When Approvals Meet Paperwork: How ApproveThis and Paperless Fix Your Slow Processes

Why You Should Care About This Integration

Let’s be honest – nobody wakes up excited to chase down document signatures or beg coworkers to approve purchase requests. But here’s the thing: when your approval processes drag, everything else drags with them. Contracts gather dust. Invoices stall payments. Projects get stuck in limbo. That’s where pairing ApproveThis with Paperless through Zapier changes the game. It’s like giving your paperwork a shot of espresso while putting approvals on autopilot.

What Happens When These Two Tools Team Up

ApproveThis handles the “who said yes” part of your business. Paperless manages the “what needs signing” part. Together, they automate the handoff between creating documents and getting them approved – no more copy-pasting data between systems or playing email tag with external partners.

Here’s the kicker: ApproveThis approvers don’t need Paperless licenses. Your client signs a contract in Paperless? The approval request goes straight to their inbox via ApproveThis. No added software costs, no training – just a clean approve/reject button in an email.

Who Benefits (Spoiler: Everyone)

Finance Teams: No More Invoice Limbo

Picture this: Your AP team uses Paperless to process vendor invoices. With this integration, any invoice over $5K automatically triggers an approval chain in ApproveThis. The CFO gets a Slack alert, reviews the PDF in Paperless, and approves it directly from their phone during school pickup. Payment goes out 3 days faster. Your vendor stops sending passive-aggressive “friendly reminder” emails.

HR: Onboarding That Doesn’t Suck

New hire paperwork gets created in Paperless. The moment it’s ready, ApproveThis pings the department head, legal, and the new employee’s manager. Legal needs to sign off on the non-compete? They do it in Paperless. Manager approves the equipment list? Done via email. All tracked in one dashboard instead of 14 forwarded threads.

Operations: Procurement Without the Headaches

A manufacturing team submits a purchase request for raw materials. Paperless auto-generates the PO. ApproveThis routes it to the plant manager first (sequential approval), then to three department heads (consensus approval). If two approve within 24 hours, it auto-approves via threshold rules. Materials get ordered before the supplier’s price hike kicks in.

Real-World Workflows That Actually Work

Use Case 1: Auto-Trigger Approvals from Signed Docs

How it works: Paperless detects when a client completes a document (like a SOW). Zapier tells ApproveThis to start an approval workflow. Legal gets the contract PDF + approval link. No digging through shared drives.

Who uses this: Marketing agencies sending client contracts. Instead of “Hey Bob, can you approve the Acme Co. SOW? It’s somewhere in Dropbox I think…” – Bob gets an email with the doc preview and one-click approval.

Use Case 2: Generate Docs When Approvals Happen

How it works: Someone approves a budget request in ApproveThis → Zapier triggers Paperless to generate a signed PDF approval letter using a template. The letter auto-saves to the project folder.

Who uses this: Nonprofits securing grant approvals. Board members approve the grant in ApproveThis. Paperless instantly creates the award letter with all terms. Development team gets notified to send it – no manual doc drafting.

The Secret Sauce: Features You’ll Actually Use

This isn’t just about passing data between apps. It’s about handling real-world messiness:

• Vacation Coverage: Approver out? ApproveThis auto-reassigns to their backup. No docs stuck in limbo.
• Conditional Logic: Contracts under $10K skip legal review. Over $10K? Routes to legal first, then CFO.

Plus, Paperless keeps every version and signature audit-ready, while ApproveThis shows who approved what – crucial for compliance audits.

Setting This Up Without Losing Your Mind

Here’s the 4-step process even non-techies can handle:

1. Connect both apps to Zapier (takes 2 minutes each)
2. Pick your trigger: “New Paperless Document” or “New ApproveThis Request”
3. Map key fields: Link document IDs to approval request IDs
4. Test with a real doc/approval – fix any mismatches

Pro tip: Start with one workflow (like contract approvals). Once that runs smoothly, clone the Zap for other processes.

Why This Beats “Just Using Email”

Email approvals are the equivalent of keeping your passwords in a sticky note app. Sure, it works… until it doesn’t. With this setup:

• No more “I never got that email” – everything’s logged
• Documents stay version-controlled in Paperless
• Approval rules actually get followed (goodbye, maverick spending)

Ready to Stop Chasing Paper Trails?

If you’re still manually attaching docs to approval emails or playing detective to find out who’s holding up a contract, you’re working harder than you need to. ApproveThis and Paperless handle the grunt work so your team can focus on actual work.

Book a 15-minute demo to see how it works with your existing Paperless docs. Or start a free trial – takes about as long as writing yet another “per my last email” follow-up.