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Building a Two-Step Approval

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A two-step approval is the usual pattern when one group screens a request and another group decides. You add those steps on the form's Flow Steps list after the questions are already in place. This walkthrough uses a leave request: the office reviews it first, then a manager picks it up — the same shape as Secretaries then Principals. For every option on a step, see Flow Steps.

Opening the Flow

  1. Go to Admin → Forms.
  2. Open the form.
  3. Scroll to Flow Steps.

Submissions move through the list from top to bottom. A form with no steps collects answers and stops — there's nothing to approve.

Add the Office Review

The first step is an All Group step, so everyone in the office group can act on the request.

  1. Leave Insert after on End (the default). That dropdown chooses where the next step lands — it's easy to mix up with Add Step.
  2. Click Add Step → Flow. The Manage Flow Step modal opens.
  3. Pick All Group ("All users within a group.").
  4. Under Flow Group, search for your office or intake group. If you can edit groups, + creates a new one.
  5. Click Save.

Don't pick All Users as the group. All Group plus All Users notifies everyone in the account.

If you want a name you will recognize later — Office Review, for example — open Advanced Flow Options and fill in Flow Step Name. That panel also holds extras such as Unanimous Step (every member must approve), Allow editing of the submission, Notify Via Text, Mute Notifications, Automatic Sharing, Allow Escalation, and Action Buttons. Approve stays on; Info, Back, and Deny can be renamed, reordered, translated to Spanish, or turned off. You don't need any of this for the basic recipe.

Add the Manager Review

The second step is a Select One (or Select Multiple) step so a manager from that group is chosen.

  1. Keep Insert after on End so this step lands after the office review.
  2. Click Add Step → Flow.
  3. Pick Select One ("Choose a single user from a group.") if one manager should decide, or Select Multiple ("Choose one or more users from a group.") if several should.
  4. Set Flow Group to your managers group.
  5. Click Save. Existing steps use Done instead.

Confirm the Path

Click Diagram next to the Flow Steps heading. You should see Submitted → the office step → the manager step → Approved. Download saves that picture. Click Steps to return to the list.

Undo and redo sit next to the Flow Steps heading if you need to reverse a change.

After You Save

Each step row shows its number, name, and a type icon (hover it). view N users opens who is in that step's group.

The menu on a step holds Edit, Attach Additional Form, Edit Group, Deadline, Custom Email, Duplicate Step, Insert after, Move (After / Beginning / Down / End / Up), and Delete Flow.

collapse and expand fold the list when you have many steps.

If you delete a step that still has work sitting on it, it stays as pending deletion until that work clears.

You can attach an extra form to a step, put a deadline on it, or mute a noisy first step — see Notifications.

When This Isn't Enough

Group Select, Dynamic, and Wait for Submissions are there when someone must pick which group handles the next work, when approvers come from the submission itself, or when the request should hold until related submissions finish. Reach for those when two ordered reviews aren't the whole story.

Tips

  • Build the fields first, then add the two review steps.
  • Name each step for the role it plays ("Office Review", "Manager Approval"), not "Step 1".
  • Check view N users on both steps before you share the form, so the right people are in each group.
  • Use Diagram after you add or move a step. The list order is the path a submission takes.
  • Leave Insert after on End unless you're deliberately placing a step between existing ones.