Workflow Testing

Workflow Testing lets you run real requests through a workflow before anyone else can use it. A workflow stays in testing mode for as long as it has never been published: signed-in members of the owning workspace can submit its form, the full approval chain runs, and every person-facing notification is redirected back to the tester with a banner naming who it would have gone to. Test requests are kept out of usage counting, live request lists, reports, approver queues, and nav badges, and Slack, outbound webhooks, integration callbacks, external action steps, and time-based reminders and escalations stay suppressed. You'll need a workflow you have created but never published, and an Administrator sign-in for the workspace that owns it.

Who this is for: admin.

Submit a test request through the draft workflow's form

This is how you check that the form you built asks for the right things and that the approval chain actually starts — using the real form rather than a preview. The submission becomes a test request, so it doesn't count against your monthly request volume and doesn't appear in live request lists, reports, or approver queues.

1. Sign in to ApproveThis as an Administrator of the workspace that owns the draft workflow; the draft form is reachable only by signed-in members of that workspace.

2. Open the draft workflow's form.

   

3. Fill in Amount with the kind of value the field asks for — the example uses 180.

   

4. Fill in Reason with the kind of text the field asks for — the example uses Damaged goods on delivery.

   

5. Click Submit.

   

The form confirms the submission with Thanks for filling out the Client Refunds.

Open the redirected approval email

Because the workflow is in testing mode, the approval notification that would normally go to an approver is redirected to you, carrying a banner naming who it would have gone to — so one person can walk the whole chain acting as each approver. Only mail and database notifications reach you this way; channel-specific rendering such as Slack blocks or webhook payloads cannot be previewed through a test request.

1. Open your email inbox.

   

2. Click [TEST] Approval Request Received to open the redirected approval email.

   

The redirected message is titled [TEST] Approval Request Received.

Publish the workflow and clean up its test requests

Publishing ends testing mode and opens the workflow to live intake, so requests start routing to its real approvers and counting toward usage. Do this once you're satisfied with the form and the chain — there is no way to put a workflow back into testing mode after it has been published, and a workflow deactivated later is paused rather than returned to a sandbox. On first publish you're prompted to delete the workflow's test requests.

1. Open the workflow's page.

   

2. Click Publish, then click Publish again to confirm — the example does this 2 times.

   

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