Radek Mezulanik

Show the number of pending posts waiting for approval in the admin menu, if any. Also automatically supports custom post types. Sends email notification of posts pending review.

Zedna pending post indicator and notifier

Display number of posts waiting for approval in administration. Send an email about waiting approval, approved/rejected post.

Jon Lynch

Activate the plugin and all users who can edit other users posts (editors and admins) will get a new widget on their dashboard showing all draft and pending posts, pages and any custom post types. The standard ‘Recent Drafts’ widget is disabled.
This makes no changes for subscribers, contributors and authors.

Better Recent Drafts

Displays an improved recent drafts widget on the dashboard

Zedna pending post indicator and notifier vs Better Recent Drafts