Approval Workflow

CompassDocs has a built-in editorial workflow so changes to published documents can be reviewed before they go live. Admins choose between two modes from Settings → Workspace.

The two modes

Strict (review required) — default

• An Editor’s changes to a published doc, or a request to publish a draft, become a pending change request in the review queue.
• Approvers and Admins review the queue and either approve (which applies the change live and snapshots a version) or reject it with a note.
• Editors can still freely create and edit drafts — only changes affecting live content need review.

Open (edit freely)

• Editors can publish and update live docs directly, with no review step.
• Approvers still handle suggestions from the review queue.

Switch modes at any time; it only affects how future changes are handled.

The review queue

Approvers and Admins get a Review queue in the sidebar (with a badge showing the number of open items). It gathers two kinds of work:

• Change requests — proposed edits/publishes awaiting approval (strict mode).
• Suggestions — notes from any signed-in user proposing an edit.

Each change request shows the proposed title and content; approving it updates the document, records a new version attributed to the original author, and notes who approved it. If the submitter attached a change note, the approved version keeps it (with “approved by …” appended).

The same rules cover version restores and draft-branch merges: in strict mode an editor’s restore or merge on a published document lands in the queue as a change request, while approvers and admins apply theirs immediately.

Suggestions

Any signed-in user — including Viewers — can leave a “suggest an edit” note on a document. Suggestions don’t modify the doc; they land in the review queue for an Approver or Admin to triage (accept or dismiss). This is a low-friction way to capture fixes from people who don’t have edit rights.

Choosing a mode

• Use strict for regulated or high-stakes knowledge (policies, compliance, security runbooks) where a second set of eyes matters.
• Use open for fast-moving teams that trust their editors and value speed over gatekeeping.

Notifications (Webex, Teams, Slack, email)

Under Settings → Notifications, admins can register notification channels so workflow events land in your chat tools — or inboxes — the moment they happen:

• Change submitted for review — an editor’s change is waiting in the queue
• Change approved / Change rejected — a reviewer made the call
• Document published — a doc went live directly
• Suggestion left — a reader submitted feedback

Each channel can be scoped to specific spaces (leave unchecked for all), so #engineering only hears about Engineering docs.

Setup per platform:

• Webex: add the Incoming Webhooks app to a space and copy its URL.
• Microsoft Teams: in the channel, create a Workflow from the “Post to a channel when a webhook request is received” template and copy its URL (CompassDocs sends Adaptive Cards).
• Slack: create an Incoming Webhook for the channel.
• Email: configure the Email (SMTP) section on the same page (any relay works — Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, SES, Postmark…), then add an Email channel with comma-separated recipients.
• Anything else: choose Generic JSON and point it at your own receiver.

Paste the URL, pick the events, and hit Test to see a message appear. Deliveries run in the background (they never slow down a save), each hook shows its last delivery status, and webhook URLs are stored write-only since they embed the channel secret.