---
title: "Request and review formal document approvals in Google Docs"
canonical: "https://help.nnu.edu/space/TMR/blog/2508773/Request%20and%20review%20formal%20document%20approvals%20in%20Google%20Docs"
format: markdown
---
Google will soon be rolling out a feature that allows you to request and review formal approvals on Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Once requested, approvers can approve, reject, add comments, or edit the document in response. All of this can be done without leaving the secure environment of Google Workspace. This feature should become available sometime in December 2021.

  


![image](media://0263d68e-ae47-4b10-bff9-20b1bcfea28b)

  


### Why you’d use it 

Securing document approvals can be difficult when collaborating with multiple stakeholders and competing priorities. This feature makes it easy to secure those approvals and see who has approved them.

This feature also ensures that when edits are made to a document, all reviewers are notified and the latest version of the document is re-approved. It also ensures that once all reviewers have provided their approval, the file locks and cannot be edited, securing the integrity of your document. 

We hope this feature streamlines the workflow needed to secure approvals on contracts, legal documents, and other situations where formal approval is required. 

### Additional details 

Once a document is sent for approval, reviewers get email, browser or Google Chat notifications, based on where they have selected in [Google Drive’s web settings](https://support.google.com/drive/answer/6318501) to receive notifications. They will then receive a link they can follow directly to the document. 

If you set a due date, your reviewers will receive email reminders that their approval is needed or past due. You’ll also be able to prevent any user from editing the item’s content or leaving comments and suggestions by choosing to lock the document. 

**Note:** Documents by default will remain unlocked until they are fully approved. 

If you request approval from multiple people, the document is considered approved once all reviewers approve the file. If an edit is made during the approval process, all reviewers will need to re-approve the latest version of the file and will receive email notifications in those instances. The document approval request is rejected for all reviewers if a single reviewer rejects the file. 

Once all reviewers approve the document, the file will be locked. Locked files can't be edited until they're unlocked or approved. Unlocking the file cancels the current approval request.