Sheetward Workflow: Setting up an approval workflow
Updated Aug 15, 2026
Some apps need a sign-off step. An expense claim, a purchase request, or a timesheet should not count until someone has reviewed and approved it. Sheetward's approval workflow gives you that step without any extra tools. Every record moves through draft → submitted → approved or rejected, and two named approvers keep things moving. The record keeps a full history of who did what. No one can approve their own submission, so the review is always a second pair of eyes.
Turn it on
- Open your app's Members page. Only owners can set up the workflow.
- Under Approval workflow, pick an Approver and an Alternate approver from the app's members. Both are required, so one person's holiday never stalls a claim. Either of them can act on a submitted record, but neither can approve one they submitted themselves.
- Flip the toggle. Turning the workflow on also turns on Restrict record visibility: owners see every record, and each editor sees the records they created or worked on. That way, one person's expense claims stay between them, the owners, and the approvers.
- If the app still has viewers, the switch lists them first. Change each viewer to editor or remove them, then try again.
How a record moves
| Status | Who can see it | Can it be edited? | What happens next |
|---|---|---|---|
| Draft | The creator and the owners | Yes, freely | The creator submits it |
| Submitted | Per the visibility rules, plus the approvers | No — read-only for everyone, including owners | An approver approves or rejects it; the creator can Withdraw it back to draft before anyone acts |
| Rejected | The creator, the owners, and the approver who acted on it | Not until resumed | The creator clicks Resume to return it to draft, fixes it, and submits again |
| Approved | Per the visibility rules | No | Done — unless the owner or the creator clicks Reopen to return it to draft |
A few points worth spelling out:
- A new record starts as a draft. The creator clicks Save & submit (or Submit on an existing draft) when it is ready for review.
- A submitted record is read-only for everyone — including owners — until someone acts on it. Nothing changes under the reviewer's nose.
- Rejecting requires a short note explaining why; approving can carry one too. The note appears right on the record and in its History, so the creator never has to guess what to fix.
- Submitted the wrong thing? The creator can Withdraw a submitted record back to draft before anyone acts on it.
The approver's view
- Records waiting for you appear in a separate For your approval section above the record list. Your review queue never mixes with your own records.
- The clipboard icon in the app's tab bar shows a red dot whenever something awaits you. That means new submissions if you are an approver, or your own rejected records. Click it for the list.
- The people involved hear about it in Messages: approvers when a record is submitted, and the creator when it is approved or rejected.
Who can delete what?
| Record status | Owners | Editors |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Can delete | Can delete only records they created |
| Submitted | Cannot delete | Cannot delete |
| Rejected | Can delete | Cannot delete |
| Approved | Cannot delete | Cannot delete |
Nobody can delete a submitted or approved record — reject or reopen it first — so no signed-off record ever disappears silently.
Good to know
- Every submit, approval, and rejection becomes a History entry on the record: who acted, when, and the note.
- The Status column in the record list shows each record's state at a glance.
- Standalone standalone app exports keep the whole workflow — states, approvers, and locks travel with the standalone app. (Publishing an app to the public web is different, and isn't available while the workflow is on.)