# Building a Two-Step Approval

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](/workflows/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 {{icon:ellipsis-vertical size-4 inline-block align-text-center}} 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](/workflows/deadlines) on it, or mute a noisy first step — see [Notifications](/submissions/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.

## Related

- [Edit Flow](/forms/edit-flow) - this page vs the form builder
- [Flow Steps](/workflows/flow-steps) - every step type and its options
- [Form Builder](/forms/form-builder) - adding the fields first
- [Emails and Muting](/workflows/emails-and-muting) - rewriting and quieting step emails
- [Deadlines](/workflows/deadlines) - putting a clock on a step
- [Notifications](/submissions/notifications) - what people are told, and when
- [Conditional Flow Steps](/workflows/conditional-flow-steps) - when the path should branch