# How to set up your first approval flow

> Pick a preset, choose who approves and add templates. Templates you don't add keep rendering as they do now.

- **URL**: https://orshot.com/help/set-up-your-first-approval-flow

---

A preset gives you a ready set of stages, like Draft, In review and Automation approved. Pick one, choose who approves and add templates. It takes a few minutes, and you can rename stages or change their rules later.

Approval flows are available on Scale and Enterprise plans. Owners and admins create them.

## Create the flow

Your templates now sit on the board as cards in their stage. Approvers see **Approve** and **Request changes** on the cards waiting on them.

![An Approvals board with Draft, Brand review, Legal review and Automation approved columns, cards waiting on you and two templates Ready for automation](https://orshot.com/help/approval-flows/first-flow-3-board.webp)

To add templates straight to a stage they can start in, open the menu on its column (the three dots) and pick **Add templates**. The same menu has **Collapse stage** for columns you don't need to watch.

Owners and admins can't approve until you give them **Approve** access too. To give each stage its own approvers, see [how to choose who can approve](https://orshot.com/help/choose-who-can-approve).

## Which preset to pick

| Preset               | Stages                                                                             | Good for                                                        |
| -------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Simple approval      | Draft, In review, Automation approved                                              | One person or team approves before automations use it           |
| Brand and legal      | Draft, Brand review, Design approved, Legal review, Automation approved            | [Two reviews in a row](https://orshot.com/help/brand-then-legal-approval), design first |
| Agency and client    | Draft, Internal review, Client review, Automation approved                         | Your team checks it, then the client approves                   |
| Marketing production | In design, Design review, Design approved, Automation review, Automation approved  | Campaign templates with field limits on the values you send     |

On plans with custom stages, **Start from scratch** gives you just Draft and Approved. The board then opens on the **Stages** tab, so you can add the review stages you need.

## What changes

- Every preset starts with **Needs approval for automation** on. Templates you add are blocked for automation until they're approved: see [how to require approval for automation](https://orshot.com/help/require-approval-for-automation).
- Templates you didn't add keep rendering as they do now.
- Each stage is a column on the board. Stages have no color at first. To tell them apart, pick a color for a stage on the **Stages** tab of the settings.

## Common problems

| You see | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| **New approval flow** is greyed out: "Your plan includes 3 approval flows. Archive one to add another." | Archive a flow you no longer use in its settings, or see [plans and limits](https://orshot.com/docs/approval-flows/plans-and-limits). |
| "Nobody can approve in the 'In review' stage yet." above the board | Click **Add approvers** in that notice and give someone **Approve** access. |
| No **Approvals** in the sidebar | Approvals is on the Scale plan and above, and not in sandbox workspaces. See [pricing](https://orshot.com/pricing). |
| **Flow settings** (the gear) on the board is greyed out | Only owners, admins and people with **Manage** access in the flow can change it. Reviewers don't see it at all. |
| **Over your plan's limit** under a flow's name (**Over plan limit** in the flow menu) | Your plan includes fewer flows than you have, so this one is read-only. See [what happens after a downgrade](https://orshot.com/help/approval-flows-after-a-downgrade). |

## Related

- **[Require approval for automation](https://orshot.com/help/require-approval-for-automation)**: What gets blocked, and what you'll see
- **[What are approval flows?](https://orshot.com/docs/approval-flows/introduction)**: Stages, approvers and the words the app uses