Sign off chains, automated.
Every approval logged.

Approvers approve the contract for the next step. Signers sign the contract itself. An approver might review a contract before it goes out for signing, sign off on a vendor selection, or approve an expense before payment. They never put a signature on the document. Signers are the full signing party who execute the contract. Both roles capture IP and geolocation evidence, but they serve different operational functions in real workflows.

Sequential when order matters, parallel when speed matters. Sequential chains route through approvers in a defined order. Use when each approver's review depends on the previous one's approval, like manager then director then VP. Parallel chains notify all approvers at once and let them act in any order. Use when the approvers can review independently and the team wants the fastest possible completion. Many teams use both patterns at different stages of complex workflows.

Each approver gets a unique tokenised link that opens directly to their approval action. No account creation, no login, no password to remember. The approver clicks the link and lands on the approval screen ready to act. Tokens expire after a configurable window, typically 7 to 30 days depending on the team's workflow. After expiration, the link no longer works and a new token must be issued, which prevents stale approval links sitting in inboxes from being acted on later.

Any text the approver enters to explain the denial. The platform requires the reason field to be filled before submission, but doesn't validate the content beyond that. Teams can configure minimum length if they want to prevent one word denials. Common denial reasons capture what specifically blocked the approval. Wrong contract value, missing legal terms, pricing not approved, vendor not on approved list. The reason becomes part of the audit trail and the next cycle informant.

Every approval action and its full context. For approvals, the approver's name, email, action timestamp, IP address, geolocation, and any optional notes. For denials, the same data plus the required reason. The chain shows the sequence (or parallel set) of approvers and the status of each. Reviews can filter by approver, by date range, by status. Compliance audits get the complete picture without reconstructing approval flow from scattered email threads.

Approval Workflows is one of the seven workflow types Signing Workflows supports, alongside sequential signing, parallel signing, self-sign, acknowledgement, public forms, and scheduled sending. This page goes deep on approvals because it has its own audit infrastructure, token security, and denial mechanics. Approvers can also be configured through Recipient Management as the Approver role, which integrates with the workflow.