How to approve and reply to comments

When a user comments on one of your WordPress blog posts, it will be held for moderation allowing you to review the comment before making it public.

The administrator of your WordPress site (hey, that could be you!) will receive an email that looks a bit like this:

As you can see, you have links to Approve, Trash, or Spam the comment. The process is the same, regardless of which option you choose.

View pending comments

As with most things WordPress, there are a couple of ways to view pending comments.

via email link

• Click the link in the email next to Approve it: NB: This doesn’t automatically approve the comment, it simply opens the Moderate Comment page on your WordPress site
  

via the Admin Bar

• When new comments are waiting for moderation you’ll see a number next to the speech bubble icon in the Admin Bar:
  
• Click the icon to navigate to the Comments section
• Pending comments are highlighted yellow

via the Sidebar

• Select Comments from the sidebar
• Pending comments are highlighted yellow

Edit/approve the comment

• If you need to edit the comment (eg, to fix a typo) click the Edit link below the comment, otherwise click the Approve comment button to post the comment to your website
• You’ll be returned to the Comments list for that blog post

Reply to a comment

• Once you have approved a comment, click the Reply link that appears when you hover over the comment in the Comments list
  
• This opens up an editing window where you can add your reply
  
• When you’ve finished your reply, click the Reply button
• You can view the comment, and your reply, by clicking the link to the blog post

For more information about moderating comments, how to turn comments off, and more, here is a great article from wpbeginner.com.