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AUTOMATED DOCUMENT APPROVAL WORKFLOWS

Ensure accuracy and cut document creation time by 50%

Stop chasing down key stakeholders and sending countless reminder emails. Automate the approval process and define a clear path for every document you create.

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The Best

Over 68,000 customers use PandaDoc approval workflows to wow their buyers

Boeing
Bonusly
Autodesk
Rakuten
TomTom
PepsiCo
Tata Steel
Bosch
HP
Lead Forensics

What is a document approval workflow?

A document approval workflow is a process created by your team to review and approve documents like contracts, proposals, and more. Automating approval workflows guarantees the document is reviewed by the right people and meets all requirements.

Automate the process by assigning approvers at the template level and setting approval orders to designate who receives the document at each point in the process.

Create a seamless document approval process

Workflow Approval

Make sure the right people review your document at the right time

Set up an approval order in your template to ensure the right people are looped in automatically. To have the same person review a document at different stages, you can add them as an approver multiple times.

Workflow

Customize approval processes

Set up an automated internal workflow with designated approvers before sending to recipients. Designated approvers receive a document only when certain conditions are met, such as a specific document value or when adding a discount.

Document Workflow Quote

Notifications & audit trails

Reviewers receive an email notification when a document is ready to approve. Audit trails and latest activity tiles track a document’s approval status, so you always know where you are in the process.

Document Workflow Agreement

Improve communication and collaboration

Approvers can leave comments directly in the document. If a document is rejected, the sender must make edits and resend for review. Documents never go to clients before they’re ready and bottlenecks are identified and easily eliminated.

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  • Trustradius – Buyers Choice
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Keep documents moving

Set up an approval order

Set up an approval order

Need someone’s sign off before you can move to the next step? Approval orders let you send the document to one person at a time, in the appropriate order. With conditional approvals, designated approvers receive a document only if conditions are met such as document value, line item discount, or total discount.

Send your document for review

Send your document for review

Once your document is ready, click send to get approval. The document status will change and team members will receive an email notification to approve or reject the document.

Lock sensitive content & track changes easily

Lock sensitive content & track changes easily

Once the approver rejects or approves the document, the sender will receive an email notification along with any comments. With content locking and user permissions in PandaDoc, you can safeguard important documents to ensure only the right people can access and edit them.

See how document approval workflows help your team streamline business operations

Will O’Neil, Head of IT & Strategic Enablement at Nomad

See all reviews
  • Nomad
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    PandaDoc’s HubSpot integration is second to none in comparison to competitors. It allows us to get a lot of information from the CRM directly into PandaDoc.

    92%

    reduction in proposal creation time

    20%

    reduction in customer acquisition costs

  • Wizehire
    Wizehire

    PandaDoc has a personal touch — they listen, adapt, and support us like true partners. This has made all the difference. I know I can reach out to them anytime. They take their time to walk us through everything, and I can trust that they’ll help us resolve any issues quickly.

    25%

    more documents sent per month

    46x

    faster to get a signature compared to Docusign

  • Consensus
    Consensus

    PandaDoc has enhanced the purchasing experience for our buyers and sales team. We’ve halved proposal creation time while demonstrating value in every single proposal. It’s helped us close more deals, save time and maintain our brand’s integrity.

    50%

    reduction in proposal creation time

    84%

    of proposals viewed by prospects

Create error-free client-ready documents

Document Proposals Quotes

Proposals and quotes

Get proposals out the door faster. Conditional approvals ensure the right people sign off on product discounts and pricing so you never have to second guess a quote.

Approval workflows for all types of documents and teams

  • Sales

    Sales

    Automated approval workflows eliminate bottlenecks and time-consuming review processes. Approval order and conditional content help you create fast, accurate quotes to close more deals.

    Sales

Create custom approval workflows for your teams

Link: Learn more

See how easy it is to set up approval workflows

Set up a process so everyone reviews your document before it’s sent out.

Link: Learn more

Set conditional approvals to automate reviews

Set conditional approvals for document value, total discount, line item discount, and more.

Link: Learn more

Always know the status of your document

Audit trails help you track document approval status to improve efficiency.

Streamline your document workflow

Get personalized 1:1 demo with our product specialist.

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Chili Piper

ChiliPiper increased their close rate by 28% after implementing PandaDoc.

Frequently asked questions

  • Many documents require approvals from multiple people before they’re considered ready to send. Approval workflows let you set up an automated internal process that connects all necessary users with a document before it’s sent to the intended recipient. You can send business documents to internal team members both before and after the document is finalized by enabling signing orders and adding necessary coworkers as final recipients.

  • Start by going into the PandaDoc template you’re using to create your document. You’ll see an ellipsis at the top of your template. Click that symbol, then click “Setup Workflow” and toggle “Approved” to the ‘on’ position.

    A popup window with a list of the people in your organization will appear. Select anyone who needs to approve the final document or add a specific approval group to send to an entire team at once.

  • If you turn on document approvals and assign reviewers, then the approval process begins as soon as the document creation process is done. After the document is created and the approval workflow is enabled, the reviewer will automatically receive a notification email with a link to the document.‌

    PandaDoc’s document workflow approval software allows the reviewer to immediately view the document and determine whether to approve or reject it. They can also provide additional feedback, edits, or comments directly within the document so the creator can easily make adjustments. If the document is approved, the reviewer can also forward it to other approvers or to the final recipient.

  • What happens after a document is approved is entirely up to you. You can choose whether document approval automatically sends the document to the final recipient or if the person who created the document should be notified first. This gives you complete flexibility and control over what happens with your document after it has been created, approved, or sent. Unlike with other open source workflow software options, you can make sure your workflow is entirely secure from end to end.

  • Yes, you can select specific, custom approval designations in every document and template you create. With PandaDoc’s approval routing software, you can avoid complicated processes or accidentally sending documents to the wrong recipient.

    To customize workflows, repeat the process to set up a designated order with as many approvers as needed.

  • PandaDoc’s cloud-based workflow software makes it easier than ever to get documents approved. If your designated approver is out of the office, t can review and approve documents in real-time from any device, anywhere in the world as long as they have an internet connection.

  • A document approval cycle defines the step-by-step process for a single document, from creation to completion. These steps can vary by organization and you can determine the best process for your team. A document approval cycle usually includes the following steps:

    • Document creation

    • Document review

    • Accepted or rejected

    • If the document is rejected, the creators make the necessary revisions

    • If approved, the document moves to the next step–if no other reviews are required, the document is sent to the client or customer