Content review and approval processes in Confluence
![Review and Approval Process in Confluence_Use Case.png](../__attachments/1210384385/Review%20and%20Approval%20Process%20in%20Confluence_Use%20Case.png?inst-v=8eadefad-d776-42b0-840b-c34038620c4a)
Many documents in Confluence will require some form of review and approval before they can progress or be shared with a wide audience (e.g. employees or external stakeholders).
Workflows for Confluence enables you to build highly customized single or multi-stage approval processes so you can ensure content has been reviewed and approved by the right people. In this guide we’ll show you to create a multi-stage approval process like the one illustrated below.
![](../__attachments/1210384385/CleanShot%202024-06-23%20at%2013.58.41@2x-20240623-125848.png?inst-v=8eadefad-d776-42b0-840b-c34038620c4a)
A two-stage approval workflow in Workflows for Confluence
You’ll also see how to add this to a Confluence page and move the document through the workflow until it reaches the final step, ‘Approved’.
Benefits of using Workflows for this use case
Workflows for Confluence allows you to create document workflows with an unlimited number of review and approval rounds. Whether you need three, four, five or more rounds of approvals, Workflows will make the process of creating this workflow a breeze.
You can further customize each round of approval to require a minimum number of approvals or request approvers to leave comments with every approval decision - the choice is yours.
Workflows features used
Multi-stage approval process
Automated email notifications
Workflow history and audit log
Use Case In Action: Content Review and Approval Processes in Confluence
In this example, we’ll create a multi-stage review and approval workflow with 2 different approval rounds; (1) Design Team Review and (2) Management Review.
How to set up the workflow
To create a workflow in Workflows for Confluence, we need to access the Workflow Builder. You can find this through the Site Administration or Space Administration settings.
In this example, we’ll create the workflow from the perspective of a Site Administrator.
![](../__attachments/1210384385/CleanShot%202024-06-24%20at%2016.38.59@2x-20240624-153915.png?inst-v=8eadefad-d776-42b0-840b-c34038620c4a)
Access the Site Administration settings in Confluence
Once you have accessed the Confluence Site Administration settings, navigate to the Workflows for Confluence app settings and look for the Workflows option.
![](../__attachments/1210384385/CleanShot%202024-06-24%20at%2016.42.37@2x-20240624-154304.png?inst-v=8eadefad-d776-42b0-840b-c34038620c4a)
Navigate to Workflows within the Confluence Site Administration settings
This will open the workflow manager in Workflows for Confluence, and this is where you can create, edit, and delete document workflows.
Next, click Create to start creating the document workflow.
![](../__attachments/1210384385/CleanShot%202024-06-24%20at%2016.38.20@2x-20240624-153846.png?inst-v=8eadefad-d776-42b0-840b-c34038620c4a)
Select Create to start creating your document workflow
You will need to give your workflow a name and description, as illustrated below.
![](../__attachments/1210384385/CleanShot%202024-06-26%20at%2016.34.00@2x-20240626-153409.png?inst-v=8eadefad-d776-42b0-840b-c34038620c4a)
Give your workflow a meaningful name and description
Once completed, press Create, and this will open the Workflow Builder.
The Workflow Builder is a drag-and-drop, no-code interface that allows you to create bespoke document workflows with ease. To create a workflow like the example above, drag and drop a few Page Statuses onto the canvas and name them accordingly.
![](../__attachments/1210384385/CleanShot%202024-06-26%20at%2016.35.48@2x-20240626-153602.png?inst-v=8eadefad-d776-42b0-840b-c34038620c4a)
Add Page Statuses to your document workflow
We also need to include the first Approval Stage and name it 'Design Team Review'.
![](../__attachments/1210384385/CleanShot%202024-06-26%20at%2016.36.31@2x-20240626-153644.png?inst-v=8eadefad-d776-42b0-840b-c34038620c4a)
Add an Approval Stage to your document workflow
Let’s quickly add the second Approval Stage and name it ‘Management Review' to finish off the review and approval process.
![](../__attachments/1210384385/CleanShot%202024-06-26%20at%2016.38.09@2x-20240626-153822.png?inst-v=8eadefad-d776-42b0-840b-c34038620c4a)
Add another Approval Stage and name it ‘Management Review’
Once we have added the Approval Stage and remaining Page Statuses, its time to add the approvers to the workflow. You can do this by clicking on the Approval Stage and adding the users or groups within the right-hand configuration settings.
![](../__attachments/1210384385/CleanShot%202024-06-26%20at%2016.42.29@2x-20240626-154243.png?inst-v=8eadefad-d776-42b0-840b-c34038620c4a)
Add the desired users or groups as approvers
Now that we have all the steps included in the document workflow, it is time to connect them all together. You can do this using the little connectors at the top/bottom of each step.
Connect them as illustrated below until the entire workflow is connected together.
![](../__attachments/1210384385/CleanShot%202024-06-26%20at%2016.44.38@2x-20240626-154452.png?inst-v=8eadefad-d776-42b0-840b-c34038620c4a)
Connect the document workflow together with ease
With that last stage complete, the workflow is now ready to be saved 🎉
You can save it by pressing the Save Workflow button in the top right corner of the workflow builder.
![](../__attachments/1210384385/CleanShot%202024-06-26%20at%2016.45.14@2x-20240626-154527.png?inst-v=8eadefad-d776-42b0-840b-c34038620c4a)
Press Save Workflow to save your changes
How to apply the workflow to your Confluence page
Once the workflow has been created, we need to ensure it has been activated and is available throughout Confluence. You can activate any workflow by visiting the Workflows Manager in the Site/Space Administrator settings under Workflows and ensure the toggle is activated, as shown below.
![](../__attachments/1210384385/CleanShot%202024-06-26%20at%2016.46.12@2x-20240626-154628.png?inst-v=8eadefad-d776-42b0-840b-c34038620c4a)
Activate your workflow by using this toggle
Now that the document workflow is active, its time to add it to the Confluence page. Choose any Confluence page on your site where you want to add this workflow.
Once you have navigated to the page, select the Apply Workflow option as shown below.
![](../__attachments/1210384385/CleanShot%202024-06-24%20at%2017.08.48@2x-20240624-160904.png?inst-v=8eadefad-d776-42b0-840b-c34038620c4a)
Select the Apply Workflow button to add a workflow to your Confluence page
Select the workflow from the drop-down list and press Apply.
![](../__attachments/1210384385/CleanShot%202024-06-26%20at%2016.47.17@2x-20240626-154739.png?inst-v=8eadefad-d776-42b0-840b-c34038620c4a)
Choose your workflow and select Apply to add it to the Confluence page
The workflow is then applied to your Confluence page and it should begin at the first status, which in this case is Draft. It’s as easy as that!
![](../__attachments/1210384385/CleanShot%202024-06-24%20at%2017.10.32@2x-20240624-161049.png?inst-v=8eadefad-d776-42b0-840b-c34038620c4a)
Once applied, your workflow will automatically start at the first step
How to move the document through the workflow
Now that the workflow has been added to the Confluence page, we just need to open the workflow status by clicking in the Confluence page byline, as illustrated below.
![](../__attachments/1210384385/CleanShot%202024-06-24%20at%2017.11.41@2x-20240624-161157.png?inst-v=8eadefad-d776-42b0-840b-c34038620c4a)
Open the workflow status to move the page forward in a workflow
You then need to select the next step with the workflow and the page will move forward once clicked.
![](../__attachments/1210384385/CleanShot%202024-06-26%20at%2016.30.06@2x-20240626-153031.png?inst-v=8eadefad-d776-42b0-840b-c34038620c4a)
Move the workflow forward using this button
Need support? We’re here to help 🧡
If you have any questions or would like to speak with us about Workflows, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Customer Support team.