---
schema_version: "1"
id: 39dd136106860f2ea5be499e7078e6b6802fad73561a83f18e3247ac7d3de5c7
title: Add Automated Actions to 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_automated_actions.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.approvals_automated_actions.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 1441b2cb705d94a9ebe91f2a73fbb18e9c3dbe45c673db9898812d58ba5fce80
description: You can associate actions to approval steps, initial submission, final approval, final rejection, or recall. Classic approval processes support four automated actions.
products:
  - Flow Builder
  - Salesforce Platform
release: "264"
---
# Add Automated Actions to a Classic Approval Process

You can associate actions to approval steps, initial submission, final approval, final rejection, or recall. Classic approval processes support four automated actions.

### 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_automated_actions__d2476e54"><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>

![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.

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small ">
        <colgroup>
          <col style="width:22.522522522522525%">
          <col style="width:77.47747747747749%">
        </colgroup>
        <thead class="slds-text-title_caps ">
          <tr class="">
            <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d28122e88">Action Type</th>
            <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d28122e91">Description</th>
          </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="Action Type" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d28122e88 ">
              <a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.customize_wftasks.htm&amp;release=264.0.0&amp;type=5" title="Task actions determine the details of an assignment given to a specified user by an automated process. You can associate task actions with workflow rules, approval processes, or entitlement processes.">Task</a>
            </td>

            <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d28122e91 ">Assigns a task to a user who you specify. You can specify the subject, status,
              priority, and due date of the task.</td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="Action Type" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d28122e88 ">
              <a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.customize_wfalerts.htm&amp;release=264.0.0&amp;type=5" title="An email alert is an email generated by an automated process and sent to the designated recipients. The action consists of the standard text and the list of recipients. You can use an email alert in an automation, such as a flow, approval process, or entitlement process. Legacy workflow rules and processes built in Process Builder or through the Invocable Actions REST API endpoint also use email alerts.">Email
                Alert</a>
            </td>

            <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d28122e91 ">Sends an email to a designated recipient using a specified email template.</td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="Action Type" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d28122e88 ">
              <a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.workflow_managing_field_updates.htm&amp;release=264.0.0&amp;type=5" title="Field update actions let you automatically update a field value. You can associate field updates with workflow rules, approval processes, or entitlement processes.">Field
                Update</a>
            </td>

            <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d28122e91 ">Changes the value of a selected field. You can specify a value or create a formula for
              the new value.</td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="Action Type" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d28122e88 ">
              <a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.workflow_managing_outbound_messages.htm&amp;release=264.0.0&amp;type=5" title="An outbound message sends information to a designated endpoint, like an external service. You configure outbound messages from Setup. You must configure the external endpoint and create a listener for the messages using SOAP API. You can associate outbound messages with flows, workflow rules, approval processes, or entitlement processes.">Outbound Message</a>
            </td>

            <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d28122e91 ">
              <p>Sends a message to a designated endpoint. You can also specify a username and
                the data to include in the message. </p>
              <p style="margin-bottom:0;">Not supported for classic approval processes
                on junction objects.</p>
            </td>

          </tr>
        </tbody>
      </table>

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

Example

When expenses are approved, you want to print checks for payment. To do so, you add an outbound message, which sends the appropriate information to your Oracle accounting service, as a Final Approval action.

- **[Groups of Automated Actions in a Classic Approval Process](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.approvals_automated_actions_groups.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    Each classic approval process is organized into groups of actions based on when the actions occur, such as initial submission. To add an automated action to your classic approval process, determine which group of actions to add it to.
- **[Add an Automated Action to Your Classic Approval Process](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.approvals_creating_approval_actions.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    If you didn’t create an automated action before configuring your classic approval process, you can create one directly from the classic approval process.
- **[Add an Existing Automated Action to Your Classic Approval Process](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.approvals_selecting_approval_actions.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    If you’ve already created an automated action, you can add it to your classic approval process.

#### See Also

- [Set Up a Classic Approval Process](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.approvals_getting_started.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "If classic Approval Processes is the right automation tool for your business process, follow these high-level steps to create one for your org.")
- [Automated Actions](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.customize_automatedactions.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "An automated action is a reusable component that performs some sort of action behind the scenes—like updating a field or sending an email. After you create an automated action, add it to a process, milestone, or other automated process.")
- [Considerations for Automated Actions](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.customize_automatedactions_considerations.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Before you start working with automated actions, familiarize yourself with relevant limits and special behaviors.")