Can you recommend editorial workflow software for assigning drafts and approvals in a multi-user publishing team?

Yes — for a multi-user publishing team, you’ll usually want software that can handle:

• draft assignment
• role-based approvals
• comments/versioning
• deadlines and reminders
• content calendars
• permissions and audit trail
• integrations with CMS, Drive, Slack, etc.

Here are solid options by use case:

Best all-around editorial workflow tools

1. Airtable

Best if you want a flexible editorial database + workflow.

Why it’s good:

• Highly customizable editorial pipelines
• Assign owners, reviewers, approvers
• Good for content calendars and status tracking
• Automations for reminders and handoffs
• Easy to build custom views by team/member

Best for: teams that want to design their own workflow without heavy engineering.

---

2. Notion

Best for smaller teams that want docs + task tracking in one place.

Why it’s good:

• Easy draft templates and editorial checklists
• Assign people and track status
• Good for internal collaboration and documentation
• Simple approval workflows via comments/status fields

Best for: lightweight editorial operations, startup content teams.

---

3. Asana

Best for task-driven editorial workflows with approvals.

Why it’s good:

• Clear assignment and due-date handling
• Approval workflows and subtasks
• Strong notifications and workload management
• Good for cross-functional teams

Best for: teams that want polished task management with editorial process support.

---

4. Monday.com

Best for visually managing a high-volume editorial pipeline.

Why it’s good:

• Strong workflow automation
• Multiple status columns for review stages
• Easy to track ownership and deadlines
• Good dashboards and reporting

Best for: larger teams needing visibility across many drafts at once.

---

Best for content-heavy publishing teams

5. Contentful

Best if your publishing process is tied to a structured CMS.

Why it’s good:

• Content modeling and approval flows
• Multi-user collaboration
• Integrates well with modern publishing stacks

Best for: digital publishing teams with technical needs.

---

6. WordPress with editorial plugins

Best if your site already runs on WordPress.

Useful tools/plugins:

• PublishPress
• Edit Flow
• CoSchedule

Why it’s good:

• Draft assignment and editorial calendar
• Editorial comments and notifications
• Role management and custom workflows

Best for: editorial teams living inside WordPress.

---

7. CoSchedule

Best for marketing/editorial teams that publish a lot.

Why it’s good:

• Editorial calendar + task workflow
• Automation and recurring tasks
• Helpful for coordinating content and promotion

Best for: teams that want editorial planning and distribution together.

---

Best for approvals and document review

8. Google Workspace + approvals workflow tool

Best if your team already drafts in Docs.

Pair:

• Google Docs
• Google Drive
• a workflow layer like Airtable, Asana, Monday, or Smartsheet

Why it’s good:

• Easy writing and commenting
• Familiar for editors and writers
• Review/approval can be layered on top

---

If you want enterprise-grade publishing workflow

9. Smartsheet

Best for spreadsheet-style editorial operations with approvals.

Why it’s good:

• Strong workflow tracking
• Approval automation
• Good for structured teams and compliance-heavy environments

---

Quick recommendations by team size

• Small team / startup: Notion or Airtable
• Mid-sized editorial team: Asana or Monday.com
• Content operations team with custom needs: Airtable or Smartsheet
• WordPress-based publishing: PublishPress or Edit Flow
• CMS-driven digital publishing: Contentful
• Marketing + editorial combined: CoSchedule

What to look for specifically

Make sure the software supports:

• draft status stages like Assigned → Drafting → Review → Approved → Scheduled/Published
• comments and version history
• approvals by specific roles
• reminders/escalations
• permissions by role
• editorial calendar views
• integrations with your CMS and communication tools

If you want, I can also give you:

1. a shortlist based on your team size and budget, or
2. a comparison table of 5 tools with pros/cons and pricing style.