Get approval requests by email

When a purchase order, deposit or bill payment waits on someone, SKU.io tells them with an in-app alert under the bell and a count on Orders → Approvals. That's all they get until email is turned on, because email for every alert starts off. The bell is easy to miss or ignore, and a request nobody sees holds up a supplier order or a payment. Turn on approval emails for every approver as the last step of setting up a policy, and ask anyone else involved in approvals to turn on the emails that matter to them.

You can do this in two places:

• On the policy page, an administrator turns email on for every approver at once, or one person at a time.
• In My Notifications, each person chooses how their own approval alerts reach them, including alerts the policy page doesn't cover.

Both change the same setting: each person's own alert preferences.

Before you begin

To…	You need…
turn on email for approvers from the policy page	to be an administrator, or a role with Approval Policies → Edit rules (which includes View rules)
change how your own approval alerts reach you	nothing extra: everyone can open My Notifications

• Approval emails go to the email address on each person's user account. Someone without one can't get them; see Approvers without an email address.
• The policy must be on. The email card appears only while Require approval for… is switched on for that tab.

Turn on email for every approver

1. Go to Settings → Purchasing → Approval Policies.

   The page opens on the Purchase orders tab.

2. Scroll to the Approver email notifications card, below Rules.

   It lists everyone on this policy, one row per person, with a chip that shows how they get approval alerts today. A person who's on the policy through a role shows their email followed by, for example, via Purchasing role. A new approver shows In-app only.

3. Click Turn on email for everyone.

   This saves straight away. You don't need to click Save at the top of the page.

   What you'll see: the message Approval emails on for 2 approvers. Every chip changes to Email on, and the button is replaced by the chip All approvers get emails.

4. Open the Vendor deposits and Bill payments tabs and check their cards too.

   Each tab lists the approvers on that tab's policy. The setting belongs to the person, not the policy, so someone you've already turned on shows Email on on every tab. You only need to turn on people who appear on one tab and not the others.

The card's switches cover approvers you've added but not saved yet, so you can turn their emails on before you save the policy.

Make this the last step of every set-up

Whenever you add someone to a policy, come back to this card and turn their email on. If some approvers are already on, the button reads Turn on email for 1 more, for example.

Turn email on or off for one person

Use the switch at the end of a person's row. Turning it on shows Approval emails on for Sam Turner., for example, and turning it off shows Approval emails off for Sam Turner. If the change doesn't save, you see Couldn't update approval emails.

What the chips mean

Chip	Meaning
Email on	The person gets an email as each request, reminder or override happens. The switch is on.
Email digest	The person turned on email but chose a daily or weekly digest in My Notifications. The switch shows as off, because it only counts instant email. Turning the switch on, or clicking Turn on email for everyone, changes them to instant email.
In-app only	No approval email. They only see requests under the bell and in Orders → Approvals.
No email	The person's user account has no email address, so the switch is greyed out.

If you can view the policy page but not change it, the button is hidden and the switches are greyed out, with the tooltip You need permission to manage approval policies to change this.

If nobody is on the policy yet, the card reads Add approvers to the tiers above to see who gets emails.

Approvers without an email address

An approver with no email address shows No email address under their name and the No email chip, and their switch is greyed out with the tooltip Add an email address to this user first. Turn on email for everyone skips them. Once everyone else is on, the header chip reads Everyone with an email address gets emails as a reminder that someone is still missing out.

To fix it, add an email address to the user. See Create and manage users. Then come back to the card and turn on their switch.

What the switch covers

The switch turns on instant email for three alerts:

• Approval Requested: something is waiting on you, or has reached your step. One import that raises many requests sends a single alert, such as 12 approvals waiting on you.
• Approval Reminder: a request is still waiting on you after the policy's reminder interval.
• Approval Overridden: an administrator approved a request on the approvers' behalf.

It covers purchase orders, vendor deposits and bill payments alike. It doesn't cover Approval Decision, Approval Escalated or Payment Recorded Outside Approval. Each person turns those on for themselves in My Notifications.

An approval email shows the amount, the tier, the requester's note and a Review & approve button. You approve or reject in SKU.io, not from the email, and replying does nothing. For what each email says, see What an approval email contains.

Turn on your own approval emails

Anyone can do this for themselves, whether they approve requests, raise them, pay them or cover for someone.

1. Go to Settings → Alerts & Notifications → My Notifications.

2. Find the approval alerts in the Purchase Orders group. Each starts with Approval, such as Approval Requested and Approval Decision.

   Under each alert, Why you get this: says what put you in its audience. A permission is named as on the Roles screen, for example You have the "Approval Policies → Override & re-route" permission.

3. Switch Email on for each approval alert you want by email.

4. In the same row, choose a Frequency: Instant, Daily Digest or Weekly Digest.

   Choose Instant for Approval Requested and Approval Reminder, because a digest can leave a request waiting for up to a week.

5. Click Save Changes at the top of the page.

   What you'll see: the message Notification preferences saved.

If an administrator already turned your approval emails on from the policy page, the Email switch is on and a dot sits beside it. Hover over the dot to see Overridden — differs from the default. You can still switch it off here.

For everything else on this page, see Set your own alert notifications.

Which approval alerts you see

My Notifications lists only the approval alerts you're in the audience for, and the row lets you choose how they reach you. For who has each row, and which alerts each person should turn on (delegates, requesters, the default payer, and people who can override), see Who sees each alert in My Notifications.

Presets keep your email choices

The Everything, Important only and Critical only presets change which alerts show in the app. Your email choices, including approval emails an administrator turned on for you, are kept. The confirmation reads This changes which alerts show in the app. Your email choices are kept.

Critical only hides approval alerts from your bell, because they're high priority rather than critical. Requests still appear in Orders → Approvals, and still email you if email is on.

If approval emails don't arrive

Check the alert isn't turned off company-wide, the address on the user account is current, and the person didn't choose a digest. For each cause and its fix, see Troubleshoot approvals.

To send approval alerts to a shared inbox or a Slack channel as well, an administrator adds email recipients or a channel to the alert in Alert Preferences. See Send alerts to Slack.

Next steps

• Approve or reject a request
• Approval alerts reference: who gets each approval alert, and the wording of every approval email.
• Troubleshoot approvals
• Hand off approvals while you're away
• Set your own alert notifications