How to Set Up Document Approvals in a SharePoint Library

To set up document approvals in SharePoint, open the library, select Configure approvals on the command bar, turn on Enable approvals and select Apply. The library gets an Approval status column, every document starts at Not submitted, and people using the library can select a document and send it to one or more approvers, who respond in the Approvals app in Teams.

This is built into SharePoint Online lists and libraries and has been on by default since it rolled out in early 2025 (message center post MC912181), with no admin setup and no Power Automate flow to build. I recorded the video while it was rolling out, when Configure approvals sat under Automate. Microsoft’s documentation now puts it under Integrate, and depending on your library you’ll find it in one or the other.

Before you start

• Approvers need access to the document. Sending an approval request doesn’t share the file. If an approver can’t open the library, grant them access first; setting folder permissions covers how.
• Approvers need Teams. Requests arrive in the Approvals app in Teams and in the Teams activity feed.
• Don’t confuse it with content approval. The older Require content approval for submitted items setting in the library’s versioning settings controls whether drafts are visible to other people, and it isn’t connected to these approvals.

How do you turn on approvals in a document library?

1. Open the library and select Integrate (or Automate) on the command bar, then Configure approvals.
2. Turn on Enable approvals.
3. Optionally set default approvers, and choose whether people with lower permissions on the library can change the approvers you’ve configured.
4. Select Apply.

The Approval status column appears in the library straight away, with a status pill on every document. In my demo library, every policy showed Not submitted.

How do you send a document for approval?

1. Select the document and choose Request approval from its menu, or select its status pill in the Approval status column.
2. Give the request a name. Mine was “Please review and approve the anti-discrimination policy”.
3. Add one or more approvers. By default, a response from any one of them settles the request. Turn on the toggle to require a response from all approvers.
4. Add any details the approver needs, then select Submit.

The status changes to Requested as soon as the request is created. The approver gets a card in the Teams activity feed with a link to the document and Approve and Reject buttons, and the same request sits in the Approvals app. When I approved it, the status in the library changed to Approved. To see who approved what, choose Approval details from the document’s menu, or open the request in the Approvals app, where you can also follow up, reassign or cancel it.

How do you set up a multi-step approval?

For two approvers in a fixed order, I used a quick step on an incoming invoices library, where each invoice has a Payment contact column for the first approver.

1. Turn on approvals for the library first. The approval action only appears in quick steps once approvals are enabled.
2. Select Automate (or Integrate), Quick steps, then Create a quick step, and choose Send an approval request.
3. In the approver field, select a column instead of typing a name. I chose Payment contact, so the first approver changes with each invoice.
4. Name the quick step (mine was Process invoice), choose whether to show a confirmation dialog before sending, set whether all approvers must respond, and select Create.
5. Select a document, then Automate and Process invoice, and add the next approver below the first. In my 2025 demo the dialog had a Require responses in the assigned order toggle, which I turned on.

Frankie was the payment contact and I added myself as the final approver. The request in Teams showed two steps, pending Frankie first and then me, and when we’d both approved, the library’s status changed from Requested to Approved. Because the second approver is added each time you send, each invoice can go to a different final approver.

Watch the video

Quick steps can do a lot more than approvals; what SharePoint quick steps are covers the other actions and who can edit them.

Treat the approval as a gate and keep the record in the library

Built-in approvals are what I’d reach for first when a document needs a sign-off before it’s used, like a policy before it’s published or an invoice before it’s paid. There’s no flow to build or maintain, and the status sits in a column people can filter on, so a view showing everything at Requested gives you a simple list of what’s waiting.

The bit I’d plan for is what happens when someone edits a document mid-approval. Saving a change cancels the request and clears the status, so the document has to be submitted again. In my test I edited a document at Requested, saved it, and the status was cleared when I refreshed the library. SharePoint discourages this by opening documents in view-only mode in Word, Excel and PowerPoint for the web while an approval is open, and the Windows desktop apps show them as Marked as final, but that didn’t stop me editing in my test. Tell your team the rule up front: finish editing, then submit.

I also wouldn’t rely on the library’s columns as the audit trail. The approval columns (Approval status, Approvers, Responses and Approval creator) only show the latest activity, and the full history lives in the Teams Approvals app. Library rules can trigger on Approval status changes, which I cover in using rules instead of SharePoint alerts, and version history is in check-out vs co-authoring.

When the approver depends on the document, I’d put the first approver in a column. The quick step reads it, and anyone looking at the library can see who’s responsible for each item.

What to watch for

• Metadata changes reset the status. Updating a column on a document with an approval in progress shows a warning, and editing or deleting the document cancels the request.
• Grid view is request-only. You can request approvals in grid view but you can’t respond to them there; use the command bar instead.
• Turning approvals off hides the columns. Requests already in progress can still be approved in Teams, and you can add the columns back to a view later.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need Power Automate for document approvals in SharePoint? No. Approvals are built into SharePoint lists and libraries and are turned on per library with Configure approvals. You’d only reach for Power Automate if the process needs branching or steps outside SharePoint.

Where do approvers approve SharePoint documents? In the Approvals app in Teams, or from the card in their Teams activity feed. Approvers can also open Approval details on the document in the library and select Approve or Reject.

What’s the difference between approvals and content approval in SharePoint? Content approval is an older library setting under versioning that keeps drafts hidden until someone approves them. The Configure approvals feature sends a request to named approvers and tracks it in the Approval status column. The two aren’t integrated.

Can different documents go to different approvers? Yes. Point a Send an approval request quick step at a person column, and each document goes to whoever is in that column. You can also add approvers when you send each request.