# Turn on ratings and comments in the classic editor

_Category: Classic template editor_

Find out which articles help and which don't. Every article ends with a rating question you can word your own way, and you can let readers leave comments that you approve and answer.

**Who can do this:** Owners and Admins · **Plans:** All plans

Both are set up in the **Article** group of the classic template editor. Your changes save to a draft automatically, and readers see them after you click **Publish**. See [Save, preview and publish in the classic editor](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/classic-editor-publish).

## Turn on comments

1. In the left menu, click **Template editor**, then click **Article**.
2. Scroll to **Comments** and turn on **Enable comments**.
3. Under **Default new comments visibility:**, pick **Pending (Need to be approved)** to approve each comment before readers see it, or **Published** to show comments straight away. Pending is the default.
4. Optionally, turn on **Notify me of new comments by email:** and enter the address in **Where should we send the comment notifications?**.
5. Click **Publish**.

Readers can now leave a comment under every article. Leave **Show comments below article?** on to show the comments there. When you turn it off, readers can still send comments, but only your team sees them, in the dashboard.

Email notifications need the address: nothing is sent until you fill it in.

## Approve and answer comments

Once comments are on, **Comments** appears in the left menu of your dashboard, even before you publish. That's where you approve, answer and remove comments. See [Approve and answer reader comments](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/moderate-comments).

## Word the rating question

Every article ends with a rating question, so readers can tell you whether it helped. Under **Rating**:

- **Article rating text** is the question. Until you change it, it reads "Was this article helpful?".
- **Number of rating options** is **Three options (Like/Love/Dislike)** by default, or **Two options (Like/Dislike)**.
- **Ask for feedback on negative rating** asks readers who pick the negative answer what could be better, in a box they can type in.
- **Custom Feedback Follow-up Prompt**, shown while that switch is on, is the text above the box. Until you change it, it reads "Sorry this didn't help! What could we do to make it more useful?".

You'll find the ratings and the written feedback in your statistics. See [Article ratings and reader feedback](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/article-ratings).

All of these texts can be translated: see "Write text in other languages" in [Get started with the classic template editor](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/classic-template-editor).

In the new template editor, ratings and comments are components you can place where you like on the article page. See [Move your help center to the new template editor](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/move-to-the-new-template-editor).

## Troubleshooting

**Readers can't comment.** Check that **Enable comments** is on, then publish. The comment form appears at the bottom of each article.

**Comments don't show under the article.** Check **Show comments below article?**. With **Pending (Need to be approved)**, a comment shows only after you approve it.

**I'm not getting emails about new comments.** Turn on **Notify me of new comments by email:**, fill in the address, publish, and check your spam folder.

**There's no Comments item in the left menu.** It shows to people who can moderate comments, once **Enable comments** is on.

## Related articles

- [Customize category and article pages in the classic editor](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/classic-editor-category-and-article-pages)
- [Approve and answer reader comments](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/moderate-comments)
- [Article ratings and reader feedback](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/article-ratings)
- [Save, preview and publish in the classic editor](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/classic-editor-publish)