Form Approval Workflows from Jotform

Setting up a form approval workflow is easy with Jotform. Open your form in the Form Builder, then go to

Setting up a form approval workflow is easy with Jotform. Open your form in the Form Builder, then go to Settings and select Approval Flows to create your custom workflow. You can also go to My Approvals and select Create Approval to start a new workflow from scratch, select a basic one-step approval, or choose from Jotform’s library of ready-made approval templates. 

Use Jotform’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface to customize the steps in your approval flow with just a couple of clicks. Add approvers, configure automated emails, and build the perfect workflow for your process without any coding. 

Once you have a completed approval flow that suits your needs, you can share your form with your team from the Publish tab of the Form Builder by sending them a link, inviting them via email, or embedding the form in your website. You can also assign the form using the link in the Assign Form tab or invite assignees via email. When they submit their form response, it will automatically trigger the next steps in your approval flow — saving you time and effort by making your process truly seamless.

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An approval workflow is a set of established steps that a document, proposal, request, or other item must go through to be approved or completed. Approval workflows are useful for a variety of situations where information must go from one person to another. This may include leave and travel requests that need to be approved by both a supervisor and HR, applications for jobs or scholarships that require applicants meet specific criteria before they can be considered, and reimbursement and expense reports that need to be reviewed by the finance department. By standardizing your approval process, you can ensure that all appropriate parties review the submission and that it meets your requirements prior to approval.

Absolutely! You can customize every step and action in your workflow with the no-code approval builder. Just drag and drop elements, link them together to build your flow, and add your approvers. You can create custom outcomes beyond just approve or deny, such as requesting more information or adding an applicant to a waitlist. 

You can also use conditional logic to create multiple paths depending on the form data to help make your process more efficient. Set up sequential approvals, parallel approvals with multiple approvers, and group approvals that require responses from the majority of your team. You can even require your approvers to provide their e-signature to add an additional layer of security to your approval process.

To create a new approval flow, start by going to My Approvals and select Create Approval to open the Approvals builder. All approval workflows begin with a form. Once you’ve selected the form that will trigger the beginning of your approval flow, you’re ready to configure each step and define the outcomes. Drag and drop the elements you need in the approval builder, then connect them by drawing a link to build out your workflow. 

Once an approval flow is connected to your form, it will trigger automatically whenever someone submits a response to that form. You can also reuse your completed approval flow for different situations by cloning it, with or without your original form. 

Jotform makes it convenient to track and control every step of the approval process from any desktop or mobile device. 

Approvers can instantly view and approve submissions with a single click from their Jotform Inbox, and even manage approvals while on the go with the Jotform Mobile Forms app for mobile devices. Using Jotform Tables, you can see if a submission is Approved, Denied, or In Progress in the Approval Status column of your submissions table. You’ll also be able to search and filter submissions based on approval status, as well as take over or reassign a task to someone else so there’s no delay in decision making. 

When your approval process is complete, you can generate custom PDF reports to summarize every action taken during the approval process.

​​Jotform Approvals works natively with Jotform Inbox, Jotform Tables, Jotform Mobile Forms, and other Jotform tools to make handling requests, generating reports, and communicating with team members effortless. You can also integrate with 150+ third-party apps to sync submission data automatically. Connect to your email or Slack to receive notifications when someone submits a response, set up automatic emails to let the submitter know the status of their request, and more.

Of course. Jotform makes it convenient to set up automated reminders and notifications to let people know about their pending tasks and prevent your workflow from stalling. Open your approval flow in the approval builder, then click on the gear icon on the right of the Approval element. Go to the Advanced tab and toggle Send Reminder Emails to the On position. You can customize the messaging of the reminder email and set intervals for when they are sent.

You can build complex approval processes with if-else conditions and conditional branches that change the flow based on your specified conditions. Start by adding an If-Else Condition or Conditional Branch element, then click on the gear icon to configure your condition rules. Create a flow to connect elements and assign a condition to make the next steps in your process completely automatic. If-Else Condition elements only have two branches (True and False) but Conditional branches let you set up as many branches as you need for your workflow.

Yes, you can use Jotform Approvals via the free Jotform Mobile Forms app. Available for iOS or Android, it lets you manage your forms and approval flows from any device.