# Notifications

Nothing here needs setting up. Ask somebody to approve a page and they are notified by email, and in Slack too if your site is connected. This page is for when you want to know exactly who hears about what.

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## Who hears about what

| **Event**                | **Reviewers** | **Requester** | **Watchers** |
| ------------------------ | ------------- | ------------- | ------------ |
| **New request**          | YES           | NO            | NO           |
| **Added as a reviewer**  | YES           | NO            | NO           |
| **Somebody responds**    | NO            | YES           | YES          |
| **Approved or rejected** | YES           | YES           | YES          |
| **Expired**              | YES           | YES           | YES          |

Reviewers are the people on the list. The requester is whoever raised it. Watchers are named per space in [Space settings](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/space-settings.html).

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## Emails

Approval emails come from **Capable Approval**, and the reply-to address is the person who asked. Replying goes to a human rather than into a void, which is worth knowing the first time somebody hits reply out of habit.

Each email carries the page title, who asked, and a button that opens the right place: **Respond to request**, **View response**, **View approved page** or **View page**, depending on why you got it.

![image-20260308-200509.png](https://help.gocapable.com/images/731e3b40-3eda-41ff-b73c-7b1f2384b1cc.webp)

### Turning your own emails off

Open **Capable, Approval, Notifications** and switch off email notifications. It is per person and per site.

📝

It is all approval emails or none. There is no per-event choice, and there is no equivalent switch for Slack, which is on or off for the whole site and set by an administrator.

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## Watchers

A space administrator can name up to **50 people** who hear about every approval outcome in the space, whether or not they are reviewers. It is aimed at a compliance lead who needs to know what got signed off without sitting in every review.

Watchers hear about outcomes only, never about a request being raised. A watcher who cannot read the page gets nothing at all.

![image-20260902-170214.png](https://help.gocapable.com/images/2935b7ea-33d5-4b23-80f2-881c6aaad5dc.webp)

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## Slack

Direct messages, one-click Approve and Reject buttons, and channel notifications are all covered in [Slack](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/slack.html).

![image-20260902-164229.png](https://help.gocapable.com/images/07db193f-afbe-466d-86b0-e86fb8cd77ae.webp)

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## A few things that catch people out

* **Expiry notices lag by up to an hour**, because they come from the hourly sweep rather than firing on the minute. See [Expiry and re-approval](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/expiry-and-re-approval.html).
* **Editing a page sends no notification** even though it resets the approval. Reviewers find out next time they look, or when the request is raised again.
* **Withdrawing a request notifies nobody.** If you cancel one, go and tell the people you asked. See [Remove or restart an approval](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/remove-or-restart-an-approval.html).
* **Comments are included in full** in both emails and Slack messages, so everyone on the list reads them. Write them accordingly.
* Watcher copies use the same wording as the requester copy, so they can read as your approval request when it is not yours.
* People who cannot read the page are skipped silently, which is the usual reason somebody says they heard nothing. See [Who can see what](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/who-can-see-what.html).

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## Related

[SlackMessages, buttons and channels.](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/slack.html)

[Space settingsAdding watchers to a space.](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/space-settings.html)

[Expiry and re-approvalWhy expiry notices arrive late.](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/expiry-and-re-approval.html)

[Track approvalsThe screen that replaces chasing people.](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/track-approvals.html)

[Remove or restart an approvalWhy withdrawing tells nobody.](https://help.gocapable.com/approval/remove-or-restart-an-approval.html)

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_Now you know exactly who hears what, and when._