Guide Building workflows

Building Workflows

Every way to create a workflow, in one place — the guided setup that asks three questions, the type picker with ready-made workflow types, copying a workflow you already trust — and the Publish click that takes any of them live. Every new workflow starts in testing, so nothing reaches real approvers until you say so.

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Admin
Open ApproveThis

ApproveThis gives you several ways to build an approval workflow: a guided setup that walks through a few questions, a type picker with ready-made workflow types, and a copy of a workflow you already trust. Each one produces a workflow in testing, and a single Publish click takes it live to real approvers. This guide is for Administrators working in the workflow builder, and assumes you're signed in to a workspace with at least one existing workflow available to copy.

Who this is for: admin.

Create a workflow with the guided setup

Use the guided setup when you want a working approval process without deciding every detail up front — it asks a short series of questions and assembles the workflow for you. The result lands in testing, so nothing routes to real approvers until you publish it.

  1. Sign in as the Administrator.

  2. Open the guided setup at http://app.approvethis.test:8098/flows/new.

    Step 2
    Step 2

  3. Choose the workflow type that matches the process you're building — the example selects Expense report.

    Step 3
    Step 3

  4. Click Continue to move to the next question, and answer each one in turn. The example does this 2 times.

    Step 4
    Step 4

  5. Click Review to see the workflow the answers produced.

    Step 5
    Step 5

  6. Click Create & test to create the workflow in testing.

    Step 6
    Step 6

The workflow is created when you see Ready to test.

Create a workflow from the type picker

When you already know the shape of the process you want, the type picker skips the questions and starts you from a ready-made workflow type. This is the faster path for Administrators building a workflow they've set up before.

  1. Open the type picker at http://app.approvethis.test:8098/flows/create.

    Step 1
    Step 1

  2. Click Form Flow to choose a workflow that collects its details from a form.

    Step 2
    Step 2

  3. In Approval Flow Name, enter a name that identifies the process to approvers — e.g., Contractor Invoices.

    Step 3
    Step 3

  4. Click Create Approval Flow.

    Step 4
    Step 4

The new workflow opens under the name you entered — in the example screenshots, Contractor Invoices.

Copy an existing workflow

Copying is the quickest way to build a variation of a process that already works — a second approval path, a regional version, or a draft you want to change without touching the original. The copy is a separate workflow, so edits to it don't affect the one you copied.

  1. Open the workflow you want to duplicate and click Settings.

    Step 1
    Step 1

  2. Click Copy Flow. The example does this 2 times.

    Step 2
    Step 2

  3. Click Create copy to confirm.

    Step 3
    Step 3

The duplicate appears with the original's name followed by a copy marker — in the example screenshots, Contractor Invoices (Copy).

Publish a workflow to go live

Every new workflow starts in testing, so publishing is the step that lets real requests reach real approvers. Do this once you've tested the workflow and are ready for it to handle live approvals.

  1. Click Publish.

    Step 1
    Step 1

You'll see the confirmation Workflow published — requests now route to its approvers.