1. Creating approval workflows

Approval workflows in Zoho Creator are designed to automate the end-to-end approval process, eliminating the need for repetitive manual follow-ups. An approval workflow is essentially a predefined set of rules and actions that routes form entries to the appropriate decision-makers for approval or rejection. To create a approval workflow for a form, you have to add approver and define actions to execute when the record is approved or rejected by the approver. you can add as many approves and define actions when each approver approves or rejects the record.

1.1. See how to create approval workflows

1.2. Step for creating approval workflows

1. Navigate to your application in edit mode and click the Add icon () in the top header strip. All application components will be displayed.
   
2. Select Workflow in the Create New Component screen. All workflow types will be displayed.
3. Choose On an approval activity. This opens the approval workflow creation page.

Alternatively, you can also open the approval workflow creation page from the application's edit mode > Workflows tab > Approvals. Click either Create Workflow (visible only when no workflows exist) or New Workflow button to add a new one.

4. Choose the form that you want to set the Approval process and name the workflow.
   
5. Select when to run the approval process. By default, it will be set as Always, which means the approval action will execute for all records. To run the action only for specific records, choose on condition and define the necessary criteria. Learn more about configuring conditions in a workflow.
   
6. Click Create Workflow.
7. Click Add New Approver. A configuration pane will slide form the right.
   
8. Select the approver type from the Select type dropdown. Based on your selection the approvers can be selected in the next step.
   1. User: Refer to the users in added in your Creator account.
   2. Role: Refers to the user associated with a specific role. The Select Approver field lists both the default roles and any custom roles created by you. When a role is selected, all users associated with that role will have the permission to approve or deny the record.
   3. Field: Allows you to dynamically assign approvers by selecting a Users field from your form.
      
9. Select the approver. The list of available approvers will depend on the type you selected in the previous step.
   1. If you selected User, all users in your Creator account will be displayed for your selection.
   2. If you selected Role, the user roles configured for the application (such as CEO, Manager, etc.) will be listed for your selection. All users assigned to the selected role can approve the record.
   3. If you selected Field, All User field in the form will be displayed for selection. the approver will be determined dynamically based on the user specified in the Users field of the form.
      
      
10. Enter the Approval and Denial labels. By default, the labels are Approve and Reject, but you can modify them based on your requirements. These labels will be displayed to approvers when they want to interact with a record.
    
11. Click Save Approver.
    

Once added, you will be directed to the Approval Workflow Builder, where you can configure actions to be executed when a record is sent for approval, approved, or rejected.

Click here to learn how to configure actions for approval workflows.

2. Managing approval workflows

Approval workflows include the following manage options:

1. Enabling or disabling approval workflows
2. Deleting approval workflows
3. Modifying the approval workflows properties
4. Editing and deleting the approvers in approval workflow
5. Editing and deleting the approval workflow actions criteria
6. Editing and deleting the approval workflow actions

2.1. Enabling or disabling approval workflows

Note: Disabling the workflow will temporarily suspend its execution without deleting it.

1. Navigate to the Approvals tab under the Workflows section in the edit mode of your application. All approval workflows configured in the application are listed here, grouped by their respective form names.
   
2. Click the Status toggle next to the preferred approval workflow to enable or disable it.
   

2.2. Deleting approval workflows

1. Navigate to the Approvals tab under the Workflows section in the edit mode of your application. All approval workflows configured in the application are listed here, grouped by their respective form names.
   
2. Hover over the workflow and click on the delete icon ()that appears to delete the workflow permanently.
   

2.3. Modifying the approval workflows properties

1. Navigate to the Approvals tab under the Workflows section in the edit mode of your application. All approval workflows configured in the application are listed here, grouped by their respective form names. Click the preferred approval workflow to open the workflow builder.

2. Click the gear icon () icon in the top right corner of the workflow builder to open the Workflow Properties slider.
   
3. The following configuration can be managed from the Workflow Properties slider.
   1. Workflow name: Edit the existing workflow name to rename the approval workflow.
      
   2. Run this process: Modify or add new criteria to execute the approval.
      1. If no criteria were defined while configuring the approval workflow, the it will be set to Always. If criteria were already defined during workflow creation, they will be displayed here.
         1. To add criteria to the approval workflow, click on condition.
            
         2. To modify the existing criteria, click on the displayed criteria.
            
      2. Define the required logic in the Edit Criteria pop-up and click Save Criteria.
         
   3. Allow submitters to recall requests: When enabled, this option allows users to recall their approval requests from the Pending Tasks module in the live application. By default, this option is set to No. You can enable it by selecting Yes.
      
   4. Select fields that will show in live approvals: Control which fields from the form linked with the approval workflow to be shown to the approver and users in the Approval section in the live mode of the application.
      
      
      1. Click add icon (+) and select a field form the dropdown to add that fields to display on the Approvals module in the live mode of the application.
         
      2. Click and drag on the field to rearrange the display order of the fields.
         
      3. Hover over a field and click on the delete icon () to remove that field.
         
4. Click Save Settings after making the preferred changes in the workflow properties.
   

2.4. Editing and deleting the approvers in approval workflow

1. Navigate to the Approvals tab under the Workflows section in the edit mode of your application. All approval workflows configured in the application are listed here, grouped by their respective form names. Click the preferred approval workflow to open the workflow builder.
   
2. Hover over the approver header to reveal the edit () and delete icons ().
   
3. Click on the edit icon to open the Edit Approver slider.
   
   1. Modify the approver by selecting the approver type, approver and labels and then click Save Approver.

4. Click the delete icon () to remove the approver.

Note: When an approver is deleted, the entire approval level, including all actions configured to execute on approval or rejection, will also be permanently deleted.

2.5. Editing and deleting the approval workflow actions criteria

1. Navigate to the Approvals tab under the Workflows section in the edit mode of your application. All approval workflows configured in the application are listed here, grouped by their respective form names. Click the preferred approval workflow to open the workflow builder.
   
2. Hover over the criteria on top of the action block to reveal the edit () and delete icons (). If criteria is not configured for the action block, only the edit icon will be visible.
   
3. Click on the edit icon () to open the Edit Criteria pop-up.
   
   1. Modify the existing criteria or add new ones, then click Save Criteria.
      
4. Click the delete icon () to remove the criteria from the action block.
   

2.6. Editing and deleting the approval workflow actions

1. Navigate to the Approvals tab under the Workflows section in the edit mode of your application. All approval workflows configured in the application are listed here, grouped by their respective form names. Click the preferred approval workflow to open the workflow builder.
   
2. Hover over the action inside the block to reveal the () and delete icons ().
   
3. Click the edit icon() or directly click on the action to modify its configuration.
   
4. Click the delete icon() to remove the action entirely.
   

3. Related topics

1. Understanding approval workflows
2. Configuring notification actions for approval workflows
3. Configuring data access actions for approval workflows
4. Configuring Deluge script for approval workflows
5. Configuring integration actions for approval workflows