# Automatic approvals Relying on people to remember to ask for approval is the weak point in most document control processes. Capable can raise the request for you: on every new page in a space, on every page somebody updates, or routed to different reviewers depending on how the page is labelled. --- ## Two switches, both off until you turn them on | **Switch** | **What it does** | **Out of the box** | | ----------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------ | | **Page creation** | Every page created in the space arrives with an approval already waiting, using the default team own reviewers, quorum and expiry. | OFF | | **Page update** | Raises an approval whenever somebody publishes a change to a page that has never had one. | OFF | Page creation is the one for a controlled space where nothing should exist unapproved. Page update is quietly the more useful of the two: it brings an existing space up to full coverage without a migration project, because as people naturally edit old pages, those pages get pulled into the process one at a time. The switches are independent. Turn on either, or both. --- ## Send different pages to different reviewers One default team does not always fit. You can map page labels to teams, so a page labelled `security` goes to the security reviewers and a page labelled `hr` goes to HR.[\[1\]](#fn-1) Capable uses the **first label on the page that matches a rule**. If no label matches, the default team is used instead, so nothing falls through the gap. Label routing has its own switches for creation and update, separate from the plain default-team ones, so you can route on creation but not on update if that suits how your space works. ⚠️ **Adding a label to a page that already has an approval does not reassign it.** Label routing decides who to ask at the moment the approval is raised, not afterwards. To move an existing request to a different team, change it on the page. See [Request an approval](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/request-an-approval.html). ![image-20260906-173628.png](https://help.gocapable.com/images/d1aa6867-ae40-4bd6-929c-f22985257bbb.webp) --- ## Set it up 1 Create the team 2 Enable it here 3 Turn it on Create the team that will review these pages and add its members. Automation has no reviewer list of its own, so this is not optional. See [Teams and assignment](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/teams-and-assignment.html). ![image-20260902-113047.png](https://help.gocapable.com/images/01d35bfc-3c77-4511-a26b-bf3bd4335b27.webp) --- ✓ Create the team 2 Enable it here 3 Turn it on Enable the team in this space and set its quorum and expiry. A team that exists but is not enabled here cannot be used automatically. See [Manage approval teams](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/manage-approval-teams.html). ![image-20260902-113236.png](https://help.gocapable.com/images/2360f45b-96d3-4137-8e50-bbd583ab235e.webp) --- ✓ Create the team ✓ Enable it here 3 Turn it on Open space settings, Capable Approval, Automation, choose the default team and flip the switches you want. Every option is listed in [Space settings](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/space-settings.html). When a new page is created and/or an existing one updated, you can: **Request approval from a specific team** ![image-20260902-113338.png](https://help.gocapable.com/images/d21cb02a-41d6-419b-8efe-04b833b1f2c2.webp) **Request approval when specific labels are on the page** ![image-20260902-113408.png](https://help.gocapable.com/images/9c2fe834-9f68-4ed3-b575-298c66ba9591.webp) --- ## A few things that catch people out * Nothing is raised if the default team is **missing, not enabled in the space, or has no members**. There is no error on the page. The approval simply does not appear.[\[2\]](#fn-2) * Automatic approvals are raised on behalf of whoever created or updated the page, so [the history](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/view-approval-history.html) still shows who triggered it. * Page update only fires for pages with no approval on _any_ version. It will not re-raise on a page that has been through the process before. * Blog posts are not covered. You can approve one by hand, but automatic raising and automatic reset on edit apply to pages only. See [Known limitations](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/known-limitations.html). ℹ️ **There is no Capable action in Confluence Automation rules today.** Automatic approvals are driven by the space settings above, not by Confluence own automation engine. If you need a trigger these switches do not cover, tell us what it is and we will look at it. --- 1. A space can hold up to 50 label rules. If you are anywhere near that, it is usually a sign the space wants splitting up rather than another rule. [↩](#fn-ref-1) 2. This is far and away the most common reason automation looks broken. Check the team is enabled in that specific space and has at least one member before you look anywhere else. [↩](#fn-ref-2) --- ## Related [Teams and assignmentThe teams automation depends on.](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/teams-and-assignment.html) [Manage approval teamsCreating teams and enabling them per space.](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/manage-approval-teams.html) [Space settingsEvery automation option and its default.](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/space-settings.html) [Expiry and re-approvalThe other way pages come back around.](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/expiry-and-re-approval.html) [PublishingPublish approved pages automatically too.](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/publishing.html) [ComplianceWhere automation fits a regulated space.](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/compliance.html) --- _Your space now looks after itself. Nobody has to remember anything._