How do I route media for approval in StreamWork?

With StreamWork, you can route individual files or entire batches of media through automated, multi-stage approval workflows—ensuring every stakeholder weighs in at the right time.

Approval routing in StreamWork makes stakeholder sign-off seamless. With just a few clicks, you can send media through one or more approval stages. Choose who should review the file and assign permissions—whether they can comment, leave a decision, or simply view the media—set a deadline, and let StreamWork automate the rest.

To get started with approval routing:

1. To route one file or multiple media for approval, go to your Project and check the box in the top-left corner of the media version you want to route. Once you've selected the media you'd like route, click the three-dot menu below the thumbnail and select ‘Create Approval Routing.’

   
   

2. Next, the approval routing workflow builder will appear. First, enter a name for your approval routing in the text field. Then decide if you would like to create a new approval routing from scratch or use a saved template. If it’s your first time routing an asset, simply set up your workflow and save it as a template for future use.

3. After selecting 'New approval routing,' you’ll be taken to the approval workflow builder. Here, you’ll see the media you’ve selected for approval. You can add additional media from your project into the routing (or even media from within the project's folders), or remove any that you no longer want to route. 

4. Once you've selected the media you'd like route, you'll next move to the stage creation step of the approval workflow builder. First, enter a name that identifies the department, team, or client this stage is for—for example, 'Legal Team.' This helps clarify who needs to review the media in that step of the approval process.


5. Next, set a due date and time for the stage—for example, 'Legal team to review by Friday at 12 PM PST.' This ensures reviewers know exactly when their feedback is due.

 

6. Next, add the reviewers for this stage by clicking on "add stage reviewers" and typing their name or email address. Reviewers can be internal or external—no StreamWork account required. You can also share unlimited approval links at no cost.

7. Once reviewers are added, choose their permissions—such as whether they can comment, leave a decision, or simply view the asset. Ensure that at least one reviewer per stage has approval decision permissions in order for the approval workflow to progress once live.

If you'd like additional team members to help manage the approval workflow, or at a minimum be in-the-know about the approval workflow, add them as a reviewer and ensure the "Manage" permission is checked. This will make them an approval manager which means they'll be able to edit, delete, and restart the approval. They'll also receive all approval manager notifications to their email inbox.

 

8. After adding reviewers, choose when the stage should be marked complete. Should all reviewers weigh in, or just one? You can also specify if only one decision is needed to move the asset to the next stage. 

Decision Options for Approval Stages

When setting up an approval stage, you can decide how reviewer input is collected before the workflow can move forward:

• All Decisions – Every reviewer in the stage must submit a decision before the stage is marked complete and routing can proceed.

• One Decision Submitted – Only one reviewer needs to provide a decision for the stage to be considered complete. Once that decision is in, the workflow moves to the next stage.

• Select Reviewers – You can require decisions from specific reviewers only. The stage won’t complete until the designated reviewer(s) have submitted their decision, regardless of whether others in the stage weigh in.

9. Once your first stage is completed, click "+ add stage" to build additional stages and follow the same directions. 

10. Once approval stages are set-up, you'll be navigated to approval settings where you’ll find options for advanced controls to tailor the approval workflow to your needs. Learn more in this Help Center article.

 

11. Last, you'll be navigated to the "Final review" stage where you can review the approval workflow set-up before you route to reviewers. You can make any edits to media selected, stages, etc. from this screen. You can even click any of the approval workflow set-up steps (ex. Media, Stages, Settings, etc) to make edits. If everything looks good, you have two options: Save and launch approval, or simply "Launch now." Save and launch will save your workflow as a reusable template. Launch now will launch the approval workflow immediately.

Once launched, StreamWork will auto send review links to all reviewers so they can start proofing.

Approval routing tracking

You can track the status of each stakeholder’s review at any time from the Projects → Approvals tab. If you click into an approval routing, you'll see all media that was routed and the review status of that media, including when a link was sent to a review, when it was opened, whether comments were left, and if a decision was made for each individual media you routed for approval.

StreamWork automatically calculates the decision outcome for each stage in an approval. If a reviewer marks ‘Changes Required,’ your team will be notified to make updates and upload a new version. Once uploaded, routing will continue based on your designated settings.

Advanced approval routing

Depending on your StreamWork plan, the number of stages and reviewers you can add to an approval workflow may be limited. To unlock advanced routing features—including multi-stage workflows with more reviewers—explore our Team and Enterprise plans here.