Delegate approval request

Last update: February 21, 2025

CREATED FOR:

  • User

You can temporarily delegate the work you are assigned to while you are out of the office. You can delegate task and issue assignments, or you can delegate approval requests. This article describes how to delegate approval requests. For information about delegating task and issue assignments, see Delegate tasks and issues.

You can delegate the following types of approvals, regardless of how the approval was assigned to you (whether assigned directly to you, to a team you are a member of, or to your job role):

  • Project approvals
  • Task approvals
  • Issue approvals

You cannot delegate timesheet, document, or proof approvals.

NOTE
To ensure that no inconsistencies occur with the dates that you schedule for your approvals to be delegated, we recommend that your user profile’s time zone matches that of your schedule. For more information, see the following articles:

Access requirements

Expand to view access requirements for the functionality in this article.

You must have the following access to perform the steps in this article:

Adobe Workfront plan*Any
Adobe Workfront license*Review or higher

To find out what plan or license type you have, contact your Workfront administrator.

Understand user access for delegated approvals

During the designated approval period, the user to whom you delegate an approval request has the following abilities:

  • Can approve or reject existing approval requests where no decision has been made

  • Can approve and reject new approval requests that are received during a specified time period

  • Is granted View access to objects that are awaiting approval

    NOTE
    The Adobe Workfront administrator can restrict users from accessing certain object types. When a user does not have access to an object type and an approval of that type is delegated to the user, the user does not have View access to the object. However, the user can still approve or reject approval requests from the Home page, as described in Approving work.
    For example, User A belongs to Group A. The Workfront administrator has restricted the access rights of Group A so that users in this group cannot view tasks within Workfront. If a task approval request is delegated to User A, User A cannot view the task that the approval is associated with. However, User A can approve or reject the approval request from the Home page.

    For information about how the Workfront administrator can restrict access to object types within Setup, see  Create or modify custom access levels.

After the approval delegation stops or is canceled, the user designated as the approver:

  • No longer has access to approve work for items that require approval
  • Continues to have View access to work items
    Users who have been granted View access to objects via an approval delegation retain that View access even after the approval delegation stops or is recalled. To remove View access to any objects that the user had access to during the time that approvals were being delegated, you must go to the object and remove access rights directly from the object.

Delegate your approvals to another user

You can delegate the following types of approvals, regardless of how the approval was assigned to you (whether assigned directly to you, to a team you are a member of, or to your job role):

  • Project approvals
  • Task approvals
  • Issue approvals

You cannot delegate timesheet, document, or proof approvals.

Consider the following when delegating approvals:

  • When you delegate approvals, all your approvals are delegated. You cannot delegate individual approval requests.
  • You can delegate approvals to only one user; you cannot delegate approvals to multiple users at the same time.
    All approvals for all projects, tasks, and issues are delegated to the user who you designate.
  • A maximum of 5 users can delegate approvals to the same user at the same time. In other words, a single user cannot be designated as a temporary approver for more than 5 users at the same time.
  • Activity regarding approvals displays on the Updates tab. You must have Show System Updates enabled. Both the user delegating the approval and the user to whom approvals are being delegated receive an email notification regarding approval activity.

Delegate approvals from the Home area

To delegate approvals to another user:

  1. Click the Main Menu Main Menu icon in the upper-right corner, then click Home.

  2. (Conditional) Click Customize to add the My Approvals widget.

  3. Go to the My Approvals widget, then click Delegate My Approvals.

    NOTE
    Workfront administrators can disable approval delegations from the setup area. If approval delegations are disabled, you will not see the Delegate approvals button.

    Delegate approvals in home

  4. Specify the following information in the Delegate My Approvals section:

    • Name: Begin typing the name of the user who you want to delegate approvals to, then click the name when it appears in the drop-down menu.

    • Start date: Select the date for approvals to begin being forwarded. Forwarding begins at 12:00 A.M. on the date that you select.
      The Start Date must be the current date or a future date.

    • End date: Do one of the following:

      • Select the date for approvals to stop being forwarded. Forwarding ends at 11:59 P.M. on the date that you select.
      • Select No end date to configure Workfront to delegate approvals indefinitely.

  5. Click Save.

Delegate approvals from your user profile

  1. Click the Main Menu icon > your name > Time Off in the left panel.

  2. Click Delegate approvals.

    NOTE
    Workfront administrators can disable approval delegations from the setup area. If approval delegations are disabled, you will not see the Delegate approvals button.

    1. Specify the following information in the Delegate My Approvals section:

    • Name: Begin typing the name of the user who you want to delegate approvals to, then click the name when it appears in the drop-down menu.

    • Start date: Select the date for approvals to begin being forwarded. Forwarding begins at 12:00 A.M. on the date that you select.
      The Start Date must be the current date or a future date.

    • End date: Do one of the following:

      • Select the date for approvals to stop being forwarded. Forwarding ends at 11:59 P.M. on the date that you select.
      • Select No end date to configure Workfront to delegate approvals indefinitely.

Update or stop an approval delegation

  1. Click the Main Menu Main Menu icon in the upper-right corner, then click Home.

  2. (Conditional) Click Customize to add the My Approvals widget.

  3. Go to the My Approvals widget, then click Edit delegation.
    Edit delegations

  4. (Conditional) Do either of the following:

    • To update the existing approval delegation: Change the information displayed, then click Save.

    • To stop the existing delegation: Click Stop delegation, then click Stop delegation to confirm.

View delegated approvals

You can view only the following types of approval delegations in the My Approvals widget:

  • Project approvals
  • Task approvals
  • Issue approvals

To view delegated approvals:

  1. Click the Main Menu Main Menu icon in the upper-right corner, then click Home.
  2. (Conditional) Click Customize to add the My Approvals widget.
  3. In the My Approvals widget, click the Filter drop-down menu, then click Delegated Approvals.
    All approvals delegated to you display in the list.

More help on this topic

Previous pageView submitted proof approvals
Next pageAssociate a new or existing approval process with work

Workfront


Learn: Automating Workflows with Workfront Fusion - Unique Use Cases in Action

Workfront

Tuesday, Mar 4, 6:00 PM UTC

Looking for creative ways to use Workfront Fusion to solve business challenges? Join Pan Shahbazian of Starbucks as she shares three unique use cases that can transform your workflows.

Register

The Perfect Blend: A New Era of Collaboration with AEM and Workfront

Adobe Customer Success Webinars

Wednesday, Apr 2, 5:00 PM UTC

Explore how Adobe Experience Manager and Workfront integrate to help teams move from ideation to delivery without the usual bottlenecks, ensuring content is organized, on-brand, and ready to go live faster.

Register

Adobe’s Top 10 Generative AI Capabilities to Accelerate Your Content Supply Chain

Online | Session | General Audience

AI is rapidly transforming marketing content and customer experiences, but many companies face significant questions: How do I safely and...

Tue, Mar 18, 2:00 PM PDT (9:00 PM UTC)

Register

How Workfront Is Bringing Enterprise-Ready AI to Work Management

Online | Session | General Audience

AI is on the minds, hearts, and lips of every marketer and creative today. After all, it’s one of the best ways to keep pace with a scale...

Wed, Mar 19, 2:00 PM PDT (9:00 PM UTC)

Register

Connect with Experience League at Summit!

Get front-row access to top sessions, hands-on activities, and networking—wherever you are!

Learn more

Register to learn something new

WORKFRONT

Join Adobe product experts in live events where you will learn Adobe Workfront best practices, tips and tricks, and hear about the latest product features and updates.

Register

Register now