Set up your approval flow

The approval flow is the route every item on a board takes before it’s approved. You set it up once per board, and you can change it whenever you like.

A flow is made of stages. Stages always happen in order: the second stage only starts when the first one is approved. A common setup is:

1. Team review: someone on your team checks the work.
2. Client sign-off: the client gives the final yes.

To open the flow editor, open any item on the board, go to the Approvals tab and click Edit approval flow. The first time, it opens on its own.

Step 1: Name the stage and choose who approves

Every stage has a name and a list of approvers. When the same people always approve, like a team lead, choose The same people for every item.

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1. 1Give the stage a name people will recognise, like Team review.
2. 2The same people for every item: the approvers don't change from item to item.
3. 3Pick teammates from your monday.com account.
4. 4Or type someone's email to add a person outside monday.com, like a client. They don't need an account.

Step 2: Add a stage where each item has its own approver

Often the approver changes per item, for example a different client for each project. Click Add stage, give it a name, and choose Whoever is listed in a column of the item. Then pick a People or Email column from your board.

• An Email column names one outside approver per item.
• A People column can name one or several teammates. Teams in the column are skipped, so add the people themselves.

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1. 1Whoever is listed in a column of the item: each item brings its own approver.
2. 2Choose the column that holds the approver, like Client email.
3. 3Greenlight shows who that is on the item you're looking at, so you can check it's right.
4. 4Add stage adds another step. Remove (top right of each stage) deletes one.

When a stage has several approvers

When you add more than one person to a stage, or use a People column, Greenlight asks When there are several approvers:

• Everyone must approve: the stage is done when all of them say yes.
• Any one can approve: the first yes is enough.
• At least a number of them: you fill in How many yeses are needed.

Step 3: Choose the files clients can open, and save

If any stage has outside approvers, choose which file columns they can open from their approval page. All of the board’s file columns start ticked. Untick a column to keep its files private. Then click Save approval flow.

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1. 1Tick the file columns outside approvers may open.
2. 2Save approval flow. Cancel leaves without changing anything.

What changes on your board

When you save, Greenlight adds two columns to the board:

• Approval shows the result for each item, in colour.
• Approval stage shows where each item is and who it’s waiting on.

The first time you save a flow on your account, Greenlight also asks you to connect it. See Install Greenlight.

Leave both columns in place. You can move them or make them narrower, but don’t delete them. See The board columns for what each status means.

One no sends it back

As the editor says: stages run in order, and a single rejection or request for changes sends the item back to the person who asked. It doesn’t move on until it’s resubmitted.

Changing the flow later

Click Edit approval flow on any item of the board, make your changes and save. New approvals use the new flow straight away. Approvals already in progress finish with the flow they started with. If one is resubmitted, the new round uses the new flow.