Client approval: get the client's sign-off before publishing

Client approval lets an agency make sure nothing goes live without the client's sign-off. When it is on, the posts and page updates your team approves go to the person with the Client approver role; until the client approves, they are not published live through any channel (by hand, scheduled, Otopilot or Full auto, Shopify included).

#Before you start

• To turn the switch on you must be an Owner or Admin of the organization.
• The client must be a member of the organization with the Client approver role. To invite them, see Team, roles and notifications; the member limit depends on your plan.

#The Client approver role

A Client approver sees everything in the panel like a Viewer and can't change any setting or content. In addition, they decide on the posts and page updates sent to them with Approve or Send back. Owners and admins can also give that decision on the client's behalf.

#Turn the switch on

1. Open Settings → Team.
2. Tick Require client approval before publishing under the member list. You see “Client approval turned on”.

To turn it off, untick the same box; while it is off, content is published with your team's approval as before.

#The workflow

1. Your team prepares the post or page update in the editor and clicks Approve. With the switch on, you see “Approved and sent for client approval” and the content goes to the client.
2. The client gets a notification and finds the content on the Awaiting approval tab of the To do page, under Waiting for client approval. Open opens it in the editor.
3. The client decides:
   • Approve: the content is ready to publish. If it is scheduled, it goes live on its date; otherwise when your team or the automation publishes it.
   • Send back: they write what should change in the box that opens and click Send back with note. The note is required. The content goes back to review with the note.
4. When your team fixes it and clicks Approve again, the client is asked again.

A source post and its translations are decided together: the client's decision applies to every language version.

#The status band in the editor

With the switch on, a status band appears at the top of the content editor:

#What is held back and what is not

• Held back: live publishing of posts and page updates, whether by hand, scheduled, automatic (Otopilot, Full auto) or through Shopify. If content that was never sent to the client reaches a live publish, it is sent to the client first and the publish stops with “Waiting for client approval; it is not published live until the client approves.”
• Not held back: creating a draft on the site (a draft is not public).
• Code changes: they are opened as pull requests; the client approves them by merging on GitHub.

#Notifications

When content goes to the client, a “Waiting for client approval: {title}” notification appears in the panel. For it to arrive by e-mail or Telegram as well, the Otopilot plan needs approval event must be selected on Settings → Notifications and the client's address must be among the recipients. The client's decisions are written to the organization's activity log as “Client approved: …” or “Client sent back: …”.

#Check that it worked

• When your team clicks Approve, you see “Approved and sent for client approval” and the editor shows the Waiting for client approval band.
• On the client's To do page the content is listed under Waiting for client approval.
• When the client approves, the band changes to Approved by the client and the content leaves the list.

#FAQ

#Can the client edit the content?

No. The Client approver role only views, like a viewer; change requests go through the Send back note.

#What if the client can't be reached?

Owners and admins can click Approve or Send back on the client's behalf. The band shows who made the decision.

#Is client approval still needed with Full auto on?

Yes. Otopilot writes and schedules the posts, but does not publish them live until the client approves.