Approvals

Approvals give you the ability to review project files and approve or reject the version. It’s an especially powerful tool when used in conjunction with versions{{Working with versions}} and annotations{{Annotating Files}}.

Submitting for Approval

To submit a file for approval when in the projects module:

1. Navigate to the file you want to set up an approval for and then open the Approvals tab underneath the file preview.
2. Click Submit for approval (or see below for working with a template).
3. In the corresponding stage editor  you can name the stage and add deadline and reminder dates.
4. Start typing the name(s) of the approver(s) and select the person you need from the dropdown list (they must be a user on your account).
5. Add a description of the stage if required.
6. If there are multiple stages of approval, then click Add new Stage and repeat the required steps.
7. If you're ready to start the approval process, clicking Start will send out notifications to the approver of the first stage but subsequent approvers won’t be notified until the preceding stage is complete.
8. If you're not ready to submit for approval click Save & Close and you can come back to the approvals tab at anytime.

Editing Approvals

When viewing the file Approvals tab (selected from below the file), you can view the status of all the approval stages on that project. Clicking Edit Stage will show you the same window as when setting up an approval and you can change the details as needed.

Advanced Settings

When editing or creating a new approval clicking Advanced Settings shows you additonal options:

• Firstly you can choose between a Multiple or Single approval stage. In a multiple stage all the named approvers for that stage must accept the version for it to be approved. In a single stage only one person on the list needs to do so.
• You can choose to add stage owners which is similar to adding an admin for that stage only, in that they have complete control over that particular approval stage. Simply click to check the box and pick the owner from the list of approvers and then click make stage owner.
• You can also add additional users to get notified of approval decisions, without being part of the process. When you're done choose Save & Back or Start.

Approvals Templates

Approvals Templates are set up by your administrator to allow you to load preset approval settings rather than setting them up every single time you use Approvals. To use these simply click Apply Template when in the Approvals tab. This will load all the preset approval information but still allows you to adjust if necessary.

Approving or Rejecting stages

As a file approver, when your approval stage starts, you should receive a notification and you'll see it appear on your dashboard{{Dashboard}}. From wherever you see the notification, once you click on the link you’ll be taken to the file where you can approve or reject it and add any annotations{/s} by clicking Annotate from the toolbar just above the file preview.

Approvals overview

The approvals overview page will display all file approvals for a specific project or all the projects you have permission to view.

You can view all your approvals by either navigating to the Projects module by clicking it in the navigation bar at the top of the screen and then clicking the Approvals tab, or by clicking View all approvals from the Dashboard. If you find yourself frequently navigating to your approvals as soon as you log in, you can choose to have the approvals page as your startup page - change this from your User Settings.

If you want to see approvals for a specific project, first open that project and then click the Approvals tab once its open.

Regardless of which option you pick, the view will be the same. The centre of the page will show you a list of approvals and you can use the tabs along the top to either choose approvals you’ve submitted, any approvals you've received, approvals not yet started or any approvals pending your approval.

If you have a large list you can use the options on the left to filter by status, media type or client. If you’ve got a lot of approvals to work through you can cycle through them performing the actions you need. To do this:

1. Apply filters as required e.g pending.
2. Click Select All or highlight the ones you want to look at and click Open selected from the top right.
3. You’ll now see the first file in the list which you can approve, reject or annotate as needed.
4. Then use the arrows in the top right to move to the next file.
5. When you’re done click Back to approvals list from the top left.