# Approval settings

What the three company settings of Approval decide, whether requesters may decide their own requests, who may hand a decision over, and whether approvers receive a daily digest.

Open **Approval/Configuration/Settings**. The **Approval** section has two groups, **Decisions** and **Notifications**. The three choices belong to the current company: switch company to set another one's. Click **Save** to apply a change, or **Discard** to leave the settings as they were.

## Before you start {#before-you-start}

- The **Settings** menu shows only to users who administer the database settings and also hold the **Administrator** access right on **Approval**: [Create a user and set access rights](/docs/general-settings/create-a-user-and-set-access-rights).
- A change counts from the next action on: the next decision, the next hand-over, the next digest.

## Decisions {#decisions}

![The Decisions group; requesters may not decide their own requests, and supervisors may hand decisions over.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17449-363d1339/approvals-approval-settings-settings_decisions-en.png)

### Requesters Deciding {#requesters-deciding}

**Never let requesters decide their own requests**, the default, keeps the requester side away from the decisions: the requester, whoever created or sent the request and, for a business record, whoever created that record. A step that names one of them leaves that person out. When nobody else is left, the step asks its **Fallback User** if it has one; otherwise the request cannot be sent and the message names the step to fix ([Configure a request type](configure-an-approval-type)).

**Allow it and mark it on the record** lets them decide like any approver. Each such decision is marked **Self-Decision**: on the decision itself, in an optional column of the decisions list and as a badge on the printed request.

### Reassigning Decisions {#reassigning-decisions}

This setting decides who sees **Reassign** on a request under review, to hand an open decision to another person ([Decide a request](decide-a-request)):

- **Nobody**: the button never shows. A step whose deadline is set to **Hand the decision over** still does so on its own.
- **Supervisors**, the default: the approval supervisors and administrators, except on a request they asked for, created or sent, or whose record they created.
- **Supervisors and the approver concerned**: the approver who holds the decision may also hand it over, and so may their delegate while a delegation is valid.

![Reassigning Decisions, set to Supervisors.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17453-98e6d205/approvals-approval-settings-settings_reassign-en.png)

The new approver must be an active internal user of the request's company without a decision on that step yet; on a step decided by a group, a member of that group.

## Notifications {#notifications}

![The Notifications group; the daily digest is on, and Configure opens the notification rules.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17457-a05bef0f/approvals-approval-settings-settings_notifications-en.png)

### Daily Digest {#daily-digest}

**Send a daily digest**, the default: early each morning, 07:00 Riyadh time unless an administrator moves the job, each person with something waiting receives one e-mail in their language, **Approvals waiting for you**. It lists their open decisions, those they can take as a delegate included, with the request, type, requester, step and deadline, and an **overdue** mark when late. Supervisors also find the requests whose step needs a supervisor. Requests of a type whose **Send Emails** is off stay out, and nobody without an e-mail address receives it. **No digest** stops it for the company.

**Configure**, under **Notification Rules**, opens the same list as **Approval/Configuration/Notification Rules**: [Choose who hears about each event](set-notification-rules).

## FAQ {#faq}

### The requester is the only approver of a step. What happens? {#requester-only-approver}

With **Never let requesters decide their own requests**, the step is left with nobody. Give it a **Fallback User** or another approver, or allow requesters to decide.

### Does this stop a supervisor from deciding on behalf? {#on-behalf}

No. Supervisors still decide on behalf of an approver, and an approval administrator may do so even on a request of their own. The decision is recorded as a supervisor's: [Decide a request](decide-a-request).

### Why did no digest arrive? {#no-digest}

Check that the company sends one, that the person has an e-mail address and that the type sends e-mails. The job runs once a day and sends nothing more on the same day: [Approval automations](approval-automations). If no e-mail leaves the database at all, see [Email: outgoing and incoming servers](/docs/general-settings/email-servers).

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/approvals/approval-settings
- Updated: 2026-11-01
- Version: Approval 19.0.1.0.0
- Verified: 2026-11-01