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ContractSafe Approvals: Workflows, Groups, and Tracking. Everything you need to know.

Route contracts for structured review, capture formal decisions, and maintain a complete audit trail without the back-and-forth.

Note: The Approvals feature is available on Finalize and Maximize plans. 

Table of Contents

  1. What is the Approvals Feature?
  2. Enabling Approvals
  3. Sending a Contract for Approval
  4. Sequential vs. Parallel Approval Workflows
  5. How Approvers Receive and Respond to Requests
  6. Approval Notes in the Comments Feed
  7. Restrictions During a Pending Approval
  8. Canceling, Modifying, and Resubmitting Approvals
  9. Approval Filters, Columns, and Reporting
  10. Automated Approvals via Templates and Intake Forms

1. What is the Approvals Feature?

ContractSafe's Approvals feature lets you route contracts to one or more designated reviewers before they move to signature or execution. Each approver receives an email notification, can review the contract directly in ContractSafe, and records their decision (Approve or Reject) with an optional note.

The Approvals feature works exceptionally well with ContractSafe's other features such as:

  1. Commenting: Allows users to discuss the contract prior to approval. Instead of sending a document for approval multiple times, why not discuss and finalize everything first via the comments section, so you only have to do the approval request a single time? 

  2. In-app Editing: Allows users to make quick edits prior to approval works in conjunction with the commenting feature- Any suggestions commented by other users can be immediately applied to the document.

  3. Notes section: Never miss important notes pertaining to the approval upon opening the contract.

  4. Intake Forms: Submitted intake forms can automatically be routed for approval.

Why it matters: In many organizations, contracts require sign-off from multiple stakeholders before they're finalized. Without a structured process, decisions can get lost in email chains, and there's no clear record of who approved what and when. ContractSafe's Approvals feature brings all of that into one place.

Real-world example: Your procurement team uses ContractSafe to manage vendor contracts. Before any new vendor agreement is executed, it must be reviewed by the Legal team and approved by the CFO. With Approvals, you can add both as approvers, set a sequential order (Legal first, then CFO), and track the status of each step. All from the contract record.

2. Enabling Approvals

Before you can use Approvals, an Admin or Account Owner must turn on the feature in Settings.

    • Navigate to Settings > Approvals
    • Toggle Approvals to Enabled

Note: Only Admins and Account Owners can enable the Approvals feature. Once enabled, it applies to all users on the account.

3. Sending a Contract for Approval

Once Approvals is enabled, you can send any contract for approval directly from the contract page.

    • Open the contract record
    • Click the Approve workspace in the left-side navigation
    • Add your approvers by name or email address, a selection of created approval groups will also be visible here
    • Optionally, add a custom subject line and message to personalize the request
    • Click Send for Approval

Reminder emails: Approvers will automatically receive a reminder email every 3 days until they take action. You can also manually trigger a reminder at any time by returning to the Approve workspace and selecting Send Reminders.

4. Sequential vs. Parallel Approval Workflows

A. Sequential (Ordered) Approval

When you toggle on Set Approver Order, approvers are notified one at a time, in the order you specify. The next approver does not receive their notification until the previous person has approved.

How to set it: After adding your approvers, toggle on Set Approver Order and drag approvers into your preferred sequence.

B. Parallel (Simultaneous) Approval

When no order is set, all approvers receive the notification at the same time. Any one of them can approve or reject independently. The contract is fully approved once all approvers have approved.

Important note on parallel approvals: In a parallel workflow, each approver acts independently. After the first approver submits their decision, subsequent approvers may see a message indicating the approval status has changed. This is expected behavior — their decisions are still being recorded. All decisions will appear in the approval record and audit trail.

Note on Approval Groups and order: When you select an Approval Group instead of individual approvers, the Set Approver Order toggle will not appear. This is by design — the approval order for a group is configured when the group is created.

5. How Approvers Receive and Respond to Requests

a. The Approval Email

When you send a contract for approval, each approver receives an email from approvals@contractsafe.com. The email includes:

    • The name and email address of the person who requested approval
    • A direct Approve Now button
    • A direct Reject Now button
    • A View the Contract link
    • The option to leave a note without recording a decision

IMPORTANT — Email Buttons Act Immediately

Clicking Approve or Reject directly in the email records your decision in ContractSafe the moment you click — before you are redirected to the contract page. Once clicked, the action has been taken.

Recommended best practice: If you want to review the contract before deciding, use the View the Contract link in the email to open the record first. Then approve or reject from within ContractSafe.

b. The Approver's Dashboard

In addition to email, approvers will see a Pending Approval Requests section on their ContractSafe dashboard, giving them a centralized view of everything awaiting their review.

c. Who Can Approve or Reject

Only active ContractSafe users can approve or reject contracts. Read-Only users cannot take approval actions, even if they receive an approval request email.

d. What Happens After a Decision

    • If Approved: If there are multiple approvers in a sequential flow, the next approver in line is notified. Once all approvers have approved, the requester receives a notification that the contract is fully approved.
    • If Rejected: All remaining approvers are notified that the contract has been rejected. The approval workflow stops, and the requester is notified. The contract can be resubmitted after canceling the existing request.

6. Approval Notes in the Comments Feed

When an approver includes a note with their Approve or Reject decision, that note now automatically appears in the contract's Comments & Notes workspace — giving the entire team visibility into the reasoning behind each decision, right alongside other collaboration.

Key behaviors for approval notes:

    • Visible to all users with access to the contract's comment feed
    • Editable by the original author — if a note is updated after submission, an "Edited" label appears. Clicking it reveals the full edit history, including the original text, updated text, the editor's email, and timestamps
    • Cannot be deleted by anyone — approval notes are permanently preserved to protect the integrity of your approval record
    • All approval notes are also captured in the Audit Trail, accessible by Administrators and Account Owners

7. Restrictions During a Pending Approval

While a contract is in pending approval status, certain actions are affected on the New Contract Page to protect document integrity.

Action

Admins & Dept. Admins

Standard Users

Edit contract metadata fields

Allowed

Allowed

Cancel the approval

Allowed

Allowed

Replace contract document

Allowed (via More Actions)

Allowed (via More Actions)

Edit document in Word Online

Allowed

May be limited — see note

You can replace the contract document while an approval is actively in progress — without canceling the request and starting over. This is only possible if the requestor selected Allow Document Replacement during the initial approval setup.

To replace the document during an active approval:

    • Navigate to the contract on the New Contract Page
    • While an approval is pending, select More Actions (three dots) in the contract header
    • Select Replace Document
    • Upload the revised document

Important: Replacing the document does not reset or cancel the approval request. Approvers will continue with their original request. If you need approvers to review the new document before they decide, cancel the approval first, replace the document, and then resubmit.

Standard users may encounter a restriction when attempting to edit a contract document while an approval is pending. If you run into this, an Admin can make the necessary edits on your behalf, or you can cancel the approval, make your changes, and resubmit.

8. Canceling, Modifying, and Resubmitting Approvals

a. Canceling an Approval Request

To cancel a pending approval:

    • Open the contract record
    • Navigate to the Approve workspace
    • Select Cancel Approval

Once canceled, all approvers are notified that the request has been withdrawn.

b. Modifying Approvers

Once an approval has been sent, you cannot add or remove individual approvers from the active request. To make changes to the approver list, you must:

    • Cancel the current approval request
    • Resend it with the updated list of approvers

Any notes or comments from the prior approval will be preserved in the Audit Trail, accessible by Administrators and Account Owners. As of June 2026, those notes are also visible in the Comments & Notes workspace.

c. Resubmitting After a Rejection

If an approval is rejected, you can resubmit it:

    • Cancel the rejected approval request first
    • Make any necessary edits to the contract
    • Send a new approval request

All previous approval history — decisions, notes, and timestamps — is retained in the Audit Trail.

9. Approval Filters, Columns, and Reporting

ContractSafe gives you powerful tools to track and report on approval activity across your entire contract portfolio.

Available Approval Filters

From your Contracts List, apply filters to surface approval-related information:

    • Approval Status — Approved, Pending, or Rejected
    • Approval Request Date — Use preset date ranges or set a custom range
    • Approved By — The ContractSafe user who approved the contract
    • Approval Completion Date — The date the contract was fully approved
    • Approval Requested By — The ContractSafe user who sent the approval request

Adding Approval Columns to Your Contracts List

Approval data will not appear on your Contracts List automatically — you need to add the relevant columns first.

    • Go to your Contracts List
    • Click Actions > Edit Columns
    • Add any approval-related columns you want to display

Tip: See How do I create Saved Views? (https://www.contractsafe.com/support/how-do-i-create-saved-views) for a full walkthrough on setting up and sharing saved views.

10. Automated Approvals via Templates and Intake Forms

If your organization uses Templates or Intake Forms to create contracts, approval workflows can be triggered automatically as part of that process — so contracts flow directly into review without anyone needing to manually send them.

How it works: When a contract is created from a Template or submitted via an Intake Form, ContractSafe can automatically route it to the configured approvers. The approval request is sent without any additional manual steps from the submitter.

Important limitation: The Replace Contract option is not currently available in automated approval flows set up via Intake Forms or Templates. If you need to replace the contract document in an automated workflow, you will need to cancel the approval and replace the document manually before resubmitting.

For setup instructions, see:
Creating and managing intake forms (https://www.contractsafe.com/support/creating-and-managing-intake-forms)
Creating and managing templates (https://www.contractsafe.com/support/creating-and-managing-templates).

Frequently Asked Questions

Can an approver approve directly from the email without logging into ContractSafe?

Yes. Approvers can click Approve Now or Reject Now directly in the approval email to record their decision. However, because this action takes effect immediately, we strongly recommend using the View the Contract link to review the document in ContractSafe before clicking.

Can I send a contract for approval to someone who is not a ContractSafe user?

No. Only active ContractSafe users can approve or reject a contract. Approval requests sent to non-users will not be actionable.

What is the difference between sequential and parallel approvals?

Sequential approvals route to one person at a time, in a set order. Parallel approvals notify all approvers simultaneously. Use sequential when the order of review matters; use parallel when all approvers can act independently.

Can I add or remove approvers after sending the request?

No. Once an approval has been sent, the approver list is locked. To make changes, cancel the approval and resend it with the updated approver list.

Can I mix individual approvers and Approval Groups in a single request?

This capability — known as mixed approvals — is currently on ContractSafe's roadmap for H2 2026 and is not available yet. Today, you can select either individual approvers or a saved Approval Group for each request.

What happens to approval notes from a canceled or rejected request?

All notes and decisions from prior approval requests are permanently preserved in the contract's Audit Trail. As of June 2026, approval notes also appear in the Comments & Notes workspace and cannot be deleted.

Do approvers receive reminder emails?

Yes. Approvers receive an automatic reminder email every 3 days until they take action. You can also manually send a reminder at any time from the Approve workspace.

Can I create a report of all contracts pending approval?

Yes. Use the Approval Status filter on your Contracts List, set it to "Pending," add the relevant approval columns, and save it as a Saved View. You can then schedule this as an automated report.

Related Articles

How do I create Saved Views?: https://www.contractsafe.com/support/how-do-i-create-saved-views 

Please reach out to support@contractsafe.com for further inquiries.