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The Best WordPress Notes Plugins for Admin Notes on Posts & Pages

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Written by

Dave Warfel

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8 minutes

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Have you ever wanted to add a few notes to a WordPress post or page? Tired of leaving notes for yourself in the content area, only to delete them before publishing the post? What if you want those notes to remain, even after you’ve published your article?

Personally, I like to keep some SEO notes & keyword information with each article I write. This is helpful to see what WordPress users like yourself are searching for, so I can write more useful (and searchable) content. This helps you (the reader) find answers to your questions, and it helps me reach a wider audience.

I tried all the WordPress notes plugins that add notes to the editing screen, and have come up with a list of features, screenshots and solutions for you. At the end, I’ve included the plugins that you should stay away from, as they are buggy and/or have not been updating in a LONG time.

If you’re looking to add notes to your WordPress Dashboard instead, try WP Dashboard Notes.

Custom Implementation – After reviewing these WordPress notes plugins, none of them did exactly what I was looking for. If you’d like to learn what I did to manage my editorial notes, and/or you already use the Advanced Custom Fields plugin, check out How to Add Author Notes to WordPress with Advanced Custom Fields.

Recommended WordPress Notes Plugins

There aren’t a lot out there, and each of these plugins offer different solutions. One is better for client notes, one for author collaboration, one is more generally just for admin notes. Please read the descriptions to figure out which one best fits your needs.

1. WP NoteUp

WP NoteUp Plugin

The WP NoteUp plugin would be my top recommendation if you’re looking for admin-only notes on individual posts/pages. If you’re looking for a way to show notes to clients, see “Admin Page Notes” below.

WP NoteUp was developed by Aubrey Portwood, who is a WordPress core contributor and member of the Theme Review Team. That’s some serious street cred, so you know this plugin is legit.

WP NoteUp post editing screen
WP NoteUp on the post editing screen

WP NoteUp Features

  • No settings or options; works out-of-the-box
  • WYSIWYG editor allows for notes to contain bold, italics, bulleted lists, links & images
  • Insert images into your notes using the WordPress media uploader
  • Move the meta box to your desired location on the post editing screen
  • Note area is adjustable, allowing you to view longer notes, even when displaying it in the sidebar

Caveats

  • You must save or update the post itself in order for your note to be saved

2. Admin Page Notes

Admin Page Notes is a super-simple WordPress note plugin, but it does a nice job. There are no settings, so if you’re looking for something with options, look elsewhere. Used best for WordPress developers that want to display a note to their clients who are editing the site. It’s not for writers who are looking for a way to store notes/references along with their posts.

Upon activation, a meta box is added to all WordPress post, page & custom post type editing screens.

WordPress Admin Page Notes, insert notes
Only admins see this box & can add notes

This information is then displayed at the top of the editing screen (in the sidebar, by default).

WordPress Admin Page Notes Plugin info meta box
The info box that editors see

Admin Page Notes Features

  • This is for developers to display notes to clients, NOT for authors/editors who are looking to manage editing notes
  • No settings or options; it works “as is”
  • Only Administrators can add notes
  • Notes can be added to every post, page & custom post type
  • The “Important Information” meta box can be moved around on the editing screen
  • HTML is accepted in the notes field; add links, heading tags, etc.
  • Built by the BeardedGinger… and who doesn’t love a ginger beard?!

3. Peter’s Post Notes

The Peter’s Post Notes plugin is geared more towards collaboration amongst authors. It has a settings page with a fair amount of customization options. If you’re looking for something that allows multiple authors to post an unlimited number of notes on a page, post or custom post type, this is a solid option.

You can set all your options under Settings > Peter’s Post Notes. Find several screenshots below which show you the plugin in action. Click the images for a full-size preview.

Peter’s Post Notes Features

  • Lots of options for which users can add & view notes. He uses WordPress capabilities to allow for ultimate customization here.
  • Dashboard widget that displays most recent notes (on posts/pages), as well as general site-wide notes
  • Multiple notes can be added to the same page/post
  • You must update the entire post/page in order to save the note; not ideal if you are also making changes to your post content that you don’t want to go live yet.

4. Simple Post Notes

Here’s a super-simple WordPress notes plugin that is actively maintained (as of April 2017). It was suggested by one of our readers, George, over at WP Guidance.

Simple Post Notes plugin in action
A simple “Notes” metabox on your posts, pages & custom post types

Features

  • Add text-only notes to posts, pages & custom post types
  • Settings page has 1 option: choose which post types the notes will appear for
  • Adds a new column to the “All Posts” screen, which is also sortable to see which posts do/do not have notes.
Simple Post Notes plugin settings
There is only 1 setting. Choose post types.
All Posts screen adds Notes column
All Posts screen adds a sortable “Notes” column

A WordPress Notes Plugin w/ Other Features

Edit Flow

The Edit Flow WordPress plugin has a ton of features. I’m including it in this list because one of those features is “Editorial Comments.” This provides a way for multiple authors/editors to add comments to individual posts/pages, reply to each other, and collaborate on articles. If you’re a fan of simple interfaces, and plugins that do one job well, this is not the plugin for you.

Edit Flow WordPress Plugin

It’s also worth mentioning that the plugin hasn’t been updated in over 2 years; however, it is currently maintained by Automattic (the makers of WordPress). This is a bit odd, as typically, plugins maintained by WordPress and/or Automattic are kept up-to-date. There’s a github repo that has been updated fairly recently, and WordPress confirmed they still use it with some WordPress.com VIP customers.

Caveats

  • Has not been updated in over 2 years
  • Throws a handful of errors upon activation: “Strict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /Users/davewarfel/Dropbox/mamp/wpsmackdown/wp-content/plugins/edit-flow/common/php/class-module.php on line 564”
  • Includes LOTS of other features that you might not want or need. — However, you can turn certain features off, and they are removed from the admin area.

Editorial Comments Features & Screenshots

Here’s a list of features that the “Editorial Comments” part of the plugin provides, along with screenshots.

  • Enable/Disable notes for certain post types
  • Reply to an editor’s note, or write a fresh one
  • Add an unlimited number of notes about each post/page
  • There is NO WAY to edit or delete comments
Edit Flow WordPress Plugin - comments on editor screen
The notes area on the Edit screen

Try These Note Plugins With Caution

Dashboard Notepad

This WordPress plugin prides itself on being “the very simplest of notepads for your Dashboard.”

Dashboard Notepad plugin settings
Configure the settings for the Dashboard Notepad plugin

It only allows you to add Dashboard notes (not on individual posts/pages). However, I was not able to type anything in the textarea on the Dashboard. I’m not sure if this was due to my WordPress setup, or an issue with the plugin.

The Dashboard Notepad plugin hasn’t been updated in over 2 years, but it does have 10,000 active installs, and looks promising for a Dashboard-only note plugin… if you can get it to function properly.

Do Not Use These WordPress Notes Plugins

I would not recommend using any of these plugins to add notes to your WordPress admin area. Some have errors. Others haven’t been updated in several years. Please use one of the previously mentioned alternatives above.

Post & Page Notes

The Post & Page Notes WordPress plugin causes multiple errors upon activation. It hasn’t been updated in over 6 years. And above all else, it is not for notes in the WordPress admin area. This plugin was designed to show simple notes or HTML on the posts/pages that your visitors will see. I recommend not installing this plugin under any circumstances.

Sticky Notes Plugin

This plugin has not been updated in over 5 years, and it is known to cause errors when WordPress is installed in any other location than the root folder of your server. I would not feel comfortable using this plugin on my site.

Kahi’s WP Notes

This plugin hasn’t been updated in over 6 years. When it was in it’s prime, it only added a single “Notes” page to the admin area to add one set of site-wide notes. I would not recommend this one.

Admin Notes

Similar to the plugin above, this one hasn’t been updated in over 8 years, and only gives you access to one site-wide notes page. No beuno.

In Context Admin Notes

This WordPress plugin creates a shortcode for admins to use inside of posts & pages. It will display a message on your actual website (not on the editing screen) that only admins can see. If you need this type of functionality, I recommend the Restrict Content plugin by Pippin Williamson.

WordNote

The WordNote plugin hasn’t been updated in over 7 years, and displays errors upon activation. All it does (or, rather, used to do), is add a textarea field on the Dashboard to add notes. They are saved in a text file inside the plugin’s folder on your server. I’d stay away from this one.


What are you using to display notes in the WordPress admin? Have you come up with a custom method? I’d love to hear about your experience, or any plugins that I left off the list.

Dave Warfel

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Dave has been working with WordPress since 2011. He's built 100s of client sites and almost a dozen of his own. He's tested almost every plugin you can think of, hosted with at least 10 different companies, and gone down every SEO rabbit hole you can imagine. When's he's not tinkering with new software, you'll find him in the mountains of Colorado, trail running, summiting peaks, and rippin' downhills on his mountain bike. 🏔️🏃🚴🤸

14 responses to “The Best WordPress Notes Plugins for Admin Notes on Posts & Pages”

  1. George Avatar
    George

    We tried WP NoteUp when coming up with our editorial workflow. Although the rich text and image capabilities really stand out, there’s no way to track which posts have notes. The Simple Post Notes plugin does a really good job of this. It’s only text notes, but you get a new column in your posts page showing which posts have notes attached. You can even sort by this column, a great feature if you use your notes as “to dos”.

    1. Dave Warfel Avatar

      Thanks for the recommendation, George! I’ve updated the article to include the Simple Post Notes plugin, and gave you a little shoutout.

  2. Scot Giambalvo Avatar
    Scot Giambalvo

    I have been searching for a way to add a simple “Notes” column to my admin pages. I use Admin Columns, but just don’t know where to start to add a basic, text-field to the database. So, in my Elementor Templates list, I can add a column of notes, to remember what each item is.

    Is there an “admin columns table editor” tool out there Dave?

    1. Dave Warfel Avatar

      Hi Scot — That’s a great question. Admin Columns is a FANTASTIC plugin, but it only deals with data that already exists. Creating additional fields in the DB is outside the scope of the plugin.

      However, there is a fairly easy (and free) way to do this. It will require one additional plugin, but it’s another extremely useful & popular one. I just tested it out and it works well. I’ll create a quick screencast and email it to you shortly.

    2. Dave Warfel Avatar

      For anyone else who might be trying to add a custom note to their Elementor Templates, here’s a quick screencast.

  3. Stephan Avatar
    Stephan

    I was searching for an admin notes plugin (to write notes to myself when I come back to a site after longer absence, as I’m managing multiple different sites) and besides finding this useful article here, I also found the WP Dashboard Notes plugin which doesn’t seem to be mentioned here. I don’t know yet whether that’s any useful but it looks promising and has last been updated 8 months ago, as of November 2018; that’s not too old in my opinion. :)

    1. Dave Warfel Avatar

      Hi Stephan. Thanks for commenting.

      The focus of this post was adding notes to the editing screen of posts & pages, that’s why you didn’t see WP Dashboard Notes. However, I actually use it on several of my sites for the same reason you mentioned, and it’s a great plugin. I’ve added a quick note (haha) to the top of this post that mentions it.

  4. Jon Davis Jr Avatar
    Jon Davis Jr

    Thanks for this post!

    I chose your recommendation for adding notes to each post or page.

    Blessings.

  5. Jon Davis Jr Avatar
    Jon Davis Jr

    P.S. What comment plugin are you using?

    I kinda like your comment form.

    :-)

    1. Dave Warfel Avatar

      Thanks! It’s called Basic Comment Quicktags, but it was shutdown last year in October :-(

      I also added some custom styles to it to make it look pretty 😉.

    2. Jon Davis Jr Avatar
      Jon Davis Jr

      👍

      Bummer that it is shut down. :-)

  6. Liz Avatar
    Liz

    I’m looking for a way for users to take their own notes about a post. This would be kept private for the user. I run a camping site and I want my users to be able to make notes about a campground – their favorite sites, etc. I already have a way for them to save their favorites. Do you know of any plugins that would give me that functionality?
    Thanks!

    1. Dave Warfel Avatar

      Hi Liz,

      There are only two that I’m aware of. Not sure if either will completely fulfill your goals, but you can take a look at these: WP Private Comment Notes (free) & WordPress User Notes (premium).

  7. Rintesh Roy Avatar
    Rintesh Roy

    Thanks for this post. It is very informative.

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