On this page: Move your journey or campaign toward go-live with confidence by sending it to the right reviewers, and stay in control while it is in review — cancel, edit, and resubmit as needed so only approved, on-brand content ever reaches your customers.
Access to the approval workflow is determined by your specific use case:
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No active Approval policy exists
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Campaigns: If no approval policy is active for the Campaign object in a sandbox, campaigns will show the Activate button, allowing you to activate them without needing approval.
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Journeys: If no approval policy is active for the Journey object, journeys will display the Publish button, allowing you to publish directly.
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Active Approval policies exist
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Campaigns: If one or more active approval policies exist for the Campaign object in a sandbox, all campaigns in said sandbox will display the Request Approval button.
If no approval policy applies to the selected object when the Request Approval button is clicked, the auto-approval workflow will be triggered. -
Journeys: If one or more active approval policies exist for the Journey object in a sandbox, all journeys will display the Request Approval button.
If no approval policy applies to the selected object when the Request Approval button is clicked, the auto-approval workflow will be triggered.
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Send approval request
After creating your campaign or journey, click the Request Approval button. This will check if there is an active approval policy in your sandbox that applies to the campaign or journey.
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If an applicable approval policy is found, your campaign or journey will be sent for review.
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If no approval policy is applicable to the campaign or journey after clicking the Request Approval button, the campaign or journey will be automatically approved and either activated or published.
The Request approval pane opens. Provide a message for the approver(s) if necessary and click Send to submit your request.
While the campaign or journey is In review state, you have the option to cancel the approval request. By clicking the Cancel request button, the campaign or journey will return to the draft stage, and a notification will be sent to the reviewers informing them that the request has been canceled. You can then make the necessary edits and resubmit the campaign or journey for approval.
Manage approval requests
Once the approval request has been sent to the approvers, they can review it and either activate the journey/campaign to make it live or request changes if necessary. Learn how to review & approve a request
If the approvers request changes, you are notified through an email and a Journey Optimizer alert, which is accessible when clicking the bell icon on top right of the screen, in the Requests tab.
To go through the change request, open it from the email or the alert to access the journey or campaign and make the requested changes. When your journey/campaign is ready to be reviewed again, send a new approval request using the Request approval button.
This section contains structured knowledge intended to support interpretation, retrieval, and question answering related to this topic.
For complete understanding, this information should be combined with the documentation on this page. Neither source is intended to stand alone; the page describes the feature, while this section provides additional context that helps disambiguate terminology, intent, applicability, and constraints.
- TL;DR: This page explains how creators submit a journey or campaign for approval, how the available action button depends on whether an active approval policy applies, and how to cancel, edit, and resubmit a request while it is in review.
Intents:
- Determine which action button appears (Activate, Publish, or Request Approval) based on active approval policies
- Submit a campaign or journey for review with the Request Approval button and an optional message to the approvers
- Understand the auto-approval workflow when no policy applies to the selected object
- Cancel an approval request to return the object to the draft stage, then edit and resubmit it
- Respond to requested changes received through an email and a Journey Optimizer alert
Glossary:
- Request Approval: The button that submits a campaign or journey for review when one or more active approval policies exist for that object type in the sandbox. (product-specific)
- Auto-approval workflow: The flow triggered when no approval policy applies to the selected object after clicking Request Approval; the object is automatically approved and either activated or published. (product-specific)
- In review: The state of a campaign or journey after a request is sent, during which the request can be canceled. (product-specific)
- Cancel request: The action that returns the campaign or journey to the draft stage and notifies the reviewers. (product-specific)
Guardrails:
- If no approval policy is active for the object type in a sandbox, campaigns show the Activate button and journeys show the Publish button, allowing activation or publishing without approval.
- If one or more active approval policies exist for the object type in a sandbox, all objects of that type display the Request Approval button.
- If no policy applies to the selected object when Request Approval is clicked, the auto-approval workflow is triggered and the object is automatically approved and either activated or published.
- While an object is In review, you can cancel the request to return it to the draft stage, then make edits and resubmit it for approval.
Terminology:
- Canonical name: Request Approval (button) — variants: Request approval (pane)
- Do not confuse: “Activate” (campaigns, no active policy) ≠ “Publish” (journeys, no active policy) ≠ “Request Approval” (submit for review when a policy is active)
- Do not confuse: “Cancel request” (returns the object to draft and notifies reviewers) ≠ an approver requesting changes
- Do not confuse: an applicable approval policy found (object sent for review) ≠ no applicable policy after clicking Request Approval (auto-approval workflow: automatically approved and activated or published)
FAQ:
- Q: Why do I see Request Approval instead of Activate or Publish? — Because one or more active approval policies exist for that object type in your sandbox.
- Q: What if I click Request Approval but no policy actually applies? — The auto-approval workflow triggers and the object is automatically approved and either activated or published.
- Q: Can I change an object after submitting it? — Cancel the request with Cancel request to return it to the draft stage, make the edits, then resubmit with the Request approval button.
- Q: How am I notified when an approver requests changes? — Through an email and a Journey Optimizer alert accessible when clicking the bell icon, in the Requests tab.