---
schema_version: "1"
id: fdd8bc40c5ffcdc47cbb6ab29725773b18bfe2ec9b1fb863c654b877c8afc12a
title: Activate a Classic Approval Process
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/platform/264-0-0/approvals_activate.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.approvals_activate.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 3b08493380c7af296b98db38980bb8e65e605d565e93e263cf02181d50866b04
description: After you’ve created at least one step for the classic approval process, activate the process.
products:
  - Flow Builder
  - Salesforce Platform
release: "264"
---
# Activate a Classic Approval Process

After you’ve created at least one step for the classic approval process, activate the process.

### Required Editions

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small edition"><colgroup><col></colgroup><tbody><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in: both Salesforce Classic and Lightning Experience</td></tr><tr class="" id="approvals_activate__d5660e54"><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in: <strong>Enterprise</strong>, <strong>Performance</strong>, <strong>Unlimited</strong>, and <strong>Developer</strong> Editions</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small permission">
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            <th scope="colgroup" class="slds-cell-wrap" colspan="2" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:top;" id="d314772e75">User Permissions Needed</th>
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            <td data-label="User Permissions Needed" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d314772e75 ">To activate classic approval processes:</td>

            <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d314772e75 ">Customize Application</td>

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![Important](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-platform-platform_automation-264-0-0-production-enus/60568438-ec7e-4665-acd1-7c80dcbe60d5/images/icon_important.png)

Important Try [Flow Approval Processes](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.automate_automated_approvals.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "As your company grows, so does the complexity of your approvals, often requiring input from multiple people in different departments across different time zones. This complexity can mean that you spend more time waiting for each person to complete their review in the right order. Flow Approval Processes helps you coordinate multistep reviews that involve users, systems, and conditional paths."), a modern alternative to Classic Approval Processes. This new feature provides a more flexible, user-friendly flow-based interface, and it can trigger on record changes, supporting Apex extensibility and detailed logging for compliance and audit trails. It supports dynamic routing based on data and business rules, unlike Classic Approval Processes, which are tied to specific objects and offer limited support for processes by using conditions. With Flow Approval Processes, you can monitor submitted records and quickly identify bottlenecks, giving you unprecedented visibility into approval workflows. And, like Classic Approval Processes, Flow Approval Processes don’t consume automation credits or orchestration runs.

1. Open the classic approval process.
2. Make sure that it’s configured correctly.
3. Click **Activate**.

#### See Also

- [Activate or Deactivate a Flow Approval Process](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.automate_automated_approvals_distribute_activate.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "You can have multiple versions of a flow approval process in Salesforce, but only one version of each flow approval process can be active at a time. You can activate or deactivate a flow approval process in Flow Builder or from the flow approval process’s detail page in Setup.")
- [Prepare Your Org for Classic Approval Processes](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.approvals_prep_org.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Make sure that your users can submit their records for approval using classic approval processes, and consider how you can make it easy for approvers to respond to approval requests.")
- [Considerations for Managing Classic Approval Processes](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.approvals_considerations_manage.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Keep these things in mind when maintaining existing classic approval processes—including activating and deleting them.")