How to Create an Approval Flow in Jotform

Jotform Approvals make it easy for you to set up approval flows for your form without adding multiple fields, setting up multiple email alerts, and creating complicated conditions. All of these steps are now part of a single feature and only require a few minutes of your time to set up.

There are two ways to create an approval workflow:

• Create the approval flow through the Form Builder
• Create the approval flow through My Approvals

Create the Approval Flow Through the Form Builder

The first step in creating an approval flow through the Form Builder is to create your form. Once you’ve finished with the form, follow these steps:

1. Click on the Settings tab in the top navigation of the Form Builder.
2. Click on Approval Flows in the left menu.
3. In the Approval Flows tab, click the Create an approval flow button. This will redirect you to Jotform Approvals and automatically create the basic approval template for you based on the default approve and deny options.

Here, you can see the start point, which is your form, as well as the basic approval after the starting point and the approval and denial emails. You can add more elements to this template and connect them.

Related guides:

• How Can You Connect Elements to Each Other?
• How Can You Set up an Approval Element?

Create the Approval Flow Through My Approvals

You can also create the approval flow through the My Approvals page.

Access My Approvals by going to the My Forms page and following these steps: 

1. Click the toggle beside the Jotform logo.
2. Click the My Approvals option.

3. On the My Approvals page, click the Create Approval button.

The button will open a new tab in your browser. You’ll be asked to choose one of three options:

1. Start From Scratch
2. One Step Approval
3. Use Template

Start From Scratch

Choosing Start from Scratch opens the approval builder and includes only the start point and a placeholder where you can add an approval element. 

The Start From Scratch option displays one warning, which states that you need to select a form.

One Step Approval

Choosing One Step Approval will automatically create a simple one-step approval similar to when you create the approval flow through the Form Builder. The only difference here is that the start point and approval and denial emails are empty.

The One Step Approval option displays two errors related to the approval emails and one warning related to selecting a form.

Related guide: What Are Errors and Warnings?

Clicking the Add Form button from the start point opens the form selector. Select the form from the list (figure 1) and continue with the next steps. You can opt to create a new form by clicking the Create a new one link (figure 2). 

A form that’s already selected for an existing approval flow cannot be selected in the Add Form option. It’s disabled and displays a message indicating that it’s already in use.

Clicking the Create a new one link opens the window to create a form with options to create a form from scratch, use a template, or import a form.

Choosing any of these options automatically selects the created/selected form for the start point of the approval flow. You can then proceed to the next step. 

Use Template

Choosing the Use Template option allows you to choose from a number of our ready-made approval templates. Once you find the template you want to use, click the Use Template button. 

Preview the template by hovering your mouse over the template and clicking the Preview button. In the preview, you can click the Use Template button. You can zoom in and out of the preview by clicking the plus (+) and minus (-) icons at the bottom left side of the preview. 

Once you’ve clicked the Use Template button, you’ll be redirected to the approval builder with the selected template. The form is created and selected automatically as the start point. Now you can set up the different approval steps.