Flow User Approval Workflows
Flows can automate repetitive work, but some steps should pause until a person reviews the context and decides what should happen next. User Approval gives teams that checkpoint inside the workflow.
What Flow User Approval does
The User Approval step pauses a Flow and asks a person to approve or reject the next action. After the decision, the Flow continues on the matching path.
Use it to combine automation with human judgment.
When to use approval
Add approval before actions that:
- Send messages to customers or large audiences.
- Update, delete, or publish important records.
- Trigger paid or irreversible work.
- Share sensitive information.
- Affect compliance, security, or finance.
- Need a manager or owner to review the context.
Avoid approval for low-risk steps that only read, summarize, or organize information.
Common workflow examples
Expense review
A Flow gathers the vendor, amount, budget category, and reason, then asks a manager to approve before submitting the expense.
Customer response
A Flow drafts a support response and pauses before sending it when the message includes a refund, cancellation, or policy exception.
Campaign launch
A Flow prepares a campaign summary, audience size, and estimated cost, then asks a marketing owner to approve before launch.
IT change review
A Flow summarizes the affected users, timing, risk, and rollback plan, then asks the owner to approve before the change proceeds.
Write approval prompts that help users decide
Include:
- The action that will happen.
- The business reason.
- The affected customer, record, team, or audience.
- The amount, date, deadline, or risk level when relevant.
- What happens on approval.
- What happens on rejection.
Keep the prompt specific. "Approve this action?" is not enough context for a reliable decision.
Design the reject path
Every important approval should have a clear reject path. Rejection can:
- End the Flow with a clear message.
- Notify the requester.
- Create a follow-up task.
- Route the work to a different owner.
- Ask for missing information.
Do not let rejection accidentally continue the same sensitive action.
Test before sharing
Before publishing a Flow with approval:
- Test the approval path.
- Test the rejection path.
- Confirm the approval appears in the right place.
- Confirm the approver has enough context.
- Confirm the Final step explains the outcome.
- Test with realistic inputs.
Best practices
- Use approval for meaningful risk, not every step.
- Make prompts specific and action-oriented.
- Add approvals before, not after, sensitive actions.
- Keep ownership clear for each approval.
- Review approval metrics and rejection reasons over time.
- Pair approvals with versioning for production workflows.