Document Approvals Vs. Proof Approvals

[Halie_Baer]

Hello! 

Can someone help me sort out the difference between document approvals and proof approvals, and when to use each? 

Our in-house marketing team solely uses proofs and never uses document approvals. But now without having a widget in new home for "approvals I've created," we have no way to track these other than email notifications. Wondering if adding a document approval would help this? Would it then show in the "All Approvals" widget in new home? 

But then I'm confused on why a proof approval wouldn't automatically show up as the document approval? And it doesn't make sense that a document approver could be different than the proof approver? 

Thanks for helping me sort this out. 

[VictoriaLinn]

Hi @Halie_Baer - The key difference between proof approvals and document approvals is that proof approvals allow for markups and annotations, while document approvals are for straightforward reviews where comments aren’t needed (document approvals doesn't allow comments).

I’ve found that document approvals can be a bit more complex for end users. They require adding the document and then separately initiating the approval after clicking into the document, whereas proof approvals display the approval option during setup, making it easier to manage.

Regarding the "All Approvals" section on home, it includes document approvals only if the user owns the project, not the ones where  they initiated the document approval.

To streamline tracking, I usually create a separate report—like "My Proofs Status Report"—to show users their pending and recently approved proofs as a dashboard/report next to home. 

[Sven-iX]

Hi

Document approvals support comments but don't require them. We had to work with them on an implementation and - yikes. If you can, use Proof. 

You cannot delegate Document approvals nor can you set up an "approval process" - it's a single approval that can be accepted or rejected. 

Proof approvals can be delegated, and in Proof you can set up complicated work flows. 

[skyehansen]

document approvals and proof approvals are different "objects" in workfront. It's just like someone coming in and asking "when would I use a task vs an issue". Proof approvals (like tasks) are capable of more complexity. Doc approvals (like issues) are more simple right now. 

Since you've got a team that is already happy with the workflow they are using, I still recommend that you just give them a report to reference for "approvals I've created". There's no need to completely change up this team's workflow just because something in Home isn't working the way it used to. I'm sure that having an additional page pinned to their global nav bar so that they can check it, is a lot easier than having to..."track these in email notifications".