# Approve, reject and archive testimonials

Review new testimonials in your inbox, approve the ones you want to show, and archive, restore or delete the rest.

Every project has an inbox where you decide which testimonials go live. Your project's sidebar lists its four views: **Pending**, **Approved**, **Archived** and **Spam**. Each view shows only the testimonials in that state. Filters and search narrow the list inside a view, but they never move you to another one.

1. **Open Pending**

   Click **Pending** in your project's sidebar. It lists the testimonials waiting for your review. When there's nothing left to review, it says **All caught up!** A new project says **No testimonials yet** before its first one arrives, with ways to add it; see [Collect your first testimonial](/help/getting-started/collect-your-first-testimonial).

2. **Approve the ones you want**

   Click **Approve** on a testimonial you want to use. It moves to **Approved**, where your widgets and Wall of Love pages can pick it up.

   ![A pending testimonial in the inbox, with its Approve and Reject buttons outlined](https://assets.retestimonial.com/app-statics/help/shots/inbox-approve-actions.07ef320d.webp)

3. **Reject the rest**

   Click **Reject** on a testimonial you don't want to show. It moves to **Archived**, so you can still bring it back later.

## What each action does

| Action      | Where to find it                                                | What happens                                                                                                        |
| ----------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Approve** | On each card in **Pending**                                     | The testimonial moves to **Approved**.                                                                              |
| **Reject**  | On each card in **Pending**                                     | The testimonial moves to **Archived** and is taken off every Wall of Love page. Its tags are kept.                  |
| **Archive** | In **Approved**, click **Show more** on the card, then **More** | Works like **Reject**: the testimonial moves to **Archived** and leaves every Wall of Love page. Its tags are kept. |
| **Delete**  | Click **Show more** on the card                                 | After you confirm, the testimonial is deleted permanently. This can't be undone.                                    |

![The More menu of a card in Approved: Archive, Mark as Spam, Copy text to clipboard and Duplicate to other projects](https://assets.retestimonial.com/app-statics/help/shots/inbox-card-more-menu.f7cd18e2.webp)

For what goes with a deleted testimonial, and what can stay elsewhere in the project, see [A customer asked me to remove their testimonial](/help/account/security-and-privacy-questions#a-customer-asked-me-to-remove-their-testimonial-what-do-i-do-and-what-is-deleted). A review you imported from a review platform can't be imported again once it's deleted: see [Review and export imported content](/help/import/imported-content#what-happens-next).

## What approval changes

- **Widgets and Wall of Love pages show only approved testimonials.** That's true whether you pick testimonials by hand or let a widget choose them automatically. Archiving a testimonial takes it out of both.
- **Sharing needs approval.** The **Share** menu on a card (**Get the link**, **Create an image**, **Create a video**) is there only once the testimonial is approved.
- **The author may get an email.** If the testimonial came in through one of your forms with an email address, ReTestimonial can let its author know it was approved. Whether it does depends on the project's **Approval Notification** email: see [Set up the emails a project sends](/help/account/set-up-project-emails).
- **Adding a pending testimonial to a Wall of Love page approves it.** Use the heart button on its card to pick a page. See [Choose and order the testimonials on a Wall of Love](/help/display/choose-and-order-wall-testimonials).

![A pending testimonial's card with the popover of its heart button outlined: 'Adding to wall will also approve this testimonial', then Wall of Love (Default)](https://assets.retestimonial.com/app-statics/help/shots/inbox-wall-picker.fb75c1bc.webp)

- **A gift card reward can wait for approval.** On a form's **Rewards** tab, **Require Approval** is on by default, so a gift card promised for a testimonial is sent only once you approve it. Approving in bulk, or by adding the testimonial to a Wall of Love page, sends the gift card that was waiting, just like approving one at a time. If a gift card doesn't go out when you approve, ReTestimonial tries again on its own after a few minutes. See [Gift card not received](/help/troubleshooting/gift-card-not-received#the-testimonial-is-waiting-for-your-approval).

## When a gift card is waiting

If a testimonial's gift card is still waiting for approval, rejecting, archiving or deleting the testimonial cancels it. The money set aside for it goes back to your project's reward budget. This applies to bulk actions too. A gift card that was already sent isn't affected.

## Act on several testimonials at once

In **Pending** and **Approved**, tick the checkbox on each card you want, or click **Select visible**. A bar appears with **Approve**, **Reject** (in **Pending** only), **Wall of Love** and **Highlight**. **Archive** and **Delete** are in the menu at the end of the bar. When more testimonials match than have loaded, click **Select all** in the bar to include every one of them.

In **Spam**, the bar offers **Not Spam** and **Delete**. **Archived** has no bulk actions, so restore testimonials there one at a time.

## Restore archived and spam testimonials

- **Archived:** open **Archived**, click **Show more** on the testimonial and click **Restore to Inbox**. It goes back to **Pending** or **Approved**, wherever it was before. It keeps its tags; its Wall of Love placements don't come back.
- **Spam:** open **Spam**, click **Show more** on the testimonial and click **Not Spam** to move it out of **Spam**. A form submission your spam check sent there arrives like any other when you restore it, with its notification, emails and webhooks; see [Keep spam out of your inbox](/help/manage/review-spam#review-testimonials-in-spam). To restore several at once, select them and click **Not Spam** in the bar. **Delete All Spam** permanently deletes everything in the view. On a plan with a limit on written and audio testimonials, restoring can be refused when it would go past that limit; see [Keep spam out of your inbox](/help/manage/review-spam#review-testimonials-in-spam).

## Keyboard shortcuts

In **Pending** you can review testimonials from the keyboard. The shortcuts work while nothing is selected and you're not typing in a field. Press `J` to start at the top of the list.

| Key        | What it does                                                                                                       |
| ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `J` or `↓` | Focus the next testimonial                                                                                         |
| `K` or `↑` | Focus the previous testimonial                                                                                     |
| `A`        | Approve the focused testimonial and move to the next one                                                           |
| `R`        | Reject the focused testimonial and move to the next one                                                            |
| `W`        | Open the focused testimonial's Wall of Love picker (the heart button), to add it to a page, which also approves it |
| `Esc`      | Clear the focus                                                                                                    |

> **Note:** Only the workspace owner and project Admins can delete testimonials or add them to a Wall of Love page. Viewers can see the inbox but can't change anything in it. If a button is missing or an action fails, see [Can't approve, edit or delete a testimonial](/help/troubleshooting/cant-change-a-testimonial).

## Next steps

- [Build a collection form](/help/collect/build-a-collection-form)
- [Import testimonials from CSV, Excel or JSON](/help/import/import-from-csv-excel-or-json)
- [Embed a widget on any website](/help/display/embed-a-widget-on-any-website)