Definition
Approvals in Chatter is a feature that posts approval requests directly to an approver's Chatter feed, allowing them to approve or reject records without leaving the feed. When an approval request is submitted, a Chatter post with Approve and Reject buttons appears in the designated approver's feed, streamlining the approval workflow within the collaboration tool.
Real-World Example
At their company, the Salesforce admin at FreshStart Inc. leverages Approvals in Chatter to automate a multi-step process that previously required three different people to complete manually. Approvals in Chatter now handles the entire sequence in seconds, sending notifications at each step and logging every action for audit purposes.
Why Approvals in Chatter Matters
When Approvals in Chatter is enabled, submitting a record for approval creates a Chatter post in the designated approver's feed with inline Approve and Reject buttons. The post includes the submitter's name, the record being approved, and a comment field for notes. Approvers can take action directly from the feed on desktop or mobile without navigating to the record or Items to Approve list.
This feature is particularly useful for approvers who spend more time in Chatter or the Salesforce mobile app than in the traditional Setup and record interfaces. It also unlocks mobile push notifications for approvals through the Salesforce mobile app, which is often the fastest way to get a decision from a manager who isn't sitting at a desk. Enabling it requires a single toggle in Setup plus the right Chatter feed configuration.
How Organizations Use Approvals in Chatter
- •FreshStart Inc. — Enabled Approvals in Chatter for their expense approval process because their managers live on mobile. Expense approvals used to sit for days waiting on desktop logins; now they get approved from phones within hours of submission.
- •Vertex Global — Uses Approvals in Chatter as the primary approval surface for every field sales manager. Their managers rarely open the Salesforce desktop UI, but they all have the mobile app, where Chatter approvals post as push notifications.
- •Nimbus Tech — Combined Approvals in Chatter with an automated reminder Flow that re-posts stale approvals into the approver's feed after 24 hours. This cut average approval time from three days to one.