Global Settings

Global admin can access additional global settings in Approval Path.

To find them, navigate to Apps → Approval Path → Settings. There you can navigate to:

General

Allow Manual Initiation of Approvals

Once it’s enabled, users can start new approvals directly from a work item

Once it’s disabled, users won’t be able to run new approvals

Enable dynamic user field steps

When enabled, Work Item User Field approval steps support dynamic updates while the step is active.

If the value of the configured user field changes during the approval process, users can be automatically added to or removed from the active step based on the updated field value.

This ensures that approvals always reflect the current state of the work item and that the correct users are involved without requiring the approval to be restarted.

Enable label condition filtering

When enabled, label-based conditions can be configured to control how approvals are triggered and executed.

You can define label conditions at:

• Definition level – to prevent an approval from starting if the work item does not meet the specified label criteria (has or has not certain labels).

• Step level – to automatically skip approval steps that do not match the configured label conditions.

This allows approval processes to dynamically adapt based on how a work item is categorized.

Enable work item type filtering

When enabled, approval definitions can be restricted to specific work item types.

This allows you to control which approval definitions are available or triggered based on the work item type (for example, Story, Task, Bug, etc.). If a work item does not match the configured type criteria, the approval definition can’t be applied.

This ensures that approval workflows are only used where relevant and appropriate.

Actions

This tab allows you to configure general actions and notifications settings for the approval process.

 

• ‘Enable abstain action’ option allows users to take action to abstain from voting. Once enabled, the Abstain button will appear as an available action in the active approval step. You can find the detailed documentation page here: Abstain Option

• ‘Require comment on actions’ option enables mandatory commenting for all or selected user actions(Approval, Rejection, Abstain) in the Approval Path. Once it’s enabled, it allows customization on the definition level.

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Notifications

• Enable action buttons in notification emails option allows users to make decisions directly from received emails. Once enabled, the Approve/Reject buttons will appear in the content of sent notifications. By default, this option is disabled.

  • Enable actions without login option allows users to make decisions directly from the received email without the need to log in to Jira. The link will be active for 24 hours.

• Allow sending email approval reminders dictates if and what type of reminders a user can send to another currently assigned user to a step of approval. The two notification mechanisms are Jira notification (default) and direct email.

• Enable automatic reminders option - sends reminders automatically to users who haven't voiced their input within the designated timeframe. It allows customization on the definition and approval levels and has a maximum of three notifications.

• Choose notification mechanism defines how notifications are sent. There are two options:

  • Jira notification is selected by default and allows sending emails directly from Jira.

  • Direct email allows sending emails directly from the Approval Path.

• Enable notifications on Approval Path workflow trigger failure: When enabled, an email will be sent if an Approval Path workflow trigger fails. Disable this to stop receiving such alerts.

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Expiration

Expiration date settings allow you to define values on three levels: global, definition, and during approval creation.

• Optional – expiration date can be omitted at lower levels,

• Required – expiration date is mandatory at lower levels,

• Custom – allows setting the maximum expiration period.

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Email

This tab lets you configure and test email settings, including sender address and delivery method.

• Email Carrier: Uses the integrated application-wide provider by default for reliable delivery.

• Template Customization: Personalize your emails by adding a custom logo or a custom HTML wrapper to match your corporate branding.

• Test Settings: Send a test email to your inbox to verify the layout, logo, and sender details before reaching out to external users.

Message templates

To learn how to configure settings, you can check the documentation about Notification templates

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Permissions

These settings let you control visibility and permissions for Approval Path sections in both team-managed and company-managed Jira spaces, allowing space permissions to govern who can view, add, edit, or manage approvals.

Gain more information about permissions here.

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JSM

• Jira Service Management Customer access: Disabling this option will prevent customers from seeing the Approval Path.

• Public comment visibility: Disabling this option will prevent customers from seeing the Approval Path comments.

• Choose which link(s) to include in approval notifications for Jira Service Management: Defining whether approval notification emails include an internal Jira link, a customer portal link, or both (default). Verification confirmed correct behavior - including when approvals are in non-JSM.

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Preferences

The preferences tab allows the global admin to adjust preferred views for displaying the Approval path on the work item level, affecting all users.

Each user can also individually customize these settings for their own preferences. More information can be found in User preferences.