How to Require Document Approval in SharePoint

What it is

Some documents are too important to publish casually. Policies, procedures, controlled templates, formal reports — these need to be reviewed by the right people before they become ‘official’. Without a structured approval process, this happens in an unreliable mix of email chains, verbal agreements, and ‘I think Sarah approved it last week’. Document approval makes it formal, auditable, and consistent.

SharePoint’s built-in content approval lets a library require that every new or updated file be approved before it’s visible to most users. While in ‘pending approval’ status, only the document’s author and approvers can see it. Once approved, it becomes the visible ‘live’ version. If rejected, the author gets feedback and tries again.

For more complex needs — multiple approvers, conditional logic, reminders, escalation — Power Automate can build proper approval workflows. But for most teams, the built-in content approval setting on a library covers what’s needed without any custom development.

Why it matters

Document approval isn’t just bureaucracy — it’s how you keep controlled content controlled:

• Approval creates an audit trail. ‘Approved by [name] on [date]’ is recorded automatically. No more ‘I’m sure someone signed off on this’.
• Approval prevents premature publication. Drafts can’t accidentally become live policies. The system enforces the boundary.
• Approval forces clarity about ownership. Who approves what? Who’s accountable? Setting up approval makes you answer these questions explicitly.

When to use this

• When documents need formal review before becoming live (policies, procedures).
• When you have a small group of approvers and a larger group of authors.
• When you need an audit trail showing who approved what and when.
• When you’ve inherited a library full of ‘approved’ content with no record of when or by whom.

How to do it

1. Open the library and go to Library settings.
2. Open Versioning settings.
3. Enable Require content approval for submitted items.
4. Decide who can see drafts pending approval (typically: just authors and approvers).
5. Set up an approval group — the people who can approve content.
6. Train authors to submit for approval rather than publishing directly.
7. Approvers receive notifications and can approve/reject from the document.
8. For more complex needs, build a Power Automate flow with multiple steps.

Best practices

• Keep the approver group small. 1-2 people per document type. More approvers means more delays and unclear ownership.
• Use a dedicated ‘controlled documents’ library. Don’t mix controlled content with everyday team work — different rules apply.
• Include required metadata in the approval process. Owner, review date, classification — capture them at submission, not later.
• Document the approval rules. What does ‘approved’ mean? Reviewed for accuracy? Legally signed off? Make it explicit so approvers know what they’re confirming.

Common mistakes

• Setting up approval but not enforcing it. If the rule is ‘documents need approval but anyone can publish without it’, the rule doesn’t exist.
• Making everyone an approver. Defeats the purpose. Restricts approval to people accountable for the content.
• Approving everything by default. Approvers should actually review. Otherwise, why have approval?

FAQ