---
title: "The Guided Setup"
description: "Answer four questions — what you're approving, how requests arrive, who approves, and what the form asks — and the guided setup assembles a working workflow, drafted form included, ready to test before anything goes live."
category: "Getting started"
updated: 2026-08-27
canonical: https://approvethis.com/docs/manuals/guided-setup
---

# The Guided Setup

Building an approval workflow from scratch means deciding its shape, its intake, its approvers, and its form fields all at once. The guided setup breaks that into four questions and assembles the workflow — draft form included — from your answers. This walkthrough is for Administrators setting up a new workflow in their workspace, and it ends at the point where the workflow is ready to test rather than live.

**Who this is for:** an Administrator.

> **Prerequisite:** Sign in as an Administrator.

> **Getting here:** The + beside Approval Workflows in the sidebar (or any New Flow button) opens the guided setup on "What are you approving?".

## Create a workflow by answering the wizard's questions

Starting a workflow from a blank canvas invites guesswork about what to configure first; the wizard asks for the approval type, the intake channel, the approver, and the form fields in order, then hands back a draft you can try before publishing.

1. Sign in as an Administrator.
2. Go to `https://app.approvethis.com/flows/new`.

   ![Go to https://app.approvethis.com/flows/new.](https://approvethis.com/docs-assets/manuals/guided-setup/screenshots/guided-setup-s1-01.png)

3. Choose the kind of approval you're setting up — the example screenshots show **Purchase request** selected.

   ![Choose the kind of approval you're setting up — the example screenshots show Purchase request selected.](https://approvethis.com/docs-assets/manuals/guided-setup/screenshots/guided-setup-s1-02.png)

4. Click **Continue**.

   ![Click Continue.](https://approvethis.com/docs-assets/manuals/guided-setup/screenshots/guided-setup-s1-03.png)

5. Choose how requests will arrive, such as **A form someone fills in** for submissions through a form.

   ![Choose how requests will arrive, such as A form someone fills in for submissions through a form.](https://approvethis.com/docs-assets/manuals/guided-setup/screenshots/guided-setup-s1-04.png)

6. Click **Continue**.

   ![Click Continue.](https://approvethis.com/docs-assets/manuals/guided-setup/screenshots/guided-setup-s1-05.png)

7. Click **Search for an approver or enter email...**.

   ![Click Search for an approver or enter email....](https://approvethis.com/docs-assets/manuals/guided-setup/screenshots/guided-setup-s1-06.png)

8. Type the name or email address of the person who should approve these requests into **Search for an approver or enter email...** (the example uses `Sam`).

   ![Type the name or email address of the person who should approve these requests into Search for an approver or enter email... (the example uses Sam).](https://approvethis.com/docs-assets/manuals/guided-setup/screenshots/guided-setup-s1-07.png)

9. Click the person you searched for in the results (**Sam Porter** in the example screenshots).

   ![Click the person you searched for in the results (Sam Porter in the example screenshots).](https://approvethis.com/docs-assets/manuals/guided-setup/screenshots/guided-setup-s1-08.png)

10. Click **Review**.

   ![Click Review.](https://approvethis.com/docs-assets/manuals/guided-setup/screenshots/guided-setup-s1-09.png)

11. In **Field label**, name the first thing the form should capture — e.g., `Item or service`.

   ![In Field label, name the first thing the form should capture — e.g., Item or service.](https://approvethis.com/docs-assets/manuals/guided-setup/screenshots/guided-setup-s1-10.png)

12. Click **Add a field**.

   ![Click Add a field.](https://approvethis.com/docs-assets/manuals/guided-setup/screenshots/guided-setup-s1-11.png)

13. Name the next field in **Field label**, such as `Cost center`.

   ![Name the next field in Field label, such as Cost center.](https://approvethis.com/docs-assets/manuals/guided-setup/screenshots/guided-setup-s1-12.png)

14. Click **Revisions**.

   ![Click Revisions.](https://approvethis.com/docs-assets/manuals/guided-setup/screenshots/guided-setup-s1-13.png)

15. Click **Create & test**.

   ![Click Create & test.](https://approvethis.com/docs-assets/manuals/guided-setup/screenshots/guided-setup-s1-14.png)


> **Success cue:** The workflow lands in a **Ready to test.** state, so you can run it through before anything goes live.

> **What happens next:** The workflow starts in testing — submit a test through the form URL shown, then publish from its page when you're ready ([Building Workflows](https://approvethis.com/docs/manuals/template-builder.md) shows publishing and the other ways to create one). The form is one of three arrivals the wizard offers: requests can instead come in by [email](https://approvethis.com/docs/manuals/email-to-workflow.md) or from [another tool](https://approvethis.com/docs/manuals/inbound-webhook-triggers.md), each its own guide. The Review step's Revisions toggle lets sent-back requests be edited and resubmitted — [Request Revisions & Versioning](https://approvethis.com/docs/manuals/request-revisions-versioning.md) covers that loop. Refine the form anytime in the [Form Builder](https://approvethis.com/docs/manuals/form-builder.md) and grow the approval chain with [Add an Approval Step](https://approvethis.com/docs/manuals/add-approval-step.md).