Approve Entries Field Not Showing for Non-Admin Users

If the Approve Entries field is visible for Administrators and Editors but not for other user roles (like Authors, Contributors, or Subscribers), the issue is a missing capability.

The Cause

The Approve Entries field requires the gravityview_moderate_entries  capability to be visible and functional. This capability is only granted to Editors and Administrators by default.

This means that even if you set the field's visibility to "Any Logged-in User" or "Authors or higher", users without the gravityview_moderate_entries  capability won't see the field.

Solutions

Option 1: Change the User's Role to Editor

The simplest solution is to change the user's role from Author (or lower) to Editor. Editors have the moderation capability by default.

1. Go to Users → All Users
2. Click on the user you want to modify
3. Change their Role to "Editor"
4. Click Update User

Option 2: Add the Capability to the Existing Role

If you need users to remain as Authors (or another role), you can add just the moderation capability using the Members plugin:

1. Install and activate the Members plugin
2. Go to Members → Roles
3. Click on the role you want to modify (e.g., "Author")
4. Find and enable the gravityview_moderate_entries  capability
5. Click Update

This gives users in that role permission to moderate entries while keeping their other permissions unchanged.

Common Scenarios

If this was working before and suddenly stopped, here are some common reasons why:

• Site migration or staging copy - Custom capabilities don't always transfer between environments
• Role editor changes - Some role editor plugins may reset capabilities when modifying a role
• Custom or membership roles - Roles created by plugins like MemberPress or WooCommerce Memberships won't have GravityView capabilities by default

Regardless of the cause, the fix is the same: add the gravityview_moderate_entries  capability to the affected role using the steps above.

Related Articles

• GravityView Capabilities - Complete list of GravityView capabilities
• Creating an Entry Moderator Role - How to create a custom role for entry moderation
• Approving or Rejecting Entries - How to use the approval system