Global Settings

Global admin can access additional global settings in Approval Path.

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

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Allow Manual Initiation of Approvals

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

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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 user steps updates

Allows the approval creator to reassign active or future User steps if the assigned approver is unavailable. Enabling this globally reveals the "Allow change of the user during the process" checkbox in individual User Step configurations.

Enable email steps updates

Allows the approval creator to update email addresses in active or future Email steps to correct typos or change external stakeholders mid-process. Enabling this globally reveals the "Allow change of the email during the process" checkbox in individual Email Step configurations.

Custom Fields

When enabled, Approval Path keeps the Approval Status, Progress, Percentage and Pending Approvers work item fields up to date, and refreshes the work item view after an approval action so the new values show immediately. Add the fields to a screen in Jira settings to see them.

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.

Caches Settings

A maintenance option has been added to the bottom of the Global Settings > General tab to help manage outdated user information.

• Clear user cache: Click this button to remove all cached user profile data for this site.

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

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• ‘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

• ‘Enable quick action buttons’ option enables an authorized person to decide directly from the list of approvals. Once enabled, all available action buttons will appear in the Action column, allowing the authorized person to take action directly from the list.

 

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Quick action buttons

 

• ‘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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Choose notification mechanism. How notifications leave Approval Path. Three options:

• Jira notification sends email through Jira.

• Direct email sends email from Approval Path itself.

• Slack delivers to Slack instead. See the Slack integration documentation for setup.

Enable action buttons in notifications.

Lets approvers decide straight from a notification. Approve, Reject and Abstain buttons appear in the message. The approver still has to be logged in to Jira to submit the decision.

Enable actions without login.

Lets approvers decide without logging in to Jira. The link stays active for 24 hours.

Allow sending email approval reminders. Adds a mail action button next to each active approval, so someone can send a reminder manually.

Enable automatic reminders. Sends reminders to approvers who have not yet decided, at the interval you set. A maximum of three are sent per approval. Individual definitions and approvals can override this.

Default reminders interval. How long to wait between automatic reminders, as a number plus a unit: hours, days, or weeks.

Include approval creator in automatic reminders. Also sends the reminders to whoever started the approval, telling them which step it is on and whose votes are missing. Individual definitions and approvals can override this.

Work item watchers receive an email for the events you select here.

An approval is started.

Can be turned off for a single approval definition, in its Watcher notifications section.

A step is approved, rejected, abstained or voted on.

Sent for every step decision, including the one that completes the approval. Can be turned off for a single step, in its Watcher notifications section.

Status comments on work items.

Posts a comment with the approval status on the work item when an approval is completed or rejected.

Enable notifications on Approval Path workflow trigger failure. Sends an email when an Approval Path workflow trigger fails. Turn it off to stop these alerts.

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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.

Approval Decision Deadline

Controls how long approvers have to make their decision before the decision deadline passes.

Approval Validity Expiration

Controls how long an approved Approval remains valid before it expires and may require re-approval.

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.

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

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

  • Show for Agents: Controls whether JSM agents can see the Approval Path in the Customer Portal.

  • Show for Customers: Controls whether JSM customers can see the Approval Path in the Customer Portal.

• 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.

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.

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Enable this feature to restrict approval definitions so they only appear on relevant work item types. For detailed instructions on configuring mappings and applying them to definitions, see our full guide:

Work Item Type–Specific Approvals

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Configure Webhooks to receive real-time HTTP notifications for key approval events, such as creations, step decisions, and completions. You can manage your endpoint URLs in the Settings tab and monitor delivery logs directly in the Call History tab. For payload examples and setup instructions, see our full guide: Webhook Support

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Charts pick their colors from this palette, using the 20 slots in order starting with the first. A chart with three categories takes the first three colors, one with eight takes the first eight.

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Changing a slot applies to every chart on the site, so this is the quickest way to bring all dashboards in line with a house style. Colors set on an individual gadget override the palette for that gadget only.

Reset to Atlassian defaults restores the standard colors.

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Approval Path can send approval notifications to Slack, so approvers can act without switching tools. Requests can arrive as direct messages, channel messages with approver mentions, or both, and when interactive actions are enabled approvers can approve, reject, abstain, or vote straight from Slack. If Slack delivery fails, Approval Path falls back to email.

A Jira instance can hold up to 10 connected Slack workspaces, with a default that individual approval definitions can override.

Getting started takes a connected workspace, Slack set as the notification mechanism, a delivery mode, and a default channel. For approvers to act from Slack, both Action buttons in notifications and Actions without login must be enabled in Settings → Notifications.

For the full setup, message customization, notification types, and troubleshooting, see How to Connect Approval Path for Jira with Slack.

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Approval Path can add AI-powered analysis to an approval through the AI Prompt step. Selected work item data, approval history, comments, and custom fields are sent to your configured AI provider, and the result appears as a card on the approval timeline. Use it to summarise a request, assess risk, check policy compliance, or prepare a recommendation before a person decides.

The step is advisory and non-blocking. It never approves or rejects anything, and the approval continues even if the analysis fails or the monthly token budget runs out.

The Usage tab tracks tokens used this month against the configured budget, total executions, and usage per definition. When the budget is reached, AI Prompt steps fail until an admin raises it.

For prompts, templates, variables, and privacy settings, see AI Prompt Step Documentation.