When a document enters an approval workflow, assigned approvers and Admins can review and act on it from the Approvals tab in the Costs or Sales Inbox.
Reviewing items for approval
To review items pending your approval, open the Approvals tab in the Costs or Sales Inbox.
The tab opens on Assigned to me by default, showing only items where you're the assigned approver. Select All items to see everything currently in an approval flow.
From the list, you can approve or reject items individually or in bulk. Select the checkbox next to one or more items, then select Approve or Reject. To review an item in full before acting, select it to open the detail view.
From the detail view, you can also:
Cancel request — cancels the approval request and returns the item to the Inbox (Admins only)
Export — export the item without completing the approval flow
Once an item is approved, its details can't be edited.
Tip: You can customise which columns appear in the Approvals tab and adjust table density. For instructions, go to Managing table columns and density in Inbox, Archive, and Approvals.
What you can see and do
What's visible and available in the Approvals tab depends on your role.
Admins can view and act on any item in the approval flow — including approving, rejecting, and editing fields if that's been enabled in the workflow.
Standard users can approve documents assigned to them. If they don't have the Access all documents permission, they can only see items assigned to them. Once they've approved an item, it's no longer visible to them.
For more details on roles and permissions, go to Roles and permissions in Dext
Editing fields during approval
When an Admin configures a workflow, they can allow approvers to edit specific document fields during review. If editing is enabled for your approval stage, you can update those fields before approving.
To edit an item during approval:
Select the item from the Approvals tab.
Select Edit details in the top right of the item panel.
In the Edit item panel, update the fields available for your stage.
Select Save, then approve the item.
The following fields can be made editable during approval, depending on what the Admin has enabled:
Document owner
Type
Date
Due date
Description
Category
Product/Service
Projects
Tax
Customer
Document reference
Paid
Payment method
Note
Managing approval notifications
To manage when you receive email notifications about approval activity, go to your profile icon in the top right, then select User settings. Scroll to the Approval email notifications section and adjust your preferences.
To set up automatic reminder emails for pending approvals, go to How to set up approval reminders in Dext.