WP Drafts Reminder

A WordPress plugin that sends two-tiered email reminders to authors who have draft posts sitting unpublished.

Description

WP Drafts Reminder helps keep your WordPress site's content pipeline moving by automatically notifying authors when they have draft posts that have been sitting unpublished. The plugin sends two reminders at configurable intervals:

1. First reminder — 2 days after the post was last modified
2. Second reminder — 7 days after the first reminder (9 days after last modification)

Each author only receives notifications about their own drafts, maintaining privacy and relevance.

Features

• Two-Tiered Reminders: First reminder at 2 days, second at 9 days (7 days after first)
• Automated Daily Checks: Uses WordPress cron to check for old drafts daily
• Author-Specific Notifications: Authors only receive notifications about their own drafts
• Reminder Tracking: Uses post meta to track which reminders have been sent, avoiding duplicates
• Detailed Email Reports: Emails include post titles, edit links, and how long each draft has been sitting
• Internationalization Ready: Fully translatable with proper text domain
• Admin Dashboard: View pending reminders, scheduled checks, and manually trigger tests
• WordPress Best Practices: Follows WordPress coding standards and security practices

Installation

1. Upload the plugin files to the /wp-content/plugins/wp-drafts-reminder directory
2. Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' screen in WordPress
3. The plugin will automatically start checking for drafts daily

How It Works

1. Daily Cron Job: The plugin schedules a daily WordPress cron job to check for old drafts
2. Two-Tiered Detection:
   • First reminders: Drafts modified more than 2 days ago with no first reminder sent
   • Second reminders: Drafts modified more than 9 days ago, first reminder sent, second not yet sent
3. Author Grouping: Groups the drafts by their respective authors
4. Email Notifications: Sends a personalized HTML email to each author listing their drafts
5. Reminder Tracking: Post meta (_wdr_first_reminder_sent, _wdr_second_reminder_sent) prevents duplicate emails

Reminder Schedule

Email Content

First reminder email includes:

• Personalized greeting with the author's display name
• List of draft posts with direct edit links
• Age of each draft (e.g., "3 days old")
• Encouragement to finish or remove drafts

Second reminder email includes:

• Same content as first, plus a note that this is the second reminder
• Urges the author to finish or remove drafts that have been sitting for over a week

Admin Dashboard

Access Settings → Drafts Reminder to see:

• Next scheduled check time
• Number of drafts pending first and second reminders
• Full table of old drafts with title, author, modification date, age, and reminder status
• Manual "Send Test Reminders Now" button

Technical Details

• WordPress Version: Requires WordPress 4.0 or higher
• PHP Version: Requires PHP 5.6 or higher
• Cron Schedule: Runs daily using WordPress built-in cron system
• Email Function: Uses WordPress wp_mail() function for reliability
• Post Types: Currently covers post (extensible for custom post types)
• Security: Follows WordPress security best practices including nonce verification, capability checks, and proper escaping

Hooks and Actions

The plugin uses these WordPress hooks:

• init — Initialize plugin and schedule cron
• wp_drafts_reminder_check — Custom cron hook for checking drafts
• register_activation_hook — Schedule cron on activation
• register_deactivation_hook — Clean up cron on deactivation

Customization

The plugin is built with extensibility in mind. Developers can:

• Hook into the wp_drafts_reminder_check action
• Filter email content and recipients
• Modify the reminder thresholds through code

License

This plugin is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE file for details.

Support

For support, feature requests, or bug reports, please visit the GitHub repository.