Reviewing and approving uploads

When someone uploads a file, it waits for you to look at it and either approve it or send it back. That review step is what makes a collected document mean something: approved is a decision you made, not merely a file that arrived.

Only uploads work this way. Text, choice, terms and task answers have no approval step, so they count as answered the moment they come in.

Where the queue is

The Needs review section on Requests lists every unreviewed upload across every portal, oldest first, so you can work through them without opening each portal. It shows 50 at a time; approve or reject those to see the rest. To approve several at once, tick them and click Approve selected, or use Select all on this page. Each ticked file is approved exactly as a single Approve would. A file where AI read a different expiry date has no tick box, because it needs its own check with the document open. When files are waiting on two or more portals, the Show list above the rows narrows the section to one portal, with the number waiting on each. Review then works through that portal's files and closes after the last one.

You can also review on a portal's own page. A request with files waiting shows a Review button with the number waiting. It opens the same Review window, on that page, working through that one request's files: the document beside Approve and Reject, the same keys, and Change date. View on the request lists everyone's responses, with Approve and Reject beside each file, and is where you change a decision already made.

The review window

Review on a row opens the document and the decision in one window. Images and PDFs show in place (on a phone, PDFs open in a new tab), and other file types open in a new tab. After each decision the next submission loads, so you can work the whole queue without closing it.

Keyboard shortcuts work while it is open: A approves, R starts a rejection, and the left and right arrows move between submissions. Under the heading, the window also says what else that person still owes on the same portal, for example "Sam still owes 2 other required items here: Trade licence, Photo ID", so you can tell whether the file in front of you is the last thing holding them up.

If the request asked for an expiry date, the date the person entered shows beside the file, in red if it has already passed. Check it against the document before you approve. It is typed by the person uploading, and an approved certificate carrying the wrong expiry date will not warn you when it should.

If the date is wrong and the document is fine, you do not need to reject the file. In the Review window, click Change date beside the expiry date, enter the date shown on the document, and click Save date. The window stays on the same file so you can approve it straight away. Use it when you can see the right date on the document, or the person has told you it by phone or email. WorkZerk keeps the date they entered, shows it beside the corrected one as "Entered on upload as", and records who changed it and when. The date can be changed while the file is waiting for your decision, not after it is approved or rejected.

Approving

Approve is one click and takes effect immediately. It also clears any earlier rejection on that file. To undo an approval, click the file's Approved button under View on the portal's own page.

Approving can also trigger the Document approved email in Automations, which is off until you turn it on. If you have set a document retention period, approving or rejecting a file starts that clock. See Deleting documents after you approve them.

Rejecting

Reject asks for a reason, and you cannot reject without one. Be specific: "this is the certificate of currency, we need the policy schedule" saves a round trip that "wrong document" does not. In the Review window on a wide screen the document stays beside the reason while you write it. If you have saved reasons, each shows a number: press that number while the reason box is empty to use it.

Reasons you use often can be saved under Rejection reasons on the Requests screen. They show as buttons above the reason box: click one to fill it in, then edit it or send it as it is. If you have none yet, Add the standard set gives you a starting list.

By default, rejecting emails the person your reason and a link to their page. Tick Do not email (name) the reason when you have already spoken to them. They still see the reason on their page either way.

The rejection always applies, even when the email cannot go. A message after you reject says whether the email went and, if not, why: the person has no email address, they have no active link, you have reached your email limit, or your own email address is not verified yet.

Rejected files are listed in Rejected uploads on the Requests screen, with your reason. On a portal's own page, clicking a Rejected file lets you edit the reason or Clear rejection, which puts the file back to Needs review.

What the person sees

Their private link updates on its own. A rejected file is marked Rejected with your reason underneath, so they know what to fix before they upload a corrected one. Nothing here needs them to log in or install anything.

Getting help

If something here does not match what you see on screen, email [email protected] and we will take a look.