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Add an Approval Step to a Classic Approval Process

Approval steps define the chain of approval for a particular classic approval process. Each step determines which records can advance to that step, who to assign approval requests to, and whether to let each approver’s delegate respond to the requests. The first step specifies what to do if a record doesn’t advance to that step. Later steps specify what happens if an approver rejects the request.

Required Editions

Available in: both Salesforce Classic and Lightning Experience
Available in: Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions
User Permissions Needed
To create approval steps: Customize Application
Important
Important Try Flow Approval Processes, 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.

You can add steps to a classic approval process only if it’s inactive.

From the classic approval process, click New Approval Step, and follow the wizard.

Steps are executed in the order specified.

  1. Control Which Records Apply to an Approval Step in a Classic Approval Process
    Control which records are part of the approval step by setting the step’s criteria. You can also specify what happens to records that don’t meet the step’s criteria.
  2. Identify Assigned Approvers for an Approval Step in a Classic Approval Process
    Specify who to send an approval request for this step to.
  3. Specify Rejection Behavior for an Approval Step in a Classic Approval Process
    Configure what happens if an approver rejects a request. The final rejection actions for the classic approval process determine the first step’s rejection behavior.

See Also