Approve or reject a document you received

When a document is sent to you, open it from the e-mail or from Documents awaiting your approval on your dashboard. Click the green button to take over your step, fill in your section, then send it on or approve it. If you hold the last section, the green check (Approve) publishes the document. If something is wrong, click the red button instead and write why; the document goes back to the owner of the previous step. Module names, sections, fields and receiver names are your company’s own setup, so the examples from the Avvik module used here, taken from a Norwegian setup, may differ from what you see.

Before you start

You receive documents when the step’s setup allows it: as a named user, through your level on the module, or through an access group. If you should be able to receive a document but are not offered as a receiver, ask your user administrator. See Workflow steps, statuses, receivers and notifications.
Only the owner of the current step can change the document. Once it is sent to you, that is you.
Publishing needs the Approve right on the module’s row. The green check (Approve) is shown only when you are among the possible receivers of the next step, or when you hold the last section.

Steps: approve

Open the document from the link in the e-mail, or from Documents awaiting your approval on your dashboard.
Read the sections the sender filled in. Tick Show all to see every section at once.
Click the green button. It takes over the step for you and opens your section in edit mode. The document now moves to Your in progress documents on your dashboard.
Fill in the fields of your section. Fields marked with * (tooltip Required) must be filled in.
Choose how to go on:
- You hold the last section: click the green check (Approve). The document is published.
- To pass it to the next person: click the paper-plane button (Send for approval), choose the receiver in the Send or approve dialog, optionally type a Message, and click Send.
- To take the next step yourself: if you are among the possible receivers of the next step, click the green check (Approve) instead. It approves your step and gives you the next step. If that next step is the last section, the document is published at once; otherwise you continue in the next section.

Steps: reject

Open the document as above.
Click the red button.
In the dialog, write a message explaining what needs to change.
Confirm the rejection.

What you should see

After the document is published, it gets the status your company has set for the last section, and the author gets an e-mail, unless the author approved their own last step, that is, both sent and received it. Everyone who subscribes to the document also gets an e-mail.

After sending on, the next receiver gets an e-mail and the document appears on their dashboard.

After rejecting, your step is removed and the document goes back to the owner of the previous step. They get an e-mail with your message, see the rejection on the document, and can correct it and send it again; see Create a document and send it for approval.

Good to know

Open actions. While the document has linked actions that are not closed, it cannot be published: the green check shows a dialog saying there are actions in progress. Each action must be closed first; see Handle an action you received and Action statuses, who holds an action, and e-mails.
Nothing to send to. If you are the only possible receiver of the next step, the send button is disabled; use the green check (Approve).
Not your step. If someone else owns the current step, you see the document in view mode only.
Files. To add files, open the document with the green button first; see Add attachments to a document.
Observation. Some steps allow publishing at once as an observation; see Save a document as an observation.