Resolve approval workflow blockers

A draft reaches review but cannot move forward. Approvers see pending approval on the post, but Approve, schedule, or publish actions stay disabled or fail with a blocker message on the preview.

Symptoms

You may see one or more of these patterns:

• The post stays in pending approval after someone already approved their step.
• The approval preview lists review reasons such as account disconnected, media generation failed, or review requested.
• Workflow still shows the row as blocked even though the assigned approver is available.
• Client approval is open and publishing or scheduling will not proceed.
• A teammate placed the post on hold and no one can clear it from the thread.

Likely causes

• The post is waiting on the next approver in a multi-step workflow.
• The active approval workflow is inactive, missing a step, or not set as the default for the brand.
• A target social profile is disconnected, expired, or inactive.
• Media generation or rendering failed for a format that requires assets.
• Client approval is configured to block publishing until the client decides.
• The active brand in App Home does not match the brand on the post.
• A manual hold is still active on the post.

Checks

Work through these checks in order:

1. Open the post from Workflow, type /social-approve, or use the approval notification or approval thread.
2. Read review reasons and system flags on the preview. Note any account, media, or client messages.
3. Confirm the brand switcher matches the brand on the post.
4. Open Manage workflows and confirm a workflow is active, includes the right approvers, and is set as default when your team uses more than one.
5. In Settings, open Connected Accounts and check every profile tied to the post.
6. If the post uses client approval, open the clients dashboard and read pack status.
7. If media is required, open App Home or Create and check whether a generation or render job failed.

Multi-step approval workflows require the Team plan or higher. An approval workflow must already be configured for the brand.

Fixes

If approvers still cannot act after these steps, refresh App Home and reopen the approval preview from the thread.

Confirm the fix

The post shows the next expected status: an approved step complete, ready to schedule, returned to the creator with reasons, or moved to changes requested or rejected when someone rejected it. Approvers no longer see the item as blocked in Workflow, and review reasons that blocked progress are cleared or explained.

Prevent it next time

• Keep approval workflows active and assign a default workflow before creators submit for review.
• Reconnect expired social profiles as soon as account health warnings appear in Settings.
• Resolve failed generation or render jobs before sending posts for approval.
• Confirm client records and delivery channels before packs go out on the client approval path.
• Train approvers to use /social-approve or Workflow so pending items do not sit unnoticed.

Contact support

Escalate when the workflow is active, accounts are healthy, and approvers with the right role still cannot approve after a refresh.

Send support:

• Workspace name
• Brand name
• Post title or ID shown in Slack
• Workflow name
• Exact blocker text from the preview or approval thread
• Screenshots of the preview and Workflow row if they disagree

Related docs

• Create and manage approval workflows
• Approvals and review governance