# Choose who hears about each event

Set, for each company, which events of a request send an e-mail and to whom, add the event that sends nothing by default, and stop the ones you do not want.

Each company has at most one notification rule per event. The rule ticks who receives an e-mail when the event happens; an event without a rule sends nothing. Each company starts with seven rules, and a new company receives them too. The e-mails go out in each recipient's language, while approvers also find their decisions as activities: [Activities](/docs/activities).

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

- You need the **Administrator** access right on **Approval**.
- Only active internal users receive these e-mails, at the address of their contact. Whoever acts is not told of their own action, and each person receives one e-mail per event whatever the number of boxes that name them.

## Open the rules {#open}

Open **Approval/Configuration/Notification Rules**, or click **Configure** under **Notification Rules** in [Approval settings](approval-settings). Each row is an event of a company, and its boxes say who receives the e-mail: **Requester**, **Approvers**, **Informed People** (the people a step keeps informed and, when a request is approved or rejected, the people a delegation asks to inform), **Followers** of the request, **Supervisors**. A box appears only where the event can reach that person.

![The seven rules of the company; each row ticks who receives a message when the event happens.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17712-767c6499/approvals-set-notification-rules-rules_list-en.png)

| Event | Can reach | Ticked in the shipped rule |
|---|---|---|
| **Request sent** | Requester, Followers | no rule |
| **Decision needed** | Requester, Approvers and their delegates, Informed People, Followers | Approvers |
| **Request approved**, **Request rejected** | Requester, the approvers who decided, Informed People, Followers | Requester, Informed People |
| **Request cancelled** | Requester, Approvers, Followers | Requester, Approvers |
| **Decision overdue** | Requester, the late approvers and their delegates | Approvers |
| **Decision reassigned** | Requester, the new approver | Requester, Approvers |
| **Step needs a supervisor** | Requester, Supervisors | Supervisors |

## Add or change a rule {#add}

1. Click **New**. A row opens for the current company.
2. Choose its **Event**. The boxes that event usually needs are ticked for you; for **Request sent**, the **Requester**.
![A new row for Request sent; the requester is ticked by default, and only the people this event can reach have a box.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17716-353275b6/approvals-set-notification-rules-new_rule-en.png)

On a phone, the row is edited in the list the same way; the columns are narrow, so slide the list sideways to reach the last boxes.
3. Change the boxes if you wish, then click **Save**.
![The rule is saved; from now on the requester receives a message when a request is sent.](https://jaah.app/web/image/17718-3c89286c/approvals-set-notification-rules-rule_saved-en.png)

To change a rule, click its row and tick or untick the boxes. To stop an event entirely, tick its row, then choose **Actions** › **Delete**.

## Result {#result}

From the next event on, the people ticked receive one e-mail each. Two e-mails do not follow these rules: the alert of a late step set to **Alert someone**, chosen in the step itself ([Configure a request type](configure-an-approval-type)), and the daily digest, switched in [Approval settings](approval-settings). A type whose **Send Emails** is off sends none of them.

## FAQ {#faq}

### The requester is not told when the request is sent. Why? {#request-sent}

No rule ships for **Request sent**. Add one as above.

### Someone did not receive an e-mail. Why? {#not-received}

Their contact may have no e-mail address, their box may not be ticked on that event's row, the rule may belong to another company, or the request's type may not send e-mails. If no e-mail leaves the database at all, see [Email: outgoing and incoming servers](/docs/general-settings/email-servers).

### Who are the supervisors of "Step needs a supervisor"? {#supervisors}

The approval supervisors of the request's company, except the people on the requester side of that request. When none is left, the requester is told instead and the request's chatter says so.

### Can an event have two rules? {#one-rule}

No, one per event and company; saving a second one is refused.

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/approvals/set-notification-rules
- Updated: 2026-11-01
- Version: Approval 19.0.1.0.0
- Verified: 2026-11-01