Approvals turns a PDF into a proof your customer checks in the browser. They zoom in, measure, read the barcodes, comment on the spots that need changing, and approve or reject. They don't need an account. You see who decided, when, and on exactly which file.
The flow#
- Upload a PDF on the Approvals page, or choose one from Files. It becomes an artwork with its first version, v1, and is kept in Files. Preflight checks it and the print preview is prepared. See The Approvals dashboard, Artwork versions and Proofs and Files.
- Share it. Every version gets two links straight away: the Simple viewer and the Advanced viewer. Copy a link, or email it to your reviewers from Share. See Share links: Simple and Advanced and Reviewers: invitations and identity.
- Reviewers check the proof. They zoom, measure, look at each ink, and comment on a spot or an area. See Reviewing a proof and Comments on a proof.
- Reviewers decide. Each one approves or rejects. Approving asks them to confirm that they checked the text, colours, dimensions and barcodes. See Decisions, locking and reset.
- You are told. Every decision emails the shop, and the dashboard shows the status. See History and notifications.
- Next step. Rejected: upload the corrected file as the next version and share its link. Approved: send the version to an imposition job (see The Approvals dashboard).
Cartons shared from the 1-up editor can also be approved in 3D, folded, with their board and finishes. See 3D proofs in approvals.
Status#
The dashboard shows one status per artwork, for its latest version over all of that version's links:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Not sent | No link of the version has an approver yet: nobody was invited (emailed from Share, or added through the API) and nobody approved or rejected. A reset that leaves a link without invited reviewers brings the version back here. |
| Pending | Reviewers were invited, or someone decided, and no link is approved or rejected. |
| Approved | Every approver of a link approved. The version is locked: decisions are closed on all of its links. |
| Rejected | An approver rejected the version on a link, and no link is approved. |
Each link also has its own status: Pending, Approved or Rejected. How a link's status follows from its reviewers' decisions is on Decisions, locking and reset.
Words used on these pages#
- Artwork
- One design you get approved, such as "Carton 200" or "Menu 11x17". It holds every version you upload for it.
- Version
- One uploaded PDF of an artwork: v1, v2, v3. Every version is kept, and decisions belong to one version.
- Link
- The web address of the proof of one version. Anyone who has it can open the proof. A version has a Simple and an Advanced link, and a 3D link for each 3D proof shared of it.
- Reviewer
- Someone you emailed a link to, or who opened a link and commented or decided. An approver's decision counts; a viewer only commented. See Reviewers: invitations and identity.
- Proof
- What the reviewer checks: the flat proof of the pages and, for a carton shared in 3D, the folded carton.
Who can do what#
- Team members, whatever their role, upload artwork, share links, see every comment and reviewer address in full, read the whole history and reset a decision. See Teams, members and roles.
- Reviewers only need the link: no account and no sign-in. They give their email (and, if they like, their name) the first time they comment or decide, and see the comments and history of their own link.
Warning: A link works like a key
Anyone who has a link can open the proof, comment, and approve or reject under an email address that wasn't invited, and every link shows the other versions of its artwork too. Send links only to the people who review, and email them from Share: an invited address can then only be used from the personal link in its invitation (see Reviewers: invitations and identity). Links don't expire, and there is no way to switch a link off today.
Where to go next#
- Set up a first proof: The Approvals dashboard and Share links: Simple and Advanced.
- Send it to a customer: Reviewers: invitations and identity. The page for your reviewers is Reviewing a proof.
- Integrate it with your own systems: Approvals API.