Approvals: review AI drafts before they go live
Edit, approve, reschedule, or regenerate posts that need approval. What Needs approval means, and when Approvals stays empty.
PostlessSeptember 3, 20263 min read
Approvals (sidebar) is the review queue for the active brand: “Posts awaiting your approval before publishing.”
AI-generated posts wait here when Require approval is on for that brand (the default). Posts you write yourself with Create Post do not.
What “Needs approval” means
The badge Needs approval means the post is AI-generated and not approved yet. It will not publish — not at the scheduled time, and not via Publish now — until you approve it.
Dashboard counts these under Pending reviews.
A separate badge Review suggested · AI quality n/10 is quality guidance only. It does not change workflow status.
Open the queue
- Select the brand in the sidebar switcher.
- Click Approvals.
- Or use Dashboard Quick Actions → Approvals.
The list is that brand only.
Review a post
On each card you can:
- Edit — opens the post editor (copy, platforms, media).
- Reschedule — pick a new date and time.
- Approve — marks the post approved. If it has a scheduled time, it stays on Scheduler and publishes when due.
- Approve & Publish Now — only when the status is Missed (scheduled time already passed while it was still unapproved).
In the editor, unapproved AI posts show Approve instead of the Publish menu. After approval, Publish offers Publish now and Schedule….
Regenerate (editor) rewrites AI copy. It does not approve the post. Regenerations per post are capped by plan (Creator 3; Pro and Team 5). When the cap is hit, Regenerate is disabled.
Save stores edits without approving.
What happens after Approve
| Starting state | After Approve |
|---|---|
| Has a future schedule | Leaves Approvals; Scheduled on Scheduler; goes out at scheduled time |
| Missed, you used Approve & Publish Now | Published (if connected accounts and media rules pass) |
| No schedule | Approved draft; use Publish now or Schedule… in the editor |
Turning Require approval off does not auto-approve posts already in the queue. Those stay listed until you approve or delete them. New AI posts skip the queue.
When Approvals is empty
Empty title: No posts awaiting review.
- Approval off: “Nothing left to approve. New posts publish automatically while approval is off.”
- Approval on: “When approval is required, new posts land here first.”
Create Post from that empty state opens a manual draft, which will not appear here.
If this fails
- Connect a platform for this brand before approving or publishing. Use Open brand publishing (Publishing Defaults) or Settings → Connections.
- Character limit exceeded — edit before publishing. Approve is blocked until copy fits.
- Instagram variant with no media: approve/publish is blocked until you attach or generate media (Media → Attach from inbox… or Generate with AI…).
- Approval is turned off for [brand]. New AI posts skip this page. Enable Require approval in brand Workflow if you want new posts here first.
- You generated from Planner or Inbox but see nothing: confirm the active brand matches, and that the post is AI-generated.