Approval workflows in Eklo: steps, approvers and info requests

In Eklo, a request form's workflow runs every time someone submits the form: steps that ask people to approve the request, create tasks, post to a channel and send messages, in the order you choose.

Set up a workflowCopy Anchor Link

Who: the form's editors (its owner, the people and teams listed as editors, the owning team's admins, and the workspace's owners and admins).

1. In Forms, hover over the form and click Workflow.
2. Click Add step and choose:
   • Require approval: the submission waits until someone approves it.
   • Create a task: adds a task to a project.
   • Post to chat: posts a message in a channel.
   • Send a message: sends an email or an in-app notification.
   • Add a condition: runs some steps when the answers match it (Then) and others when they don't (Otherwise).
3. Click a step to fill it in, then click Done.
4. Click Save workflow.

Steps run from top to bottom. Use the arrows on a step to move it, or Wrap in a condition to put it inside one. Any step can also have Run only when…, a condition on the answers, like "Amount is more than 500".

In titles and messages, click Answer to insert an answer from the submission, such as the event name. The preview under the box shows it by its question, like "[Event name]".

Require approvalCopy Anchor Link

Choose the Approver:

By role is exact: choosing Admin doesn't include the owner. People set their own title under Role / title in Settings → Profile.

Nobody can approve their own submission. If the only person who could decide is the submitter, the workspace's owners and admins can decide instead.

Create a taskCopy Anchor Link

Pick the Project and type the Title, plus an optional Description and Due date. You can only pick projects you can see.

Tick Embed the request in this task to show the submission's answers in the task. Anyone who can open the task can read them, so leave it off for sensitive forms in widely shared projects.

Post to chatCopy Anchor Link

Choose Channel, pick the channel and type the Message. Or choose Form submitter to send the submitter a direct message from the form's owner. Someone who submitted a public form has no account to message, so the step is skipped for them, and the submission's timeline says why.

When the workflow asks for approval, a channel post also carries a card for the request: its reference, form, who sent it and where the decision stands, linking to it. It's added only when everyone in the channel can open the request for good: as its submitter, one of the form's editors, someone who has decided it, or through a task linked to it. Anyone who can't open it later, someone who joins the channel, say, sees a private card.

Send a messageCopy Anchor Link

1. Under Send as, choose Email (to their inbox) or In-app (to their notifications).
2. Under Send to, choose The submitter, people By role, a Specific user or a team's Team members. Messages only reach people in your workspace, apart from The submitter of a public form (see below).
3. Type the Subject (email) or Title (in-app), and the Message.

The submission's page shows who each message went to.

Workflows on public formsCopy Anchor Link

A public form has no signed-in submitter, so Create a task and Post to chat steps act as the form's owner: the task is created by them and the message is posted under their name. The submission's timeline shows these steps ran "as the form owner".

Send a message to The submitter emails the address they gave on the public link, from "your church via Eklo", while the form is still public. Anyone can type someone else's address, so the email leaves out their answers: write it so it reads well without them. The step is skipped, and the timeline says so, when they gave no address, when it's an In-app message (they have no Eklo notifications), or when that address has already had 10 of these emails through Eklo this hour, from any church, or the form 100.

Approve or decline a submissionCopy Anchor Link

Submissions waiting on you appear in three places: the notification bell, Tasks → Approvals → Waiting on me, and the link in the notification. The number on Tasks in the rail, or in the bar along the bottom on a phone, counts them. The notification names the submission, who sent it and the step it's at. Once someone decides, it's marked read for everyone it went to.

1. Open the submission. Its answers come first; click Open submission to see everything, files included.
2. The line above the answers says which step it's at and who it's waiting on, like "Step 1 of 2 · Ministry approval · Waiting on you". Click Show all steps to see each step, who decided it and when.
3. To approve, click Approve. To leave the submitter a note, click Add a note first.
4. To decline, click Decline, give a Reason and click Decline again. A decline can't be undone, so Eklo asks first.
5. Click Next waiting to open the next submission waiting on you, or Back to approvals when there's none left.

On a phone, Approve and Decline stay at the bottom of the screen while you read.

If you open a submission from its form instead, it says Waiting on your approval when the decision is yours; click Review and decide.

When you approve, the workflow moves on to its next step. When you decline, it stops. Once the first approver decides, the submitter can no longer edit their answers.

If the workflow made tasks before the approval, the submission lists them under Tasks. A decline leaves them where they are: each task says the submission was declined, with your reason, and the people assigned to or watching it get a notification, so they can decide whether the work still stands.

When the submission is finally approved or declined, the submitter gets an email. Signed-in submitters also get a notification, and both show your note or reason. Their email also has a View your submission button. Someone who submitted a public form gets a shorter email at the address they typed, saying only whether it was approved or declined: your name and your note aren't shared, because Eklo can't check that the address is really theirs.

Under Tasks → Approvals:

• Waiting on me: submissions waiting on your decision, with how long each has waited and the step it's at.
• My submissions: your own submissions and where each one is: Waiting on someone, Waiting on your answer when an approver asked you something, Approved or Declined.
• All submissions: every submission in the workspace. Owners and admins only.

Each list updates by itself when a decision comes in, and an approval's Approvals link goes back to the list you opened it from.

To point someone at a submission that's waiting on approval or has been decided, click Share on it and pick a channel or someone you've messaged. The card shows the form, its reference, who sent it and where it stands; the answers stay behind the link. People who can't open the submission see a private card with none of its details.

Request more infoCopy Anchor Link

When you can't decide without an answer from the submitter:

1. On the submission, click Request info.
2. Type Your question (up to 2,000 characters).
3. Optionally, under Let them update, tick answers the submitter may change. File and person answers can't be offered.
4. Click Send question.

The submission shows Needs more info and waits. If you decide anyway, or click Ask again with a new question, the open question is withdrawn.

Answering a questionCopy Anchor Link

The submitter gets an email with an Answer the question button. Signed-in submitters also get a notification.

1. Open the link. It shows the question.
2. Type Your answer (up to 5,000 characters), and update any answers you were offered.
3. Click Send answer. Signed-in submitters can then click View your submission.

The submission goes back to the approver, who gets a notification. The answer shows what changed, like "Event date: April 5, 2026 → April 12, 2026"; longer answers just say they changed. If the approver who asked can no longer decide (say they left the team the step names), everyone who can decide it gets the notification instead.

Edits a submitter makes before the first decision show the same way on the submission's timeline.

People who submitted a public form answer through the link in the email, without signing in. That link works for 14 days. If it has expired, reply to the church directly or ask them to send the question again.

If the submitter of a public form left no email address, in an Email question or the Your email box, Eklo can't send them a question. See Hearing back.