To approve or reject a document in the Dext mobile app, go to the Costs or Sales tab and tap Approvals at the top. Swipe right on an item to approve it, or swipe left to reject it. You can also tap the item to approve or reject it from its details. For expense claims, go to How to manage expense claims in the Dext mobile app
Before you start
To approve documents in the Dext mobile app, you need to be an approver for them. Items reach you when an approval workflow sends them to you, or when someone chooses you as the reviewer. Approval workflows are only set up in the Dext web app. For steps, go to How to set up approval workflows for cost and sales documents
For who can approve, go to How do approval permissions work in Dext?
Note: Approvals aren't available in Dext Solo.
Find documents waiting for approval
To find documents waiting for approval in the Dext mobile app, go to the Costs or Sales tab. Approvals at the top shows how many items are in an approval flow.
Go to the Costs tab or the Sales tab.
Tap Approvals.
Choose Assigned to me to show items where you're the assigned approver, or All items to show all pending items available to you.
Each item in Approvals shows its status:
Pending: the item is waiting for approval. If an approval workflow applies, the numbers show how many approvals are done out of how many it needs, for example Pending 1/2.
Approved: every approval is done. The item stays in Approvals until it's published.
Needs attention: the approval workflow has a problem an admin needs to fix. For what to do, go to the last section of this article.
To check whose approval an item needs, tap the item, then tap Pending approval.
Approve a document
To approve a document in the Dext mobile app, swipe right on it in Approvals, or open it to check the details first.
Go to the Costs or Sales tab and tap Approvals.
Swipe right on the item and tap Approve. Or tap the item to open it, then tap Approve at the bottom of the screen.
Add a comment if you want to. A comment can be up to 500 characters.
Tap Approve.
When all required approvals are complete, the item shows Approved. If the workflow has more approvals to go, the item stays Pending with the next number, for example Pending 1/2.
Reject a document
To reject a document in the Dext mobile app, swipe left on it in Approvals, or open it and tap Reject.
Go to the Costs or Sales tab and tap Approvals.
Swipe left on the item and tap Reject. Or tap the item to open it, then tap Reject at the bottom of the screen.
Add a note with the reason for rejection if you want to. A note can be up to 500 characters.
Tap Reject.
The rejected item leaves Approvals and shows Rejected in the Costs or Sales tab. To send it for approval again, open it, fix what the approver asked for, then tap Request approval.
Cancel an approval request
To cancel an approval request in the Dext mobile app, swipe left on the item in Approvals and tap Cancel request. The item goes back to the Costs or Sales tab. Only admins can cancel an approval request.
Request approval for a document
To request approval for a document in the Dext mobile app, swipe right on it in the Costs or Sales tab, then tap Request approval. You can also tap the item to open it, then tap Request approval at the bottom of the screen.
Where the request goes depends on whether an approval workflow applies to the item:
A workflow applies: Dext sends the item to that workflow's approvers. You don't choose anyone.
No workflow applies: Dext shows "This item doesn't match any approval workflow rules. Choose who should review it." Tap the person who should approve it, then tap Request approval. Use Search to find them. They get an email notification.
The item moves to Approvals and shows Pending. For more about how requests reach approvers, go to How to request approval for Costs and Sales documents in Dext
Publish an approved document
To publish an approved document in the Dext mobile app, find it in Approvals, swipe right on it and tap Publish. You can also tap the item to open it, then tap Publish to followed by the name of your accounting software.
Approved items don't appear in the general list of items, so publish them from Approvals. Your account must be connected to accounting software, and you need permission to publish. For the full requirements, go to How do I publish items from the Dext mobile app?
Why does an item in Approvals show Needs attention?
An item in Approvals shows Needs attention when its approval workflow has a problem an admin needs to fix. To read the problem, open the item and tap Needs attention.
If the workflow sends items to the submitter's manager and the submitter doesn't have one, the message reads: "This approval workflow requires a manager to approve but the submitter doesn't have one assigned. An admin needs to update the user settings."
An admin can still approve the item. To send future items to a manager, an admin assigns a manager to the person who submitted them. In the Dext web app, go to Users > Manage > Edit user details.