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Approvals put a post in front of someone before it goes out. The post holds at Pending approval until an approver acts on it — it will not publish in the meantime, even if its scheduled time passes. This is the mechanism agencies use to get client sign-off, and teams use for a second pair of eyes.

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Send a post for approval

1

Write the post

A post needs content before it can be sent. An empty one is refused with Add content before requesting approval.
2

Select Request approval

In the post editor.
3

Choose who approves it

Pick one or more people from the brand’s members. At least one is required — Ocoya refuses with Select at least one approver otherwise.
4

Send it

The post moves to Pending approval and the approvers are notified.

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What approvers can do

Approve it. The post continues on its existing schedule:
This post has been approved and can continue with its scheduled publishing flow.
Approving doesn’t publish the post — it releases it to publish at the time it was already set for. If that time has already passed, give it a new one. Reject it. The post goes back to being a draft:
This post has been rejected and moved back to draft.
That means a rejected post loses its scheduled time. Fix whatever was wrong, then reschedule and send it for approval again.
People on the Client role can approve and decline posts but cannot create or edit them, which is exactly the shape most agency sign-off needs. See Roles and permissions.

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Finding posts waiting on approval

Planner’s Board view has a Pending approval column with a live count, which is the quickest way to see what’s outstanding.
Ocoya Planner in Board view with Draft, Scheduled, Pending approval, Posted and Error columns, each showing how many posts it holds

The Pending approval column in Board view shows what's waiting on someone.

Clients don’t see Drafts or internally-pending posts at all, so what a client sees in that column is only what’s actually waiting on them.

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Common problems

“The post didn’t go out even though it was scheduled.” Check whether it was still pending approval. A post awaiting sign-off does not publish, and Ocoya does not publish it late once approved — see Why didn’t my post publish? “I can’t send this post for approval.” Two reasons Ocoya gives: the post has no content, or it’s locked because it’s already publishing or published. The message is Approval is unavailable while this post is locked. “My approver can’t see it.” They need to be a member of that brand. Membership is per brand, so someone in your other brand won’t see it.

Roles and permissions

Which roles can approve, and which can only approve.

Planner views

Where to see everything awaiting sign-off.