Workflows: Approval node

This article explains how to configure and use the Approval workflow node. Learn more about using workflows here. Approval nodes can be used to get the approvals of multiple stakeholders in the organisation. This node is used to allow reviewers or admins to approve submissions by changing their status, based on an approval request initiated through a workflow.

To use the Approval node, your app must have Statuses configured in your app. Click here to know how.

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Used For

You can use the Approval node in workflows to get status-based approvals from specific users (admins or reviewers). It is commonly used in use cases like:

• Expense approval – An employee submits an expense claim which needs to be approved by a manager.
• Purchase approval – A department head must approve purchase requests before procurement.
• Time off request approval – Employees submit leave requests to be approved by HR or managers.
• Project approval – Before starting a project, it must be approved by leadership to ensure alignment with company goals.
• Hiring approval – A team wants to hire and needs approval from both their manager and HR.
• Access approval – An employee needs access to a restricted system or tool and requests approval from an authorized person.
  
  

How It Works

When an Approval node is triggered in a workflow:

• An email is sent to the configured approver(s) with a link to the submission.
• The approver can click the link, which opens the submission in the Submissions tab.
• From there, the approver can change the submission’s status (to one of the allowed approval statuses).
• Optionally, they can also add comments during the status update.
• Once the status is changed by any one of the configured approvers, the Approval node is marked as complete, and any workflow steps configured below it will be executed.
• If no approver changes the status, the node waits for the number of days configured as expiration. After that, the node completes and the next steps are executed. You can use an If node after this to handle different outcomes (e.g., whether it was approved or not).

Note:

• Only admins or users with reviewer access can change the status of a submission. If someone without reviewer/admin access receives the email, they will not be able to approve.
  
  

Configuring the Approval Node (For App Admins)

To configure the Approval node, go to Design App > Workflows. Click on Start or the ‘+’ symbol after a workflow node and select the Approval node.

You will see a configuration panel on the right. Below are the available options:

Step Name

This is the name that appears for the node in the workflow editor.
You can name it anything meaningful, especially if you’re using multiple approval steps (e.g., “L1 Approval”, “Manager Approval”, “Final Approval”).

Approvers

This is a required field.
Here, you define the list of people who can approve the submission by changing its status.

• You can enter static email addresses separated by commas (e.g., john@example.com, jane@example.com).
• Or, you can pull email inputs dynamically from fields in the app during submission by typing @ and select a field like email, which appears as {email} once selected.

Note:
Only one of the listed approvers needs to update the status for the node to be marked complete. If your process requires multiple approvals, you can use multiple Approval nodes, each configured with different approvers and allowed statuses.

Allowed Approval Statuses

This is a required field.

To use the Approval node, your app must have Statuses configured.

• Go to Design App > Configuration > Status to add statuses to your app (e.g., L1 Approved, L1 Rejected, etc).

• Once statuses are configured, this dropdown will let you select the allowed statuses that the approvers can choose from when reviewing a submission.

Even if your app has many statuses, you can restrict each approval step to allow only specific ones. This is helpful when setting up multi-level approvals like L1 Approved, L2 Approved, etc.

If no statuses are configured, the Approval node will show an error and cannot be saved.

Email Subject

This is the subject line of the email that approvers receive.

• You can enter any custom subject.
• You can also pull field values dynamically by typing @ and selecting the relevant field from the app(e.g., {department}).
  
  

Email Body

This is the body of the email sent to the approvers.

By default, it includes a helpful link to the submission.

• You can modify this message as needed.
• You can pull field values dynamically using @ and selecting fields from the app.

Best practice:
Do not remove the link to the submission unless absolutely necessary, as it makes it easy for approvers to access the exact record.

Include Configured PDF

Toggle this ON if you want to attach a PDF of the submission in the approval email.

• This option is only available if you have a print template configured for your app.
• If there are no print templates, you will see a message stating that and the toggle will be greyed out.

• Once enabled, you can select one or more PDFs to include from the dropdown.

Number of Days After Which the Step Will Expire

This allows you to set a time limit (1 to 50 days) for how long the Approval node will wait for the approver to act.

• If no action is taken by the approver within this time, the node will expire, and the workflow will move to the next node below it if any.
• You can use an IF node afterward to check the status and branch the workflow accordingly.

If an approver changes the status before the expiry, the node completes immediately and continues to the next steps below the approver node if any.

Parent Step

This defines the step immediately above the current node in the workflow chain.
Usually, this is the Start node unless you're placing it after another node.

Enable This Step

This toggle is ON by default.
Turn this off if you want to temporarily disable this step and skip it during workflow execution.

Performing the Approval (For Approvers)

Once the Approval node is triggered:

1. The configured approvers receive an email with the submission link.

2. Clicking the link takes them to the Submissions tab, where they can view that particular submission only, and approve the record. To approve a submission, click on the submission and click the status at the top of the right panel that appears.

3. They can select one of the allowed statuses and add optional comments.
4. After the status is updated by any one approver, the Approval node is completed and the next steps in the workflow (if any below the approval node) are executed.

If none of the approvers update the status, the node waits for the configured number of days and then completes by itself (without any status change). You can design the workflow after this using IF nodes to branch based on whether it was approved or not.

Important Notes

Review Submission Flow vs Approval Workflow Node

• The Review Submission Flow is triggered anytime a submission’s status is changed, regardless of how it was changed (whether through the approval node or not).
• The Approval node is a specific workflow step that sends emails, waits for approval of a particular submission, and proceeds accordingly.
• If a reviewer changes the status of the same submission for which the Approval node was triggered, the node is marked as complete and the workflow steps below it are executed.
• However, if a different submission’s status is changed (not the one associated with the Approval node), this does not complete the Approval node. But if you’ve configured a workflow under the Review Submission Flow, it will still be triggered by that status change.
• The Review Submission Flow can be triggered regardless of where the Approval node is placed, even if it exists in a separate flow.

Example Use Case: Approval Reminders

You can combine the Approval node with the Repeat and Wait nodes to send reminder emails to approvers if they haven't taken action.

• The Repeat node can be configured to loop up to 30 times.
• The Wait node waits for a specified amount of time between loops.
• The workflow checks the current status using an IF node, and if not approved, sends another reminder.

This setup helps automate follow-ups and improves the chance that the submission is reviewed on time.

If you need help setting up multi-level approvals, approval escalations, or reminders, feel free to reach out to support@clappia.com.

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