Request approvals with workflows

Approval requests pause the workflow at each step until the request is approved or declined. At each approval or rejection, the conditions and actions on the path determine what happens next. 

For example: 

• A training request is approved by an employee’s manager. 
• If the training request is approved, it sends an approval request to the Human Resources Director for final confirmation. 
  or
• If the training request is declined, an update request goes to the employee so they can edit the request.

What you can do and where you can apply workflows depends on your permission level. Learn about workflow permissions.

Set up your approval workflow

With your sheet open:

1. Select Automation > Create workflow from template...
2. From the Update and Approval Requests section, select Request an approval when specified criteria are met... and then select Use template.
3. In the trigger block, set the criteria that triggers the workflow.
4. Optional: You can create condition blocks to filter the specific rows to be included in the delivery of the approval request.
5. In the action block, select the first batch of stakeholders (one or multiple people) that need to provide approval.
6. Select the Add buttons under If Approved and If Declined.
7. Define the actions that you’d like to execute depending if the stakeholders approved or declined.
   
   

That's it! Your workflow now has multiple, connected actions based on an approve or decline state from an initial approval request.

Keep the following in mind

• If approval columns and values are re-used across workflows, you may receive duplicate alerts. To prevent this, use different approval values or add conditions after each approved or declined request.
• Since the workflow trigger and subsequent condition blocks between the trigger and the approval request can be bypassed if someone manually changes the approval status column in the sheet, it's a best practice to either lock your Approval status columns in the source sheet, or refrain from sharing the sheet directly with people from whom that you need approval.

To prevent infinite approval loops, cells with cross-sheet formulas or cell links won’t trigger the approval request. To work around this, create an update request.