Require a Featured Image Before You Can Publish a Post

require-featured-image-can-publish-post.php

<?php
/*
A great function that will display a message to the user that a Featured Image is missing and is required in order to publish
a new post.
*/
add_action('save_post', 'wpds_check_thumbnail');
add_action('admin_notices', 'wpds_thumbnail_error');
 
function wpds_check_thumbnail($post_id) {
 
    // change to any custom post type 
    if(get_post_type($post_id) != 'post')
        return;
     
    if ( !has_post_thumbnail( $post_id ) ) {
        // set a transient to show the users an admin message
        set_transient( "has_post_thumbnail", "no" );
        // unhook this function so it doesn't loop infinitely
        remove_action('save_post', 'wpds_check_thumbnail');
        // update the post set it to draft
        wp_update_post(array('ID' => $post_id, 'post_status' => 'draft'));
 
        add_action('save_post', 'wpds_check_thumbnail');
    } else {
        delete_transient( "has_post_thumbnail" );
    }
}
 
function wpds_thumbnail_error()
{
    // check if the transient is set, and display the error message
    if ( get_transient( "has_post_thumbnail" ) == "no" ) {
        echo "&lt;div id='message' class='error'&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You must add a Featured Image. Your Post is saved as a draft but it can not be published.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;";
        delete_transient( "has_post_thumbnail" );
    }
 
}