monitor user activity | The Blog Pros

January 20, 2021

How to Get Email Notification for Post Changes in WordPress

Do you want to get email notifications for post changes in WordPress?

By default, WordPress does not send any notifications when posts are changed by any user. If you run a multi-author WordPress site, then you may want to stay informed about post changes on your website.

In this article, we will show how to get email notifications for post changes in WordPress.

Why Set up Email Notifications for Post Changes in WordPress?

If you are the only one working on your own WordPress website, then it is easier to keep an eye on everything that is happening on your website.

However, if you have other authors writing blog posts, or SEO specialists optimizing blog posts for SEO, then you may want to keep an eye on the changes they make.

For instance, you may want to be alerted when a new post is published or if changes were made to an older article.

This also helps all team members accountable. If they make a mistake, then it can be easily caught and remedied quickly.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily set up email notifications for post changes in WordPress.

We’ll be showing you two methods to do that, you can choose one that works best for you. We’ll also show you how to undo changes and improve the deliverability of WordPress notification emails.

Set up email notifications for post changes using WP Activity Log
Set up email notifications for post changes using Better Notifications for WP
Revise and undo post changes in WordPress
Troubleshoot email notification issues in WordPress

Method 1. Set up Post Changes Notifications in WordPress using WP Activity Log

This method is recommended for all users as it is easier, powerful, and flexible.

First thing you need to do is install and activate the WP Activity Log plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you’ll be asked to enter your license key. You can find this information under your account on the WP Activity Log website.

Next, you’ll be given the option to run the set up wizard . You can answer a few quick questions to set up important monitoring and logging features. All these things can be changed later in plugin settings too.

After that, you need to visit WP Activity Log » Notifications page and switch to the Content Changes tab.

From here, you need to select the events that will trigger notifications. The plugin comes with three default notifications covering most content changes.

Next to each event, you need to enter the email address you want to send notifications to. Optionally, you can also add a mobile phone number to get SMS notifications for post changes (we will show you how to set it up later in this article).

Finally, click on the Save notifications button to store your changes.

Setting up SMS Notifications for Post Changes in WordPress

WP Activity Log allows you to easily receive SMS notifications for post changes and other WordPress activities. To do that, you’ll need a Twilio account and a phone number.

Twillio is a paid service with a pay as you go pricing model for SMS starting at $0.0075 per SMS. You’ll also need to purchase a virtual phone number which will be used to send messages.

Simply go to the Twillio website and signup for a free trial account.

After setting up your account, you’ll reach the Twillio dashboard where you can copy your Account SID, Auth Token, and get a trial phone number.

Copy and paste these values to a text editor or leave this browser tab open.

Next, switch back to your WordPress website admin area and visit the WP Activitiy Log » Settings page. From here, switch to the SMS Provider tab and enter your Twilio credentials.

Don’t forget to click on the save changes button to store your settings.

Testing Your Post Changes Notifications with WP Activity Log

WP Activity Log allows you to easily test your post change notifications. Simply go back to the WP Activity Log » Notifications page and switch to the ‘Content Changes’ tab.

Scroll down and click on the ‘Test Notifications’ button. This will bring up a popup window where you can enter an email address and a mobile phone number to send notifications.

WP Activity Log will then send test notifications. If you do not receive an email notification right away, then you can jump to the fixing email notifications in the WordPress section.

If you fail to receive SMS notifications, then check your Twilio credentials to make sure they are correct.

Method 2. Sending Email Notifications for Post Changes with Better WordPress Notifications

This method is easy to use, but it doesn’t come with ready-made template. While this method allows you to send an email notification when a post is changed, you would have to write the email yourself and investigate the activity on your own.

First, you need to install and activate the Better Notifications for WordPress plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit Notifications » Add New page to create your first custom notification.

First, you need to provide a title for the notification. After that, choose the ‘Notification for’ option, which is the event that will trigger this notification.

For instance, we have chosen ‘Post Updated’ as the event for this notification.

Next, you can set email options like from, cc, sender email. You can skip them and the plugin will use your default WordPress email settings.

Next, you need to select the users or user roles that will receive this notification under the ‘Send to’ option. Below that you can write the email subject and the message itself.

Better Notifications for WP doesn’t come with a template for post changes. This means you’ll need to write your own email message.

The plugin comes with a bunch of shortcodes that you can use. You can view all of them by clicking on the ‘Find shortcodes’ button.

Lastly, you need to click on the Save button to store your email notification. After that, you’ll be able to click on the ‘Send Me a Test Email’ button to see if it is working.

Better Notification for WordPress is not an activity monitoring plugin. This means you’ll need to set up multiple notifications to cover different types of content changes in WordPress.

For instance, you may want to set up a ‘Notification for’ when a new ‘Post Published’ or another one for when a category or tag is changed, and more.

It also allows you to create custom notifications or modify default WordPress notifications as well. For more details, see our article on how to create better custom notifications in WordPress.

Revise and Undo Post Changes in WordPress

Once you have received an email notification for post changes, you may want to see what changes were made, who made them, and when.

WordPress comes with a built-in revision management system that keeps track of all changes made to an article.

Simply edit the post or page that you want to review and then click on the ‘Revisions’ tab under the ‘Post’ settings from the right-column.

This will bring you to the post revisions screen where you can check the ‘Compare two revisions’ box and then move the slider below to compare the changes.

Scroll down and you will see the changes between the two revisions highlighted in red and green colors.

If you don’t like the changes, then you can simply click on the ‘Restore revision’ button to undo them and return to the previous version.

Troubleshooting Email Notifications in WordPress

By default, WordPress uses the PHP mail() function to send emails.

This method does not use proper authentication (login or password) which means it can be easily misused. This is why most spam filters mark such emails as spam or block them altogether.

To fix this, you need to use a proper SMTP service provider to send out WordPress emails. There are even free SMTP servers like Gmail, Sendinblue, Sendgrid, and more that you can use with WordPress.

To set up SMTP, you need to install and activate the WP Mail SMTP plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

WP Mail SMTP allows you to connect your WordPress site to your SMTP service provider and send all your WordPress emails with much higher deliverability.

Upon activation, you need to go to the WP Mail SMTP » Settings page in your WordPress admin area to set up the plugin.

First, you need to enter your license key. You can find this information under your account on the WP Mail SMTP website.

After that, scroll down to the ‘Mailer’ section to select your SMTP service provider. WP Mail SMTP will show all top SMTP service providers. You can click on your provider and then enter the required information below (usually an API key).

If your mailer is not listed, then you can simply choose ‘Other SMTP’ option and enter the required information.

For more detailed instructions, see our tutorial on how to fix WordPress not sending email issue.

We hope this article helped you set up email notifications for post changes in WordPress. You may also want to see our tips on getting more traffic to your blog and the best WordPress SEO plugins and tools to grow your website.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Get Email Notification for Post Changes in WordPress appeared first on WPBeginner.

September 19, 2019

How to Monitor User Activity in WordPress with Security Audit Logs

Do you want to monitor user activity on your WordPress site?

Running a multi-author blog or membership site comes with its own unique challenges such as stopping spam registrations and managing editorial workflow.

One solution that owners and admins of multi-user WordPress sites seek out is the ability to easily monitor user activity on their website.

This allows them to put a check and balance system in place. If things go out of control, then they can easily figure out what went wrong, who did it, and how to fix it.

In this article, we will show you how to monitor user activity and keep a security audit log in WordPress.

Why You Should Enable WordPress Activity Monitor and Logs?

A common objection that often comes up is you shouldn’t give WordPress login access to anyone that you don’t trust. If you do that, then you won’t need an activity tracking solution.

That’s a bit extreme because there are several very valid use-cases of activity logs.

Sometimes users can accidentally make an error or mistake that may break your WordPress website. Having an activity tracking log helps you identify and fix those issues faster.

Since the audit logs will show you which user made the mistake, you can also educate them on best practices to prevent the same mistake in the future.

A good example is if a moderator approved a comment that doesn’t fit your comment guidelines, then you can quickly correct their mistake and also notify them about it.

Another very good use-case for security audit logs is when you hire a WordPress developer from third-party contract websites like Codeable, Upwork, etc.

While most developers are trustworthy, sometimes you will run into a dishonest developer who can cause your business to lose significant amount of money.

Recently one of our Facebook group members reported that a developer she hired from Upwork changed the PayPal address in her WooCommerce store.

These kind of subtle changes are extremely hard to detect unless you have a WordPress user audit log that keeps track of all activity.

Several years ago this issue happened to WPBeginner founder, Syed Balkhi, where a freelance developer quietly changed several of his affiliate links. Syed caught and fixed the issue thanks to a security audit log plugin.

With the above benefits in minds, let’s take a look at how to set up and monitor user activities on your WordPress website.

We will share two WordPress audit log plugins.

Simple History (free plugin, but not as robust)
WP Security Audit Log (best-in-class for what it does)

Monitoring User Activity with Simple History

Simple History is a free user activity monitoring plugin for WordPress, but it is not as feature rich. If you run a small website or WordPress blog, then this plugin will work for you.

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the Simple History plugin. You may follow our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress plugin for detailed instructions.

Upon activation, head over to Settings » Simple History from the left sidebar of your WordPress admin panel.

On the settings page, you can choose whether you want the activity log to appear on the dashboard, on a separate page, or both.

You can also decide the number of items that will appear on the Dashboard and the log page.

By default, the Simple History plugin cleans the activity log history that is older than 60 days. You can also delete the history manually by clicking on the Clear log now button on the settings page.

This plugin allows you to monitor the history with the help of a secret RSS feed. However, you need to check the “Enable RSS feed” option to use it.

Viewing User Activities with Simple History

To check the user activity log, you need to visit the Dashboard » Simple History page. You can also view them on the Dashboard, but this will depend on how you have configured the settings of this plugin.

This plugin displays the events of the last 30 days by default. You can change it to a fixed range (up to 60 days) or to a custom range by clicking on the Dates dropdown menu.

To search for specific events on your site, you need to click on the “Show search options” link. This will open up a number of fields. You can either use a single field or a combination of them to find the desired data.

For example, you can use the Users field to find someone and then, click on the Search events button to see the activities of that person in the last 30 days.

By default, the Simple History plugin allows you to monitor login, logout, wrong password, post/page editing, media upload, plugin install/update, user profile changes, and more.

It also has support for bbPress forums which lets you see the forum and topic activities on your website.

Simple History allows you to add your own custom events as well. If you have development experience and want to add a custom event, then you can check out the details on this page.

Monitor User Activity using the WP Security Audit Log

Although Simple History does a good job of tracking user activities on your website, it is limited in functionality.

If you are looking for a plugin that provides detailed and real-time user activity reports, then you should use the WP Security Audit Log plugin.

It is a feature-rich plugin that allows you to keep track of every change that happens on your website. You can also get email and SMS notifications for important site events.

To get started, you need to install and activate the WP Security Audit Log plugin on your WordPress site.

Upon activation, you will see a new menu item Audit Log in the left sidebar of your admin panel. You need to click on it to configure this plugin.

On the settings page, you will have to enter the license key of this plugin, and then you need to click on the “Agree & Activate License” button to start using this plugin.

Note: To get the license key, you can check the welcome email that you have received after purchasing the plugin.

Once activated, you will see new options under the Audit Log menu in the left sidebar.

To monitor the events on your website, you need to head over to the Audit Log » Audit Log Viewer page.

This plugin displays the latest events at the top bar of your screen. You can also click on those notifications to go to the Audit Log Viewer page.

The log page will allow you to see all events on your website. You will get important details like the date of the event, the user involved, IP address of the user, and the event message.

For example, if someone logged into your site, then you will be able to find out who was that user, when did that person login, and the IP address of the user.

You can also control the events that you want to track by going to the Audit Log » Enable/Disable Events page.

Here you can select Basic, Geek, or Custom from the Log Level dropdown menu. Based on your selection, you will see different event names and their description on that page.

You can now enable or disable individual events by checking/unchecking the boxes. You can do the same by going to different tabs like Content & Comments, WordPress Install, Visitor Events, etc.

To track the logged in users on your site, you need to go to the Audit Log » Logged In Users page.

From here you will see all the users who are logged into your site. You can also force someone to log out by clicking on the Terminate Session button.

If you want to download the activity log of your site, then simply go to the Audit Log » Reports page to generate a report based on the criteria that you may have.

That’s all! We hope this article helped you to understand how to monitor user activity in WordPress with the help of Simple History or WP Security Audit Log plugin.

You may also want to check out our ultimate WordPress security guide and our list of the best WordPress firewall plugins.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Monitor User Activity in WordPress with Security Audit Logs appeared first on WPBeginner.