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Add Comments to Approval Workflow

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Lin K.
Lin K. ✭✭
edited 04/21/23 in Smartsheet Product Feedback & Ideas

Include a comments section to the current approval workflow (currently only approve or decline), this would be helpful when an approver has a question or comment about a pending approval.

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Available Now! · Last Updated

Selecting "A comment" under "Customize Message" allows your approvers to add a comment to the row at the same time as approving or declining the request.

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  • Genevieve P.
    Genevieve P. Employee Admin
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    Hi @Lin K.

    This is already available!

    You can select "A comment" as one of the specific fields sent out with an Approval Request:

    Screenshot 2022-09-02 at 12.21.23.png

    This then allows the approver to add a comment at the same time as Approving or Declining:

    Screenshot 2022-09-02 at 12.22.03.png

    Note that this is only for the Conversations area of a Smartsheet sheet. If you want approvers to be able to fill out other columns, then I would suggest using an Update Request instead.

    Cheers,

    Genevieve

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  • Alex@
    Alex@ ✭✭✭
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    Hi @Genevieve P.

    Thanks for sharing, I am also having the same issue as Lin. Followed the steps as above using the 'Specific Fields' option and pulling a 'Comments' field through from my sheet; on Approval however user is unable to view the 'Comments' as field locked - have I missed something?

    Thanks,

    Alex

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  • Genevieve P.
    Genevieve P. Employee Admin
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    Hi @Alex@

    Are you pulling through a column that you created and titled "Comments", or are you selecting the field "A comment" in the workflow as in my screen capture above?

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  • Alex@
    Alex@ ✭✭✭
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    Hi @Genevieve P.

    Am pulling a column that I created titled 'Comments'. Trialled again and can now see there is a generic 'A comment' field as default

    Thanks for the support

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  • Genevieve P.
    Genevieve P. Employee Admin
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    No problem! 🙂

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  • Debra L
    Debra L ✭✭✭
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    @Genevieve P. I have the same challenge, tried out the 'a comment' workaround and would prefer to use the approval workflow; however, is there a way to modify the automated message to include the data from the 'a comment' field without the additional info above it, including a link to the master sheet (see highlighted in yellow)...so it looks cleaner to the requestor?

    image.png


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  • Genevieve P.
    Genevieve P. Employee Admin
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    Hey @Debra L

    The only way to exclude the Sheet Link is to send the alert as Message Only (without any fields).

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  • Debra L
    Debra L ✭✭✭
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    Thanks Genevieve---I am going to keep playing with it. I think that this is one feature that could use minor enhancements, specifically when it comes to allowing approvers to respond to reasons for declining a request, besides what is currently available. Regards, Debra.

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