelled **Question moderation** on Q&A boards, or similar on other tools). 4. Select your preferred option. 5. Click **Publish** to apply the change. There is no **Save** button: while you are still creating a tool the second button reads **Save as draft**, and on a published tool it reads **New draft** if your site's workflow allows one. Reviewing submissions --------------------- ![A submission open on its View tab, with the moderation panel, sentiment rating and tagging controls](/storage/8TE7XfWYSi5YuBZAvg1pFsDgFDkAwT4YmttE6KqU.png) When moderation is enabled (automatic or manual), submissions will appear in the tool's **Submissions** tab for your team to review. To review a submission: 1. Open your project from the **Projects** menu. 2. Under **Participation**, click the tool type (e.g. **Q&A boards**). 3. Click on the tool to open it, you'll land on the **Submissions** tab. 4. Find the submission in the list and click **View**. Approving or rejecting a submission ----------------------------------- ![The Moderate submission dialog, with a revision message explaining why the submission was rejected](/storage/THUf2VU5Gl8DgiIRKPJ3P2uoFPlFBDMa2Nepz9oO.png) From the submission detail screen, you can moderate the submission: 1. Review the submitted content under **Moderate question**. 2. To approve it, click **Publish**. The submission becomes visible on the public site. 3. To reject it, click **Reject**. The submission will not appear publicly. 4. Add a revision message if prompted and click **Confirm**. You can also tag submissions with sentiment labels (Positive, Negative, Neutral) and add tags for categorisation, helpful for reporting later. Responding to a submission -------------------------- ![The submission response editor, with a formatted reply to a community question](/storage/4w1WlvC7jqCarZWu12JfuTlZKWcIB9OK4ZSABC4f.png) Some tools, like **Q&A boards**, allow your team to write an official response that appears publicly alongside the community member's submission. To respond: 1. Open a submission by clicking **View** from the submissions list. 2. Scroll to the **Submission response** section. 3. Write your response using the rich text editor. 4. Click **Publish** to make the response visible on the public site. When you publish a response on a Q&A board, the person who submitted the question receives a notification. Only the first publication triggers a notification, editing an already-published response does not. For more, see [Create and edit a Q&A board](/articles/12347854585743-Create-and-edit-a-Q-A-board). How it looks on the public site ------------------------------- ![A published question and its response as they appear on the public site](/storage/3KzXP54aqj46LFLbL1burirr8YvJlszEpjxPDmca.png) Once a submission and response are published, they appear on the public project page. On a Q&A board, visitors will see: 1. The community member's question with a timestamp. 2. A vote button so other visitors can up-vote the question. 3. Your team's official response, labelled with your team name and an **Official Response** badge. The team name displayed on official responses can be customised in **Settings → Configuration → Comment**. See [Settings](/articles/9175641395215-Settings) for details. Viewing moderation logs ----------------------- Every moderation action is recorded. To view the history for a submission: 1. Open the submission detail view. 2. Click the **Logs** tab. This shows a timeline of all status changes and actions taken on that submission. For a complete guide to viewing, moderating, and exporting submissions, see [View, moderate, and export participation tool submissions](/articles/9184083413647-View-moderate-and-export-participation-tool-submissions). What's next? ------------ Now that you know how to manage submissions, the next article covers how to use reporting and analytics to understand your community's engagement. **Next:** [9. Intro to Reporting & Analytics](/articles/intro-to-reporting-analytics) Next in this series [ 9. Intro to Reporting & Analytics ](/articles/intro-to-reporting-analytics) Was this article helpful? ------------------------- Your feedback helps us prioritise what to rewrite. Yes No [ Back to Getting Started with Civio Engage ](/articles?category=15) [ Next article Intro to Reporting & Analytics ](/articles/intro-to-reporting-analytics) On this page New to Civio Engage? 8 / 9 [ 1 Getting Around Civio Engage ](/articles/understanding-civio-engage) [ 2 Setting Up Your Site Basics ](/articles/setting-up-your-site-basics) [ 3 Creating Site Pages ](/articles/getting-started-article-3) [ 4 Setting Up Your Team ](/articles/article-4-setting-up-your-team) [ 5 Creating Your First Project ](/articles/article-5-creating-your-first-project) [ 6 The Content Workflow ](/articles/getting-started-article-6) [ See all 9 →](https://nginx.deploy-lagoon-production.civio-engage-docs.dh1.amazee.io/articles) ### Still need help? Raise a request in the support portal and track it to resolution. [ Submit a support request ](https://nginx.deploy-lagoon-production.civio-engage-docs.dh1.amazee.io/portal/login) Submit a support request through the [support portal](/portal) or email . © 2026 [Civio](https://civ.io) [Privacy Policy](/articles/privacy-policy) [Terms of Use](/articles/terms-of-use)