Skip to main content
Version: Current

Bulk approving documents

Save time and streamline your approval workflow by approving multiple documents simultaneously. Zudello's bulk approval feature allows you to process several pending approvals in a single action, helping you manage high volumes of approvals efficiently.

Best practices​

  • Review the summary screen carefully before confirming bulk approval
  • Only select documents you're confident are ready for approval
  • Review any failed approvals individually to understand why they couldn't be processed

Required permissions​

To use bulk approval, you need the following permissions:

  • Bulk Approval permission for the relevant module
  • E.g. Purchasing Bulk Approval

Contact your organisation administrator if you are unsure about your permissions.

When bulk approval can be used​

You can use bulk approval when:

  • Multiple documents are in Approval status
  • There is a pending approval step assigned to you in the current (active) approval milestone
  • The documents have no validation errors

For more information on validation errors and how to identify them, see Document validations.

How to bulk approve documents​

To bulk approve documents:​

  1. Open the Requests submodule
  2. Select the checkbox next to each document you want to approve
  3. Click Bulk Approve in the bulk actions toolbar

IMAGE

  1. The bulk approval summary screen will open, showing all selected documents
  2. Review the summary carefully to ensure all documents are appropriate for approval
  3. Click Approve to confirm the bulk approval

IMAGE

  1. Click Show in background to minimise the modal and let the process run in the background

IMAGE

Understanding the approval process​

When you initiate bulk approval, Zudello processes each document individually:

  • Successfully approved documents are marked in green and move through your organisation's workflow
  • Documents that cannot be approved remain visible with an explanation of why the approval failed
  • The process continues even if some documents fail, ensuring maximum efficiency

Reviewing results​

After bulk approval completes:

  • Successful approvals disappear from your pending list
  • Failed approvals remain visible with error messages
  • You can review and address failed approvals individually
  • A summary shows the total number of successful and failed approvals

IMAGE

Common reasons for approval failures​

Documents may fail to be approved during bulk processing for several reasons. Here are common failure messages, and the cause and fix for each:

  • Unable to bulk approve due to Validation Errors, please review before approving

    • The document has validation errors.
    • These documents require review before approving.

  • Unable to approve document type, your approval is not required

    • This occurs when you don't have a pending approval step for the document.
    • This document does not currently require your approval.

  • Unable to approve document type, no required approvals found

    • This applies to documents that may have moved out of approval status or don't currently require approval.

Important considerations​

Condiser the following when bulk approving documents.

  • Document selection
    • The bulk approval action is only available when you select documents that are eligible for approval. If you select documents that don't require approval, the bulk approval button will be disabled with a message explaining why.
  • Processing time
    • For large numbers of documents, bulk approval may take some time to complete. You can minimise the progress modal and continue working on other tasks while the approvals process in the background.
  • Audit trail
    • All bulk approvals are recorded in each document's audit trail, maintaining full visibility of who approved what and when.

Need help?​

Contact your organisation administrator or Zudello support for assistance with bulk approvals or if you need help with permissions.