Delegated Approver
A Delegated Approver is a user designated on another user's profile to approve or reject approval requests on the original user's behalf.
Definition
A Delegated Approver is a user designated on another user's profile to approve or reject approval requests on the original user's behalf. The original approver still receives every approval request, but the delegate also gains the right to act on those requests through the Items to Approve list. The platform records both the original approver and the delegate in the approval history, so the audit trail stays intact.
Delegation is set up on the User record (Setup, then Users, then the user's detail page, then Delegated Approver). It is most commonly used for vacation coverage or to give a manager's assistant the ability to clear backlog while the manager focuses elsewhere. Salesforce does not move the request; both users see it, and either can act.
How delegated approval works in a Salesforce approval process
How delegation differs from approval reassignment
Delegation grants approval rights without moving the request. The original approver still sees the request in their queue and email, and the delegate can also act on it. Reassignment, by contrast, transfers the request to a new approver who becomes the sole holder. Use delegation for ongoing coverage; use reassignment when someone is leaving and ownership needs to formally change hands.
Where the Delegated Approver field lives
DelegatedApproverId is a Lookup field on the User object. Set it by editing the user record: Setup, then Users, then the user's detail, then Delegated Approver. Users can also set their own delegate from Personal Settings if the admin enables that permission. The field is timeless: there is no end date, so the delegation runs until the field is cleared.
What the delegate can and cannot do
A Delegated Approver can approve or reject any request currently assigned to the original approver. They cannot delegate further (no chained delegation), and they cannot take ownership of the request. Approval Process actions like Reassign and Reject are available depending on the process design. The platform writes the actual acting user (the delegate) into ProcessInstanceHistory, so audits show who really clicked Approve.
The Process Automation Settings switch
Org-wide delegation must be enabled in Setup, then Process Automation Settings, then Enable Delegated Approvers. If the switch is off, the Delegated Approver field on User has no effect. Most orgs have it on by default, but greenfield orgs and orgs that turned it off for compliance reasons may need it re-enabled.
How the delegate finds requests to act on
The delegate does not get email notifications by default for the original approver's requests. They navigate to Items to Approve (the home page component or list view) and see entries for both their own requests and the requests delegated to them. Some teams set up a custom report on ProcessInstance with a filter on ActorId or NextApproverIds to surface delegated items more prominently.
Email notifications and the lone-approver problem
Original approvers continue to receive the standard approval notification emails. Delegates do not get those emails automatically; they have to check the Items to Approve list. If you want delegates to be notified, build a Flow that fires on ProcessInstanceWorkitem creation and emails the delegate where one is set. This is a common request that requires a small custom build.
Compliance and the audit trail
ProcessInstanceHistory records every step of an approval process, including which user actually approved. When a delegate approves, the record shows the delegate as the ActorId and the original approver as the OriginalActorId. SOX-compliant orgs use this to demonstrate that an approver-of-record was always in place, even when a delegate took the action. Disable delegation in process steps that require named approval (Setup, the specific Approval Process step, Allow Delegate to Approve).
How to set a Delegated Approver for a user
Delegation is a per-user setting that takes a single field. Once configured, the delegate can act on the original user's approval requests immediately, without reassigning anything.
- Enable delegation org-wide
Setup, then Process Automation Settings. Confirm Enable Delegated Approvers is on. Save if you toggle it.
- Open the original approver's User record
Setup, then Users, then click the name of the user whose approvals you want to delegate. The user detail page opens.
- Set the Delegated Approver field
Click Edit. In the Approver Settings section, set Delegated Approver to the user who will cover. Save the record.
- Confirm the delegate has the right permissions
The delegate needs access to the records being approved (read at minimum, edit for the approval process to function). If sharing or field-level security blocks them, the approval action will fail with an unhelpful error.
- Test with a pending request
Submit a test record for approval to the original user. Log in as the delegate (or use Login As if SSO is configured). Confirm the request appears in their Items to Approve list and that Approve and Reject buttons work.
- Clear the delegation when no longer needed
Edit the user record and blank out Delegated Approver. The change takes effect on the next request; existing requests already approved by the delegate stay approved.
Setup, then Process Automation Settings, then Enable Delegated Approvers. Required for any delegation to take effect.
Allow users to set their own delegate from Personal Settings. Controlled by the Modify All Data permission or a custom permission set.
Each Approval Process step has an Allow Delegate to Approve checkbox. Uncheck it for steps that require named approval (sensitive financial sign-offs, regulatory attestations).
ProcessInstanceHistory records both the actor (delegate) and original actor for every step. Used in compliance reports.
- Delegation is not chained. If User A delegates to User B and User B delegates to User C, only B can approve A''s requests, not C. Approval delegation stops at one hop.
- Delegates do not get email notifications by default. They have to check Items to Approve. Build a Flow if you want them notified automatically.
- Per-step Allow Delegate to Approve overrides the user-level setting. If a process step disables delegation, only the original approver can act on that step''s requests, regardless of the user''s Delegated Approver field.
- Clearing the Delegated Approver field does not retract approvals already given. Past actions remain valid; the change only affects future requests.
Trust & references
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Delegated Approver.
- Designate a Delegated ApproverSalesforce Help
- Process Automation SettingsSalesforce Help
Hands-on resources to go deeper on Delegated Approver.
About the Author
Dipojjal Chakrabarti is a B2C Solution Architect with 29 Salesforce certifications and over 13 years in the Salesforce ecosystem. He runs salesforcedictionary.com to help admins, developers, architects, and cert/interview candidates sharpen their fundamentals. More about Dipojjal.
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