---
schema_version: "1"
id: 685d49eae59955eb7a9aacd23c18cd6885ba1a7bd099ae8a01b88cccd9e0a75c
title: Set Up 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_getting_started.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.approvals_getting_started.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: f5bcd198d9556e84c57384910708dc34c5aac111caa0bf12d0f088f808a3383d
description: If classic Approval Processes is the right automation tool for your business process, follow these high-level steps to create one for your org.
products:
  - Flow Builder
  - Salesforce Platform
release: "264"
---
# Set Up a Classic Approval Process

If classic Approval Processes is the right automation tool for your business process, follow these high-level steps to create one for your org.

### 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_getting_started__d4689e54"><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">
        <colgroup>
          <col style="width:50%">
          <col style="width:50%">
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        <thead class="slds-text-title_caps ">
          <tr class="">
            <th scope="colgroup" class="slds-cell-wrap" colspan="2" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:top;" id="d225373e75">User Permissions
              Needed</th>
          </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="User Permissions Needed" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d225373e75 ">To create approval processes:</td>

            <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d225373e75 ">Customize Application</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.

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

Note It isn’t possible to create approval processes on the User object with Classic Approval Processes. However, you can create approval processes on the User object by using [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.").

1. **[Prepare to Create a Classic Approval Process](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.approvals_checklist.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    Plan each classic approval process carefully to ensure a successful implementation.
2. **[Choose the Right Wizard to Create a Classic Approval Process](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.approvals_choosing_a_wizard.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    Before you create a classic approval process, determine which wizard is best for your needs.
3. **[Add an Approval Step to a Classic Approval Process](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.approvals_creating_approval_steps.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    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.
4. **[Add Automated Actions to a Classic Approval Process](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.approvals_automated_actions.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    You can associate actions to approval steps, initial submission, final approval, final rejection, or recall. Classic approval processes support four automated actions.
5. **[Activate a Classic Approval Process](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.approvals_activate.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    After you’ve created at least one step for the classic approval process, activate the process.

#### See Also

- [Classic Approval Processes Terminology](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.approvals_terminology.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Salesforce uses this terminology for classic approval processes.")
- [Sample Classic Approval Processes](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.approvals_useful_approval_processes.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Review samples of common classic approval processes to help you get started creating your own.")
- [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.")