Setting up the approval chain

The approval chain decides whether posts in this workspace need approval, and by whom. Open it from Set up, Settings, then Approval chain in the settings menu, or go to /app/settings/approvals. Each workspace has its own chain.

Only an Owner or Admin can change the chain. Other members who open the page see it read-only.

Before you start

• A workspace with no steps has no approval: anyone allowed to publish posts directly, and the composer says "You can publish directly. No approval step applies to your posts." New workspaces start this way, and the page then reads "No approval chain: posts are scheduled and published without an approval step. Add a step to require approval."
• As soon as you save a chain, every post created in Create needs approval, including posts written by owners and admins.
• Make sure the people who should approve have a suitable role (see Roles).

Step by step

1. Open Settings, then Approval chain. The text at the top reads "Posts must clear every step in order before they can be scheduled or published. Rejection at any step sends the post back to draft."
2. Click + Add step. A step called "New step" appears, set to Reviewers and admins.
3. In Step name, type what this step is, for example "Brand check" or "Legal". People see this name on the Approvals page as Step 1: Brand check.
4. In the list next to it, choose who may sign this step: Reviewers and admins or Admins only.
5. Add more steps the same way, up to five. Use the ↑ (Move step up) and ↓ (Move step down) buttons to change the order and ✕ (Remove step) to delete a step.
6. Click Save chain. You see "Approval chain saved."

Step by step: switch approvals off

1. Open Settings, then Approval chain.
2. Click ✕ (Remove step) on every step until the page reads "No approval chain: posts are scheduled and published without an approval step."
3. Click Save chain. You see "Approval chain removed. New posts no longer need approval; requests already waiting can still be decided."

Fields and options

• Step number — shown at the left (1 to 5). Steps run in this order; step 2 only starts after step 1 is approved.
• Step name — required. Any text; it is shown to approvers and authors.
• Reviewers and admins — the step can be decided by an Owner, Admin or Reviewer. Editors cannot decide it, even when they have the "approve content" permission: the people who write the posts are not the ones who review them.
• Admins only — the step can be decided by an Owner or Admin.
• + Add step — adds a step at the end. It is disabled once there are five steps.
• ✕ Remove step — removes the step. Removing the last one and saving switches approvals off.
• Save chain — nothing changes until you click it.

What happens next

• In Create, the buttons become Send for approval and Schedule & request approval, and the composer shows the chain, for example "Approval: Brand check → Legal. When the last step approves, it publishes at the time you chose - or straight away for Publish now."
• Each account of a sent post gets a request for step 1, and the people who may decide it are notified. See Approvals.
• A rejection at any step sends the post back to Draft.
• Posts that are already waiting continue under the chain as you saved it: when their current step is approved, the next step is taken from the new chain.

If something goes wrong

• "Each step needs a role (REVIEWER|ADMIN) and a name" — a Step name is empty. Type a name and save again.
• "An approval chain has at most 5 steps (none switches approvals off)" — you tried to save more than five steps.
• The fields are greyed out — you are not an Owner or Admin of this workspace.
• Posts can never be approved because nobody can decide a step — for example a Reviewers and admins step in a workspace with no reviewers. The owner or an admin can always decide such a step; if the author is the only person who can decide it, they may approve their own request.

Good to know

• Switching approvals off does not cancel requests already waiting: they stay on the Approvals page and can still be approved or sent back. Posts created afterwards need no approval.
• Changing the chain is recorded in the audit log.

Related

• Approvals: reviewing posts
• Roles and inviting your team
• Workspaces