Overview
Approval reviewers in a custom workflow state are managed by editing the approval using the workflow builder visual editor in the space settings document management dashboard.
Reviewers for the approval are managed by choosing one of the check buttons in the approval editor.
Reviewer settings
The assignment of Reviewers is configured in the workflow builder visual editor:
Anyone can approve (no restrictions)
Any user can undertake the approval.
Anyone can approve (no restrictions) | Who can approve or reject | Workflow popup on the page |
 | No restrictions on who can approve or reject the approval. The user must have edit permission for the page. A single reviewer's’s decision completes the approval. Use Minimum approvals to require two or more users to undertake and agree on the approval decision to complete the approval. |   |
For further information, see Workflow builder: Anyone can approve and Content reviews: Anyone can undertake the content review.
Users can be assigned through UI
Allow one or more users to be assigned as reviewers on the page using the workflow popup.
Users can be assigned through UI | Who can approve or reject | Workflow popup on the page |
 | One or more users can be assigned as reviewers (using the workflow popup on the page). Only assigned user(s) can undertake the approval. A user assigned as a reviewer only requires Confluence view permission to undertake an approval and must be logged into Confluence. Until a reviewer has been assigned, any user (with view and edit permission for the page) can approve or reject and complete the approval. Automatically assign reviewers Includes the option to pre-assign users as reviewers by adding one or more user names or user group names to the Automatically assign menu options Preassigned users are assigned on the transition to the workflow state with the approval. Use Minimum approvals to require two or more users to undertake and agree on the approval decision to complete the approval. Set the Minimum approvals=1 to require a single user decision from multiple assigned reviewers to reduce blockages on non-critical approval steps. | Workflow popup displays the Add reviewer option.  Assigned users are displayed in the workflow popup.  Minimum approvals displays required number of users as empty avatars in the workflow popup.  Reviewer decisions are appended to the user avatar in the workflow popup.  |
For further information, see Workflow Builder: Assignable approval in workflow builder and Content Reviews: Manual assignment of Reviewers.
Once a user is assigned as a reviewer
the approval buttons are disabled for a user who is not assigned
additional users can be assigned as reviewers using the workflow popup on the page
preassigned users can be unassigned using the workflow popup on the page
If more than one reviewer is assigned
then all reviewers must agree on the approval decision (approved/rejected) for the approval to be completed
Until the approval is complete (all assignees have undertaken and agreed on the approval decision)
additional users can be assigned as reviewers
assigned reviewers can be unassigned if they have not undertaken an approval decision
Set all reviewers that have to approve
Mandate chosen users or members of a user group to undertake the approval
Set all reviewers that have to approve | Who can approve or reject | Workflow popup on the page |
 | Preassigned reviewers must undertake the approval. Only the preassigned reviewers can undertake the approval. A user assigned as a reviewer only requires Confluence view permission to undertake an approval and must be logged into Confluence. Automatically assign reviewers At least one user name or group name must be entered in the workflow builder approval editor, Automatically assign dropdown menus. The users are preassigned as reviewers by the workflow on the transition to the workflow state containing the approval. In the workflow state, the page does not have a workflow popup option to assign additional users as reviewers or unassign the preassigned reviewers. Use Minimum approvals to require two or more users to undertake and agree on the approval decision to complete the approval. Set the Minimum approvals=1 to require a single user decision from multiple assigned reviewers to reduce blockages on non-critical approval steps. | User avatars for preassigned reviewers are displayed in the workflow popup on the page.  Reviewer decisions are appended to the user avatars in the workflow popup.  |
For further information, see Workflow builder: Workflow assignment of approval reviewers and Content reviews: Workflow assignment of reviewers.
On transition into the workflow state containing the approval
the approval buttons are disabled for the approval for any user who is not pre-assigned
unless a Minimum approvals value is set, all reviewers must undertake the approval and agree for the approval to be complete
Minimum approvals
Set a minimum number of reviewers to undertake an approval decision and agree to complete an approval.
This can be set for each of the approval Reviewers settings:
Minimum approvals | Who can approve or reject | Workflow popup on the page |
   | Add a value for Minimum approvals to require one or more users to undertake and agree on the approval decision to complete the approval.
Minimum approvals can be set for all three Reviewers options. If the selected Reviewers option includes Automatically assign users or Automatically assign groups or manually assigned reviewers
All reviewer decisions must agree for the completion of the approval (no contra decisions) even if there is the required number of agreed Minimum approval decisions. |   |
For further information, see Content reviews: Minimum reviewers
Minimum approvals example
For example, if the approval is configured as
Set all approvers that have to approve
4 users to automatically assign
Minimum approvals is 2
On the page, the approval displays the preassigned reviewers.
For the following reviewer approval sequences
Scenario 1
first 2 approval decisions by different assignees are Reject
Minimum approvals is 2 and the approval is complete with status as rejected
the related reject transition occurs
Scenario 2
first 2 approval decisions by different assignees are Approve
Minimum approvals is 2 and the approval is complete with status as approved
any related approve transition occurs
Scenario 3
1st assigned reviewer chooses to Approve
2nd assigned reviewer chooses to Reject
Minimum approvals is not yet achieved
approval status is pending
3rd assigned reviewer chooses to Approve
Minimum approvals is 2 but no change occurs because there is a current contra decision for the approval
approval status is pending
2nd assigned reviewer changes their approval decision from Reject to Approve
The Reject contra decision for the approval is no longer current (all 3 reviewer decisions are Approve).
Minimal approvals is 2
now 3 reviewer approved decisions with no contra decision
approval is complete with status as approved
any related approve transition occurs
The 4th assigned reviewer was not required to make any approval decision.
Setting a value for Minimum approvals is useful when a large team of reviewers is assigned, but you only need two of these reviewers to approve. It is also useful when the approval is configured to allow Anyone can approve: this ensures that at least two or more reviewers agree on the review decision.