How approvals work#
Approvals follow the roles. There's no switch to turn them on.
- Editors always submit. In the post editor they get Submit for Approval instead of Publish All and Schedule All.
- The owner and Admins review. They approve or reject in Team → My Approvals or in the Feed. Their own posts don't need approval.
- The owner's plan must include approvals: Pro, Agency, Lifetime Growth and Lifetime Agency do, and so does the free trial. See Team seats on each plan.
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Draft | The Editor is still working on it. |
| Pending Approval | Submitted, waiting for the owner or an Admin. Nobody can schedule or publish it in this state. |
| Scheduled | Approved, with a date and time. It goes out by itself. |
| Back to Draft | Approved without a date, rejected, or taken back by its author. |
Submit a post (Editors)#
- Create the post, or open a draft.
- To have it go out at a set time, click Schedule at the top of the post, pick the day and time, and press Done. Without a date, an approver publishes or schedules it after approving.
- Press Submit for Approval at the bottom right. It stays grayed out until the post is complete: hover over it to see what's missing.
- Heropost shows Post submitted for approval. The post reloads with the banner "This post is pending approval. Editing will withdraw it from review."
While it waits, the post shows Pending Approval in Content → Drafts, in the Feed and in Team → My Approvals.
The workspace owner gets an Approval Request alert in the bell, unless they turned it off. Admins don't get an alert, so they check My Approvals or the Feed. Heropost sends no emails for approvals. See Notifications.
Review posts (owner and Admins)#
- Open Team → My Approvals. The Team item in the left menu opens it.
- Choose the Pending tab. Each card shows the first image, the title (or "Untitled post"), the start of the text, and who submitted it and when.
- Press View to open the post in the editor and check it in full.
- Press Approve. Or press Reject, type a reason in Reason for rejection (optional)… if you like, and press Confirm Reject.
Heropost shows Post approved or Post rejected. Approve has no confirmation step. The page lists every request in the workspace, not only the ones you handled: the tabs All, Pending, Approved and Rejected show a count each, and rejected cards show "Feedback: {your reason}".
In the Feed: posts waiting for approval have Approve and Reject under them. There's no reason box there, so use the post's comments to explain. See The Feed.
On a phone: open the menu at the top of the screen and tap Team; the Approvals chip lists the requests. Reject asks for the reason in a small window ("Reason for rejection (optional):"). Pending cards don't open the post, so read it in the Feed first.
What happens after you decide#
| You | The post |
|---|---|
| Approve a post with a date and time still ahead | becomes Scheduled and goes out at that time. |
| Approve a post with no date | goes back to Draft. The owner or an Admin opens it and presses Publish All or Schedule All. |
| Approve a post whose time has already passed | isn't approved. Heropost says "The scheduled time for this post passed while it was awaiting review. Reschedule the post and approve again, or reject it with feedback." |
| Reject | goes back to Draft, with your reason. |
The person who submitted it gets Post Approved or Post Rejected in the bell, with your reason, unless they turned those alerts off.
When the time passed while the post waited#
You have two options:
- Reject it with a reason such as "Please pick a new time." The Editor sets a new date with Schedule and submits it again.
- Reschedule it yourself (owner or Admin): open the post, press Edit to take it out of review, set a new time with Schedule, and press Schedule All.
Change or take back a submitted post#
- The author takes it back: open the post and press Edit under the banner, or press Withdraw in the Feed ("Withdraw approval request and return to Draft"). The post goes back to Draft. In My Approvals, the request moves to Rejected with the note "Withdrawn by editor".
- Who can take it back: Editors, only their own posts. The owner and Admins, any post.
- No one is told when a post is taken back.
- After a rejection: edit the post and press Submit for Approval again. That creates a new request; the old one stays in the list.
Editing a scheduled post needs approval again. If an Editor presses Edit on a scheduled post, it goes back to Draft and is no longer scheduled. It won't go out until they submit it again and it's approved.
Approvals and AI#
- Hero_Agent: when an Editor works with Hero_Agent, it can send their posts for approval instead of scheduling them. Hero_Agent's own Approve and Deny cards on Home are something else: they ask you to confirm what it's about to do. See Hero_Agent.
- Connected AI tools can submit a post for approval. It appears in My Approvals like any other.
- To stop an AI tool from publishing on its own, switch off Publish and schedule in its permissions. It can still write drafts and send them for approval. See Links, permissions and activity.
- Workspaces whose approval setting is Required: a connected AI tool can't schedule or publish a post there until the owner or an Admin approves it, even with Publish and schedule on. The tool is told: "This workspace requires human approval before posts can be scheduled or published. …". This setting applies to AI tools only. It doesn't change what people in the workspace can do.
If it doesn't work#
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| No Submit for Approval button | You're the owner or an Admin (you schedule directly), you're a Viewer, or the post isn't a draft. | If it's scheduled, press Edit first. If it's pending, it's already submitted. |
| Submit for Approval is grayed out | The post is incomplete, for example "Please select accounts for {Network}" or "Post incomplete. {error}". | Hover over the button, fix what it names, and try again. |
| "Viewers cannot submit posts for approval." | Viewers can't submit posts. | Ask for the Editor role. |
| "Only draft posts can be submitted for approval." | The post is scheduled, pending or published. | Press Edit to turn a scheduled post back into a draft. |
| No Approve or Reject buttons | You're an Editor or a Viewer, or the post isn't pending. | Ask the owner or an Admin. |
| "Looks like you've reached the limit of your plan. Please upgrade your account to access for features." on My Approvals or the Feed | The owner's plan doesn't include approvals. | See Team seats on each plan. |
| "The scheduled time for this post passed while it was awaiting review. …" | The post's time went by while it waited. | See When the time passed. |
| "This approval has already been reviewed." | Someone else approved or rejected it first. | Refresh the page. |
| "Post status has changed since approval was submitted." | The post was taken back or changed. | Refresh, then check Content → Drafts. |
| "The associated post no longer exists." | The post was deleted. | Nothing to approve. |
| "You don't have permission to review approvals." | Only the owner and Admins can review. | Ask them. |
| "Post {id} is pending approval. It must be approved or rejected in Team > Approvals before it can be scheduled or published." | Someone tried to schedule or publish a post that's waiting. | Approve or reject it first. |
| "Only the workspace owner or an admin can perform this action." | An Editor tried to take back someone else's post. | Ask the author, the owner or an Admin. |
Questions#
Can I let one Editor publish without approval?
Make them an Admin. Admins publish directly, and they can also approve posts and manage the team. See Roles and permissions.
Can I require approval for Admins too?
No. Only Editors submit posts for approval.
Do approvers get an email when a post is submitted?
No. The workspace owner gets an alert in the bell. Admins see waiting posts in Team → My Approvals and the Feed.
Does a post need more than one approval?
No. One approval from the owner or any Admin is enough.
How do I ask for changes instead of rejecting?
Reject with a reason. The post goes back to the Editor as a draft with your feedback, and they submit it again when it's ready.