Understand and make the most out of our Approval Workflow features.
After exploring this article you will be able to pick and tailor your approval workflow, thus elevating your collaboration speed and streamlining the whole process.
First of all, a quick refresher on what approval is:
We refer to approval as the ability of a user to give a virtual thumbs-up for a post to be published. It's one of the main pillars of collaboration found within our tool.
An approval workflow encompasses all the different settings that a Workspace has in place to make sure the approval process works as closely to the user's wishes as possible.
To discover all of the possibilities make sure to navigate to approval settings from your Workspace settings (hover over your workspace name and press on the 3 dots as displayed below):
There are 4 types of approval workflows, each with its charm and twist to it, so don't take your eyes off the screen, and buckle up for the information highway!
None (no approval workflow)
No approval is the way to go if you are a one-man team. If you are your own boss. Simple, efficient, and straight to the point!
If you use the no approval workflow nobody has to approve your posts, and the option isn't visible at all.
Optional Approval
Best fit for flexible teams who want to up their collaboration but don't shy away from having to roll up their sleeves and do things by themselves once in a while.
Posts can be scheduled and published with or without approval - it's a free for all. Do whatever is most convenient at the moment and don't sweat the deets.
You can request approval on posts by hovering on the approval icon, and then clicking on "Request Approval" in the tooltip that appears.
But since the approval workflow is set to optional, you can still schedule and publish posts at will, even if no approval was granted to the post.
Required Approval (Pro plan)
This workflow is tailored towards teams who have a strong sense of responsibility and who demand their posts be granted the sign of approval.
Marketers working closely with their clients will find this indispensable.
If your workspace is using this workflow, then no post can be scheduled or published without the green light from at least one approver.
You can request approval same as before, but this time you won't be able to schedule or publish the post if it's not approved.
Notice that the same "Requesting approval" popup appears when hovering on the Schedule button accompanied with a description of the situation.
Multiple Levels Of Approval (Enterprise Only)
We already have a comprehensive article on it, so check it out if it is something you are interested in.
Other useful approval settings
If you've selected an Approval Workflow other than None you will find that in the same Approval Settings there are a couple of tweaks that you can do to further customize the way you collaborate with your team.
Who can approve Content?
Pretty straightforward. Manage who has the ability to approve posts.
Lock Content after Approval
Make it so the approver's word is final. Limit everyone's ability to change anything about the post (text, media, date & time, order of images, URL of links, etc.) after it has been approved.
If you do find you want to make some changes after a post has been approved you can either unapprove it or turn this setting off.
Schedule posts automatically on Approval
Two birds with one stone. After clicking on the approve button, if the post has a date&time set, it will be scheduled automatically.
Start testing Planable👇
Don't have an account? Sign up, it's free →