Document approvals macro

Overview

One or more document approvals macros can be added to a page to display information on the approvals for the workflow on a page. Each macro can be configured to display the approval information for a different state in the workflow.

The document approvals macro information for a workflow state is shown as a table, with one header row per approval and one row per reviewer of each approval.

The macro can be configured to display

  • the approval(s) in a state

  • the overall status of the approval

  • the assignees for each approval

  • details of the assignee decision

Several separate document approval macros can be added to content to display information for different approvals in different states.  If the named approval does not exist (mis-spelt, renamed or removed) the macro will ignore that approval.

The document approvals macro is only displayed on the page if a workflow is applied.

Adding the macro to a page

Edit the page and type /doc and select the document approval macro option.

Choose Document Approvals to add the macro to the draft page.

By default the macro displays the current workflow state name and the approvals in the state.

Select the macro and choose the pencil icon to open the macro editor.

The State dialog box is empty by default and the macro will display the approval information for the current workflow state

With no checkboxes completed the macro only lists the name of the approvals for the state.

Select the Show status checkbox in the macro editor to display the overall status of the approval.

If a reviewer has been assigned, the information for each reviewer will be displayed in a separate row.

A separate column is added for each selected checkbox in the macro editor to display information for each approval.

When the approval is configured to require a minimum number of reviewers, a separate unassigned reviewer row is displayed for each required reviewer. These are populated as a user(s) is assigned or undertakes a review decision.

Transitioning the content

The information displayed by the macro is dynamic.

No state specified

If a state is not specified in the macro editor, transitioning the workflow to a different state will display the approval information for the new current state.

No approval in state

If there is no approval in the current state the document approvals macro will display the following message for the state.

State specified

Setting a state in the document approvals macro editor displays the approval information for that state, irrespective of the current state.

Configuring the macro

The macro can be configured to display approval information on the page.

Display approvals in a named state

Approval information can be displayed for a single named state added to the macro editor.

The macro will display the current approval information for this state irrespective of the current workflow state for the content.

Check the macro editor checkboxes to display one or more of the following

  • the overall status for each approval in the state (Pending, Rejected, Approved or Approved and Signed) - Show status

  • the reviewers for each approval by checking one or both

    • Show reviewer avatar

    • Show reviewer name

  • the current status of each reviewer’s decision for the approval (Pending, Rejected, Approved, Approved and Signed, Unassigned) - Show status

  • the date each reviewer’s last action (if any) - Show date

  • any comment added by the reviewer on undertaking their last recorded action

If Show status is checked, both the status of the overall approval and (if reviewer avatar or reviewer name is checked) the current decision for each reviewer is displayed.

Display approvals reviewer and status information for the current workflow state

Leave the State dialog box empty to display approval information for the current workflow state.

The approvals for the current workflow state are displayed.

If a workflow transition occurs the approvals macro displays approval information for the new workflow state.

Multiple approvals in a state

If there is more than one approval in a state each approval is listed in a separate row.

Approval information is displayed for multiple approvals in a state by alphabetical order of approval names.

Each reviewer(s) for an approval is displayed in a separate row.

To limit or set an order for the display of selected approvals in a state, add the name of each approval as a comma-separated list (with no spaces) in the Approvals order dialog box.

Approvals are displayed in the order that they are added in the comma-separated list.

Use with other macros

The document approvals macro is compatible with the Confluence Page Properties macro and the Page Properties Report macro.

On the draft page, add one or more document approvals macro as a table value in the page properties macro.

The page properties report macro can then be added to a page to report on the added values.

Exporting pages to pdf and Word

The approvals macro table of information is included when exporting to pdf or Word.

Reviewer avatars are not included in the pdf or Word export.