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Template. You can change anything about this app by describing it in its build chat. See App templates.
Send work to a client for review and record their decision before it goes live. Clients approve, reject, or request changes in your client experience, and every status change is saved with who made it, when, and why. Category: Approvals · Used by: your team and your clients · Works with: CRM

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Features

  • Approval items assigned to a client or a whole company, with the work attached as a file or linked by URL
  • Five statuses: Draft, Awaiting review, Changes requested, Approved, and Rejected
  • A queue with a count for each status, plus search, filters by client or company, owner, and due date, and sortable columns
  • Revisions: when a client requests changes, you upload new work and resubmit, and every earlier version stays on the item
  • A history on every item showing who changed its status, when, and their comment
  • Categories to group items, such as Social, Blog, or Campaign
  • Due-date reminders, and notifications when work is submitted or decided
  • An archive for finished items

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How to use it

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For your team

  1. Open the app and click New approval item.
  2. Enter a Title, and optionally a Description with context for the reviewer.
  3. Under Assign to, choose a client or a company. Assigning a company sends the item to every client in it.
  4. Add the work: paste a link (Figma, Google Drive, or any URL) or drop in a file.
  5. Optionally pick a Category and a Due date.
  6. Click Submit for review to send it to the client now, or Save as draft to finish it later. Clients don’t see drafts.
The status strip at the top of the queue shows how many items are in each status. Click a status to filter the queue to it. Use search and Filters to narrow by client or company, owner, or due date. Overdue items are flagged until they’re approved or rejected.
When a client requests changes, the item moves to Changes requested and you’re notified with their comment.
  1. Open the item and click Add revised work.
  2. Upload the new file or link, and add a note about what changed.
  3. Click Submit revision. The item goes back to Awaiting review, the client is notified, and they see it marked Revised. The earlier version stays on the item.
Open any item to see its History: every status change, who made it, when, and the comment that came with it, along with each version of the work.
From an item’s actions, archive it to move it out of the queue. Archived items are under Archive, where you can restore them. Only drafts and items awaiting review can be deleted. Archive anything that’s already been decided.
Click the categories button in the queue header to add or remove categories.

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For your clients

Clients see the items waiting for their review, with their past decisions under History. Opening an item shows the work, which they can preview or download, and its earlier versions.
Under Your decision, the client chooses Approve, Request changes, or Reject, then clicks Submit decision. A comment is optional when approving and required when rejecting or requesting changes. A rejected item is final. To try again, create a new item.
Clients only see items assigned to them or to their company.

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Notifications

  • When you submit an item or a revision, the assigned client, or every client in the assigned company, gets an email and an in-product notification.
  • When a client decides, the item’s owner on your team is notified, with the client’s comment.
  • Reminders go to the client when an item awaiting review is due in three days, and again on the day it’s due.
To change who’s notified or what the messages say, see Configuring notifications.

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Set it up

1

Add the template

Click Add App in the Dashboard sidebar. Find Content approval workflow under Start from a template, or scroll down to Browse all apps and pick the Approvals filter.
2

Try it as your team

The app lands in your sidebar as a draft. Create a test item and assign it to your test client.
3

Check the client side

In the builder’s Client view, pick your test client and approve, reject, or request changes on the item.
4

Publish it

Publish the app with visibility set to Hidden from all people, or on plans with custom visibility, limited to your test client. Sign in as your test client to try it in the real client experience, then make it visible to the clients who should use it. See Launching apps.

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Change it with the app builder

This app is a template, so you can change anything about it by describing what you want.
1

Open the build chat

Open Content approval workflow from your Dashboard sidebar, click its name at the top, then click Switch to builder.
2

Describe the change

Write what you want the way you’d ask a teammate. Say who it’s for and where it shows up, such as your team’s queue or the client’s review page.
3

Check the preview

The app builder makes the change and updates the preview. Switch between Team view and Client view to check both sides, and pick a client to see it as them.
4

Publish

Click Publish when you’re happy. Until you do, your clients keep seeing the last published version.
Changes people often make to this template:
  • “Let clients leave a comment when they approve, and show it in the item’s history”
  • “Add a Revision round field and show it on each item”
  • “Let rejected items be resubmitted instead of starting a new one”
  • “Send the reminder five days before the due date instead of three”
  • “Let clients upload a file when they request changes”
  • “Add a Channel field with Instagram, LinkedIn, and Email, and filter the queue by it”
See Iterating on apps for how to describe changes well and how to go back to an earlier version. To rename the app, or change who can see it and how it notifies people, click its name at the top and choose Rename app or Manage app.

Design proofing tool

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Markup and comments

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View this template on assembly.com