---
title: "User Selection Fields"
description: "Let the requester name who approves. A User Selection field puts a people-picker on the form, and an approval step routes to whoever they choose — so the form decides its own approver instead of you hard-coding one."
category: "Building workflows"
updated: 2026-08-27
canonical: https://approvethis.com/docs/manuals/user-select-fields
---

# User Selection Fields

Some approvals have no fixed approver: the right person depends on what the request is about — the owner of the system, the lead on the project, the manager holding the budget. A User Selection field puts a people-picker on the form so the requester chooses a team member, a group, or their manager, and an approval step can read that field and route to whoever was picked, resolved when the request is created. This guide covers both halves: adding the picker to the form, then pointing a step at it. You'll need a workflow you can edit, open to its Form tab.

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

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

> **Getting here:** Open the workflow you want to change. The field is added on its Form tab; the routing is set on its Workflow tab, where the approval chain is drawn. You will route an existing approval step to the field, so your workflow should already have one (if not, add one first — see Add an Approval Step).

## Add a User Selection field so the requester can pick a person

Routing that follows the asset, the team, or the spend can't name an approver at build time, so the choice belongs to the person filling out the form. Note that this field type requires an authenticated submitter: it disappears from the palette once a workflow allows anonymous responses, a form already holding one can't be switched to public submissions, and it isn't offered on CC-approval workflows.

1. Sign in to ApproveThis as an Administrator.
2. On the Form tab, click **Add Field** to open the field palette.

   ![On the Form tab, click Add Field to open the field palette.](https://approvethis.com/docs-assets/manuals/user-select-fields/screenshots/user-select-fields-s1-01.png)

3. Under the palette's Advanced group, click **User Selection**. There is no separate settings tab for this type; the picker itself is the configuration.

   ![Under the palette's Advanced group, click User Selection. There is no separate settings tab for this type; the picker itself is the configuration.](https://approvethis.com/docs-assets/manuals/user-select-fields/screenshots/user-select-fields-s1-02.png)


> **Success cue:** The new field lands on the form labeled **User Selection**.

## Route an approval step to the person the requester picks

A picker on the form changes nothing about routing until a step reads it, and this is where that link is made: the request goes to whoever the requester selected. If a requester picks their manager and no manager is assigned for the team, resolution falls back to the workflow's owner.

1. Click **Workflow** to move from the form to the workflow's approval steps.

   ![Click Workflow to move from the form to the workflow's approval steps.](https://approvethis.com/docs-assets/manuals/user-select-fields/screenshots/user-select-fields-s2-01.png)

2. On the step that should go to the person the requester picks, click **Configure step**.

   ![On the step that should go to the person the requester picks, click Configure step.](https://approvethis.com/docs-assets/manuals/user-select-fields/screenshots/user-select-fields-s2-02.png)

3. In the step's approver configuration, click **+ Add**.

   ![In the step's approver configuration, click + Add.](https://approvethis.com/docs-assets/manuals/user-select-fields/screenshots/user-select-fields-s2-03.png)

4. Click **Close** to leave the step configuration.

   ![Click Close to leave the step configuration.](https://approvethis.com/docs-assets/manuals/user-select-fields/screenshots/user-select-fields-s2-04.png)


> **Success cue:** The step's approver now reads **From field: User Selection**, which is the routing you just set.

> **What happens next:** How the routing resolves at submission time. When a request is created, the step reads the requester's pick — a teammate, a group, or the requester's manager — and routes the approval to it. If the requester picks someone outside the workspace, an External Approver account is created for them at that moment. Two things to know: the field only routes if the requester actually fills it in — an empty pick leaves the step with no approver from it — and because it needs a signed-in submitter, a form with a User Selection field cannot be made public and is not offered on CC-approval workflows.