Make changes to an approval flow
Making changes to an approval flow is done via the “Approval” tab. The menu items are described below.
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Shows the current versions of the approval record’s approval document, record document and, if applicable, attached documents in the document selector. When viewing document versions, the approver cannot process the approval. The approver will receive a warning about this from F2. See the dialogue below. 
Figure 2. The "Leave document versions?" dialogue
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Changes the menu item back to “Show document versions” and no longer displays the version numbers. |
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Makes it possible to modify an already initiated approval flow. The approval flow can be entirely changed as long as it has not yet started. If the approval has started, the already approved steps cannot be modified, but the pending steps can be edited, deleted and/or added to. A finally approved approval cannot be modified. |
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Users with full write access to the record can take over an approval and replace approvers. This is relevant e.g. in the event of illness or holidays. This lets a user take over an approval and replace/remove approvers, even if they have already received it in their inbox (but not yet processed the approval). When an approval is taken over, a note is created on the record denoting the changes and the affected participants (i.e. the user responsible for the approval as well as the approvers that have been added and/or removed) are notified via the note in their inboxes. Approvers or approved steps cannot be removed and/or replaced. |
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Stops an ongoing approval flow, and the approval is removed from the “Approvals” list in the main window. When an approval is cancelled, a note is automatically created that states it has been cancelled and by whom. Read more in the section Cancel, reopen, and delete an approval. |
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Reopens a cancelled approval. The approval will be resumed from the step at which it was cancelled. The approval is again displayed in the list of “Approvals” in the main window. The menu item “Reopen cancelled approval” changes to “Cancel approval”. The approval note is updated with the information that the approval has been reopened after cancellation. Read more in the section Cancel, reopen, and delete an approval. |
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Users with write access to the approval record can cancel and delete an approval. An approval can only be deleted after it has been cancelled. Read more in the section Cancel, reopen, and delete an approval. |
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Shows the latest changes/additions to the approval. |
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Creates a PDF version of the current approval which contains the approval document and the approval information. Read more about this in the section Send approvals to external participants. |
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Open the “Approval notifications” dialogue. The notification settings for users involved in the approval process are managed here. |
Edit the approval flow
Provided that the approval is in process, changes can be made to the flow and to the approval metadata provided. It is not possible to edit steps that have already been processed.
Click on Edit approval process in the “Approval” tab to open the dialogue “Edit approval process for [name of approval record]” as shown below.
Only users with write access to the record can edit the approval flow.
All corrections to the approval flow are listed in the activity log. Changes are not displayed in the activity log, but a note is created stating “[user name] edits the approval”. A user who makes changes to the approval flow can elaborate on these changes in the comment field. The comment is displayed under the line “[user name] edits the approval”, as shown below.
The changes can only be saved if the user has write access to the record.
Take over an approval
Taking over an approval is useful in case an approver is absent or ill, so that their step can be either completely removed or replaced with another approver. Users with write access to the record can take over the approval and make changes to the flow.
Click on Take over approval in the “Approval” tab to open the dialogue below.
This dialogue shows the entire approval flow. The first field is the responsible user who created the approval, and the following fields denote the different steps. The blue field is the active step.
The recipient of the approval has the following options:
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Add approvers (1) to active and subsequent steps.
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Add steps (2) after the active step.
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Remove approval steps (3).
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Replace approvers (4).
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Remove approvers (5).
Approvers and approval steps cannot be replaced or removed if approval has already been granted at the step.
Click the icon for replacing an approver 
to open the dialogue below in which a new approver from the participant register can be selected.
The user who makes changes with “Take over approval” can write a comment, which will appear in the activity log of the approval. If no comment is entered in the comment field, the activity log will only show who performed the takeover and on which step it occurred. The comment is therefore used to elaborate on the reason.
After clicking Save in the “Take over approval” dialogue, F2 asks the user to confirm.
F2 creates a note on the approval record when changes are made via “Take over approval”.
The note describes the action performed. Participants on the note include:
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The user who has taken over the approval and made changes.
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The user responsible for the approval.
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Approvers who have been removed from or replaced in the approval.
Restart approval
An approval can be restarted from the “Take over approval” dialogue, but only if it has been returned with the recommended actions “Return and resume with me” or “Return and resume after me”. Users can only restart an approval if they have full write access to its record.
Restarting the approval makes it possible to add steps, or add, replace or remove approvers in the entire approval process, not just the step of the returner.
If the returner has selected “Return and resume with me” or “Return and resume after me”, the Restart from step X button becomes visible in the dialogue. “X” corresponds to the step after the step to which the approval was returned. The figure below shows the button with the text “Restart from step 1” because the approval was returned to the responsible user, i.e. to the step before step 1.
After clicking Restart from step X, it is possible to edit steps already approved, including the step from which the approval was returned. New steps can be added before and between existing steps.
It is not possible to remove the step from which the approval was returned, but its approvers can be replaced.
The figure below illustrates some of the options available when restarting an approval.
| The restart completely resets all prior approvals. This means that early approvers may have to reapprove if they are not replaced or removed. |
Cancel, reopen, and delete an approval
When an approval is cancelled, it is removed from the list of active approvals. In addition, a note regarding the cancellation of the approval is automatically generated. The following users are added as participants on the note:
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The user who cancelled the approval.
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The user who is responsible for the approval record.
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Any approvers who have already approved or returned the approval.
Additionally, the responsible user and any approvers receive the record in their inboxes to notify them of the cancellation.
The note is also displayed on the approval record and is visible to any user with access to the record.
Cancelled approvals are inactive, but can always be reopened. The approval record will keep existing and the created approval flow will still appear on the record.
Click on Reopen in the “Approval” tab to reactivate the approval and resume the approval flow. The approval document will be readded and a new note is added to notify users that the approval was reopened.
It is possible to search for cancelled approvals. Read more about this in the section Creating specific searches for approvals.
Approvals can only be deleted after they have been cancelled. F2 will ask for confirmation before deleting the approval. The deletion cannot be undone.
When an approval is deleted, the approval record becomes an ordinary record, but any documents, the record document, and other metadata are preserved. If needed, a new approval on the record can be created.