--- title: "Run a workflow and approve its review steps" description: "Start a saved workflow on a document, follow each step's progress, approve or correct extracted values, and retry or cancel a run that failed or stalled." url: https://help.pdfbetter.com/automation/run-workflow-approve-review/ collection: "Workflows & integrations" section: "Workflows" updated: 2026-10-18 publisher: "PDFBetter (AI Generated Inc.)" --- # Run a workflow and approve its review steps > On the workflow under **Recipes**, click **Run on a document** and pick a document. Progress shows under **Runs**; a review step shows **Needs approval** until you click **Approve** or **Reject**. - Counts toward: OCR pages, AI credits Do it in PDFBetter: https://pdfbetter.com/app/workflows/ A run is one pass of a workflow over one document. It goes through the steps in order and stops at any **Review** step until someone decides. ## Start a run 1. **Open Workflows**: In the sidebar, under **AI & automation**, click **Workflows**. 2. **Choose the workflow**: Find it under **Recipes** and click **Run on a document**. 3. **Pick a document**: Search your documents and click the one to process. Each step uses its usual allowance (OCR pages, AI credits). If you have no documents yet, upload one from your dashboard first. 4. **Follow the run**: The run opens under **Runs**. Each step shows **Waiting**, **Working**, **Done**, **Failed** or **Skipped**. Folder-triggered workflows start on their own when you move a document into the watched folder. The run says who started it: you, an agent, or a folder upload. ## Approve a review step When a run reaches a review step it shows **Needs approval**, and the **Runs** list shows how many are waiting. Open the run to decide. 1. **Check the extracted values**: Each field is marked **Found on page** (with the page number), **Check this** or **Not in document**. Correct any value in place. Tables are corrected in the extraction view. 2. **Approve or reject**: Click **Approve** (it reads **Approve with 1 correction** when you changed something) and the run continues. Click **Reject**, then **Reject and stop**, to end the run here. A review of redaction suggestions works differently: suggestions are only marks. Click **Review in the editor**, [apply real redaction](https://help.pdfbetter.com/editing/redact-pdf-permanently/) to what you need (or dismiss it), then come back and approve. > **Note:** If you turned on **Let a connected agent approve this step** in the builder, an agent with workflow access may approve it too. With it off, only a person can approve, in the dashboard. ## Run statuses | Status | Meaning | What you can do | | --- | --- | --- | | **Queued** | Waiting to start. | Wait, or **Cancel run**. | | **Running** | A step is working. | Use **Refresh run** to update, or **Cancel run**. | | **Needs approval** | Paused at a review step. | **Approve** or **Reject**. | | **Done** | Every step finished. | Download the export from the run. | | **Failed** | A step couldn't finish. | **Retry** starts again from the step that failed. | | **Stopped** | Canceled or rejected. | Start a new run. | An **Export** step creates a file you can download from the run. If you chose **Also send to my webhook endpoints (Business)**, it's also delivered to your endpoints. ### Why did a step fail with a limit message? Steps draw on the same monthly allowances as the app. If you've used up OCR pages or AI credits, the step fails. [Add credits](https://help.pdfbetter.com/ai/ai-credits/) or wait for the reset, then click **Retry**. ### Can I run a workflow on several documents at once? Each run handles one document. Start one run per document, or use a folder trigger and move several documents into the folder. ### Can Zapier or Make start a run? Yes. The **Run Workflow** action starts one, and triggers fire when a run needs approval, finishes or fails. ## Related articles - [Automate repeated steps with saved workflows](https://help.pdfbetter.com/automation/saved-workflows.md): Open Workflows, pick a recipe or Start empty, add steps, choose how it starts, then click Create workflow. Each step uses its usual allowance (OCR pages, AI credits), and your plan sets how many workflows you can save. - [PDFBetter actions and triggers in Zapier and Make](https://help.pdfbetter.com/automation/zapier-make-actions-triggers.md): Zapier and Make get the same set: 15 instant triggers (signing, forms, exports, bulk fills, workflow runs) and actions for documents, pages, conversion, AI, extraction, workflows, workspaces, forms and signatures. - [Get webhooks when documents are signed or forms submitted](https://help.pdfbetter.com/automation/webhook-endpoints.md): In Settings → API keys → Webhooks, enter an https Endpoint URL, pick Events and click Add endpoint. Copy the signing secret (shown once) and use it to verify the PDFBetter-Signature header. - [Extract data from many PDFs into a table](https://help.pdfbetter.com/ai/extract-pdf-data-table.md): Go to Extractions, choose a preset or define fields, pick documents and click Extract. Review each value against the quote it came from, approve or correct it, then export XLSX, CSV or JSON. Each page read costs 1 credit. - [Redact a PDF permanently](https://help.pdfbetter.com/editing/redact-pdf-permanently.md): Choose Redact (in the Cover group), drag over everything to remove, then click Apply redactions and confirm. Text, images and drawings under each mark are removed from the file, not just covered, and the affected pages become images. --- Source: https://help.pdfbetter.com/automation/run-workflow-approve-review/ · PDFBetter Help Center · Last checked against the product 2026-10-18. Questions: support@pdfbetter.com