Admin Handbook Overview

1. Product Introduction

DingTalk OA Approval is an official DingTalk app that delivers an out-of-the-box OA Approval product. With simple configuration, it flexibly meets an organization’s day-to-day approval needs, improves team management and business efficiency, helps enforce management policies, and reduces operational risk.

2. Usage Instructions

1) Becoming an Approval Admin

The DingTalk Super Admin has all Approval operation permissions by default. Any non-Super Admin who needs permissions such as editing forms, creating forms, or exporting all data must first obtain Approval Sub Admin permissions. There are two ways to become an Approval Sub Admin:

1. The Super Admin sets an Approval Sub Admin

1.1 On mobile

In Contacts, find the Organization you belong to and tap “Manage” to open the organization management page. Tap “Admin Settings” → “Set Sub Admin”.

Tap Manage in Contacts to open the organization management page

Enter an admin group name, add the users to be granted permissions, and set the management scope.

Enter the admin group name and add users

Assign permissions and select OA Approval under Micro app permissions.

Finally, tap “Save” to finish.

1.2 On desktop

Enter the DingTalk Admin Console URL in your browser, or download and install the desktop client from the DingTalk website and click ”···” in the lower-left corner of the desktop Home to open the Admin Console. From the left-hand navigation bar, go to [Security & Permissions] → Manage permissions, open the admin groups page, and click “Add admin group”.

Add admin group page in the Admin Console

Enter the admin group name, select the users to be granted permissions, and set the management scope as needed.

Enter the admin group name and set the management scope

When assigning permissions, select OA Approval under Micro app permissions, then click “Save”.

Select OA Approval under Micro app permissions when assigning permissions

2. Apply to become an Approval Sub Admin

2.1 On mobile

As a non-Approval Admin, open DingTalk OA Approval, tap “Settings”, tap “Create Approval form”, tap “Apply for admin permissions”, and tap Submit.

Tap Apply for admin permissions and submit

Once the Admin receives the pending Approval notification and approves it, the corresponding employee is automatically granted Approval admin permissions.

Pending Approval notification received by the Admin on mobile

2.2 On desktop

Open DingTalk OA Approval, click “Create Approval form” in the upper-right corner, click “Apply for admin permissions”, then click “Submit”.

Click Create Approval form on the desktop

Click Apply for admin permissions and submit on the desktop

Once the Admin receives the pending Approval notification and approves it, the corresponding employee is automatically granted Approval admin permissions.

Pending Approval notification for granting Sub Admin permissions

2) Approval Form Setup and Management

1. Open the Admin Console

1.1 From a browser

Approval Admins can sign in to the DingTalk Admin Console and click [Approval] on the Home page.

Click Approval on the Admin Console Home page

1.2 From DingTalk on desktop

Alternatively, download and install the desktop client from the DingTalk website, click “Workbench”, and locate the “OA Approval” app.

Locate the OA Approval app on the Workbench

Click “Manage Approval Forms” in the upper-right corner to open it (only users with Approval management permissions can see this entry).

2. Create an Approval Form

2.1 Create an Approval form

On the “Approval Admin Console” → “Form Management” page, click “Create Approval Form”.

Click Create Approval Form on the Form Management page

You can select a Template and one-click “Preview” and “Enable”, or “Create from blank”.

2.2 Edit an Approval form

On the “Approval Admin Console” → “Form Management” page, click “Edit” in the form’s Action column.

3. Configure the Approval Form

3.1 Basic Settings

Basic Settings cover the icon, form name, who can submit, and other basic information.

Setting	Description	Details
Icon	The form icon displayed in the Approval workbench, Workbench, group Plugins, and Search box	Required The Standard edition supports 6 colors + 60 styles The Premium edition supports uploading a Custom icon
Form name	The form name displayed in the Approval workbench, Workbench, and group Plugins; can be used to search for the form	Required No two forms in the same Organization may share a name
Group	Displayed in the Approval workbench and Approval Admin Console — the Group the form belongs to	Required No two Groups in the same Organization may share a name If the current Groups don’t meet your needs, return to Form Management to add a new Group
Form description	The form description displayed in the Approval Admin Console	Optional Up to 100 characters
Who can submit	Which users in the Organization can submit this form; options: All Specific users	Default: “All” When Specific users is selected, this form is invisible to users not on the list
Form admin	Which Admins in the Organization can edit or delete this form; options: “All Approval Admins” “Specific Approval Admins”	Default: “All Approval Admins” If “Specific Approval Admins” is selected, Approval Admins not on the list cannot view or edit this Template in the Admin Console, nor export its data

3.2 Form Settings

Configure the Approval form Content — that is, what submitters see and fill out when submitting an Approval.

Available control library

Includes multiple controls such as options, Number, Text, and Date. Click or drag a control from the left panel to add it to the form; long-press and drag a control to reorder it freely.

Available control groups

DingTalk Approval also provides attendance/HR control groups such as leave request, overtime, hiring, and offboarding; finance control groups such as reimbursement and payment; and legal control groups such as contract and seal use. These control groups are linked with Attendance clock-in / Smart HR / Smart Finance / Smart Contract, so when an Approval containing a control group is used, the employee’s attendance, on/offboarding, reimbursement/payment, and contract/seal-use data are synchronized automatically to the Attendance clock-in / Smart HR / Smart Finance / Smart Contract systems. You can click or drag the desired control group to add it, then configure it on the right. Each form can contain at most one control group.

Basic Settings

Basic Settings typically include: control title, hint text, control rules (such as option settings for a Select control or Type settings for a Date control), and whether the control is printable and Required.

Control panel	Common settings	Details
Title	The Title displayed on the form; up to 50 characters
Hint text	Gray hint text shown inside the input Field when empty; up to 50 characters
Default	Default content shown inside the input Field when empty; when the Step permission is “editable”, the corresponding Field can be modified
Required setting	Off by default; when On, the control’s Field is validated on submission — if empty, submission is not allowed
Print setting	On by default; when Off, the Field does not appear on the downloaded or printed form details PDF

3.3 Process Settings

The middle area is the process design canvas, which shows the Steps of the process visually. Click + to add an approver, CC recipient, handler, conditional branch, and so on. Click a Step to configure it on the right. Configuring an approver means specifying who approves at that Step, along with the routing rules for situations such as multiple approvers or an empty approver.

Click a Step to configure the approver on the right

Approval Step types

Step type	Description	Details
initiator	The initiator Step is the starting point of an Approval process. On this Step, you can configure who can submit this Approval form and which Fields the initiator can fill out	Default Step The Step name cannot be modified After submission, view it in the “Submitted by me” category of the process center Field permissions on the form can be configured — editable, Read-only, and hidden are supported
approver	Can perform Accept, Decline, transfer, return, sign request, and Comments actions on the Approval form	Optional Step The Step name can be modified Before approval, view it in the “To Do” category of the process center; after approval, view it in the “To Do” category of the process center Field permissions on the form can be configured — editable, Read-only, and hidden are supported
CC recipient	When the process routes to this Step, this role has no review capability but receives the Approval form and can view and comment on it	Optional Step The Step name can be modified After the process routes to this Step, view it in the “CC’d to me” category of the process center Field visibility on the form can be configured — Read-only and hidden are supported
handler	Can perform Submit, transfer, return, sign request, and Comments actions on the Approval form	Optional Step The Step name can be modified Before handling, view it in the “To Do” category of the process center; after handling, view it in the “To Do” category of the process center Field permissions on the form can be configured — editable, Read-only, and hidden are supported
conditional branch	This Step routes different situations to different Approval branches See >>> How to set up conditional approval	Optional Step Branch names can be modified Branches can be copied Conditions can be added — different conditions within a set have an “AND” relationship Condition groups can be added — different Condition groups have an “OR” relationship At runtime, branches are evaluated in priority order Once any branch’s rules pass, the remaining branches are not tried — at most one conditional branch executes
parallel branch	This Step routes multiple Approval branches simultaneously.	Optional Step Branch names can be modified Branches can be copied Conditions can be added — different conditions within a set have an “AND” relationship Condition groups can be added — different Condition groups have an “OR” relationship Multiple branches can execute simultaneously based on the rules you configure
Connector	This Step invokes a Connector configured in “My integrations”	Optional Step
Automation	This Step	Optional Step

The approver, CC recipient, and handler can each be one of several types, flexibly meeting different Approval routing needs.

Approver type	Description	Details
Specific users	Users specified by the process designer perform approval, CC, or handling	Click Add to select users from Contacts within the Organization The Standard edition supports 50 users; the Premium edition supports 100 users
initiator	The initiator participates in approval, CC, or handling
Chosen by initiator	The initiator selects the approver when submitting the request	Selection mode: Select / Multiselect — the initiator can select one or multiple approvers Selection scope: All Company / Specific users / Role — the initiator can only select from within this scope
Role	A specified Role — such as HR, Administration, or Finance — performs approval See >>> How to set up role-based approval	A Role is a specific set of users configured within the Organization. It corresponds to Role Management in the DingTalk Admin Console; go there to review and modify. When a Role is used as approver and a Role member changes (for example, leaves), you can quickly replace the process participant by updating the Role’s users
direct manager	The initiator’s direct manager approves See >>> How to set up direct manager approval	The direct manager (reporting line) is a person-level leader configured on the personal profile page under DingTalk Admin Console > Contacts Only one may be set
department manager	The initiator’s department manager approves; defaults to the head of the direct Department, with other Tiers configurable	The Organization’s designated department manager corresponds to the settings under DingTalk Admin Console > Contacts; go there to review and modify A Department can have multiple department managers
multiple levels of managers	Managers at each successive Tier above the initiator approve in order	Corresponds to the settings under DingTalk Admin Console > Contacts; go there to review and modify The highest approval Tier can be up to the nth Tier above the initiator, up to 20 Tiers; approval up to the highest Tier defined in Contacts is also supported Note: When the initiator is themselves at the nth Tier in Contacts, approval routes up one additional Tier;
Manager of Department in form	Based on the Department information the employee fills out on the form when submitting, route to the head of the corresponding Department for approval	Drag the “Department” control into the form; the approver of this process is the manager of the Department the initiator selected on the form
Role for Department in form	Based on the Department information the employee fills out on the form when submitting, route to a specific Role whose management scope is the corresponding Department	Drag the “Department” control into the form; the Role you configure is the approver, and the Role’s management scope is determined by the Department the initiator selected on the form
Contact in form	Route to the corresponding approver based on the Contact information the employee fills out on the form when submitting	This option is only available when a Contact control has been added in form design

The initiator, approver, CC recipient, and handler can each be assigned form action permissions.

Configure form action permissions for each Step

Form action permission	Description	Details
Editable	Can fill out and modify “editable” content on the form	Supported on initiator, approver, and handler Steps The initiator’s default form action permission is editable
Read-only	Can view “Read-only” content on the form but cannot fill it out or modify it	Supported on initiator, approver, handler, and CC recipient Steps The default form action permission for approver, handler, and CC recipient is Read-only When the initiator Step is set to Read-only, the current Step is invisible to the initiator
Hidden	Cannot view “hidden” content on the form	Supported on initiator, approver, handler, and CC recipient Steps

When multiple people participate in the same Step, sequential approval, joint sign-off, single sign-off, and Vote are supported.

Approval mode	Description	Details
Sequential approval	Multiple approvers approve in sequence	Approvers act one after another, and the Approval passes only when all Accept
Joint sign-off	The Step passes only when all approvers Accept	Approvers act simultaneously, and the Approval passes only when all Accept
Single sign-off	The Step passes when any one approver Accepts	Approvers act simultaneously; when any one Accepts, the Approval passes; when any one Declines, the Approval does not pass
Vote	Passes when the configured number of Accept votes is reached	Approvers act simultaneously; the Approval passes once the required number of Accept votes is reached

When the approver is set to a type such as manager, department head, or Role, Contacts may be incompletely configured — for example, no matching user can be found. In such cases, configure the routing rule for an empty approver.

Configure the routing rule for an empty approver

Handling	Description	Details
automatic approval	When no approver is found at this Step, the Approval form is automatically approved
Automatic decline	When no approver is found at this Step, the Approval form is automatically declined
Auto-transfer to Admin	The Approval form is automatically transferred to the Admin	Transferred to the Template admin by default; if there is no Template admin, transferred to the Approval Admin
Route to specified user	When the Role or manager is empty, the Approval form is automatically transferred to a specified user	Up to one user may be specified

3.4 Premium Settings

Premium Settings include usage rules for initiators and approvers, along with rules for form display and Permissions. Adjust them to fit your specific business scenarios.

See >>> Admin — going into Premium Settings

3.5 Preview & Publish

Preview the Approval form

Once setup is complete, click [Preview] in the upper-right corner to display a QR Code.

After scanning the QR Code with a phone, you can simulate switching between different roles and selecting different conditions to verify that the Approval process routes as expected.

Simulate previewing the Approval process on mobile

Publish the Approval form

After verifying that the settings are as expected, publish the Approval form by clicking [Publish] in the upper-right corner.

Click Publish to release the Approval form

You can save the QR Code, Copy the Link, add it to the Workbench, add it to a group, and so on — making it easier for initiators to use the Approval form.

Options after publishing the Approval form

4. Other Form Actions

In addition to Create and Edit, you can Copy, Move to, disable, Delete, and Sort individual Approval forms.

Other actions available for an individual Approval form

Form action	Description	Details
Copy	Copies the selected Approval form and opens it for editing	The copied Approval form has the same settings as the original, and its form name becomes “Copy of + original form name”
Move to	Moves the selected Approval form to another Group	An Approval form can belong to only one Group Adjustments made in the Admin Console are also reflected in the Group structure within the OA Approval app
Disable	Disables the selected Approval form	Once disabled, the Approval form is automatically moved to the [Disabled] Group Once disabled, the form is not visible in the OA Approval app Once disabled, the Approval form cannot be submitted Once disabled, the Approval form’s data is retained Once disabled, the Approval form can be re-enabled
Delete	Deletes the selected Approval form	Before deletion, all Approval data must be deleted first Once deleted, the form is not visible in the OA Approval app Once deleted, the Approval form cannot be submitted

5. Group Management

Sort forms within a Group

Click [Sort forms] in the upper-right corner of the Group.

Hover over the " drag to Sort icon

" icon in front of a form and drag it up or down to sort. When done, click [Save Sort].

Drag forms to reorder them, then click Save Sort

Other Group actions

Groups can also be renamed, deleted, and sorted.

Group action	Description	Details
Rename	Renames the selected Group	No two Groups may share a name Adjustments made in the Admin Console are also reflected in the Group name within the OA Approval app
Delete	Deletes the selected Group	Once a Group is deleted, the forms it contained are automatically moved to the [Other] Group
Sort	Adjusts the Group order	Adjustments made in the Admin Console are also reflected in Group ordering within the OA Approval app

3) Data Management

1. Data Query and Export

Click [Manage Approval Forms] in the upper-right corner, then [Form Data Management] to manage data.

Open Form Data Management from Manage Approval Forms

Query data by form name, Approval status, initiator, Approval Number, submission time, and completion time. The time range can span up to six months.

Select the query results — multiple Records or Select all — then click “Export all”.

Select query results and click Export all

2. Attachment Management

Click [Attachment storage management]. Data must be synced first when you open it for the first time.

3. Activity Log

Under [Data Management] → [Activity log] in the Admin Console, you can view Records of “Export”, “Print”, “Delete”, “Attachment cache cleanup”, “Template sync”, and other actions.

View the Activity log in the Admin Console

4. Process Handover

Approval process handover

When a user’s position changes or a user leaves, go to [Process Handover] in the Admin Console to bulk-replace the “Specific users” set as approvers in the Approval process with other “Specific users”, quickly completing the approver change. Selecting another type — such as manager or Role — replaces the manager or Role settings, and the approvers in the Approval process are then replaced automatically.

In Process Handover, select the approver to replace

Bulk-replace the specific approvers in the Approval process

Pending Approval form handover

Approval forms that have already been submitted and are in progress must be bulk-transferred via [Pending Approval form handover]. Note:

Handover is only possible for Approval forms that have already reached the Step to be handed over — Approval forms that have not yet reached that Step do not appear in the pending list;
For Approval forms set to use a Role or manager as approver that have already been submitted and are in progress, you must also perform a Pending Approval form handover. Adjusting the Role or department manager does not automatically replace the current approver;

5. Download Approval Form Details

Click View to open the form details, then click “Download” in the upper-right corner to download the current form’s PDF locally for archiving.

Click Download in the upper-right corner of the form details

Quick start

Role guides

Admin guide

Advanced capabilities

1. Product Introduction

2. Usage Instructions

1) Becoming an Approval Admin

1. The Super Admin sets an Approval Sub Admin

1.1 On mobile

1.2 On desktop

2. Apply to become an Approval Sub Admin

2.1 On mobile

2.2 On desktop

2) Approval Form Setup and Management

1. Open the Admin Console

1.1 From a browser

1.2 From DingTalk on desktop

2. Create an Approval Form

2.1 Create an Approval form

2.2 Edit an Approval form

3. Configure the Approval Form

3.1 Basic Settings

3.2 Form Settings

3.3 Process Settings

3.4 Premium Settings

3.5 Preview & Publish

4. Other Form Actions

5. Group Management

3) Data Management

1. Data Query and Export

2. Attachment Management

3. Activity Log

4. Process Handover

5. Download Approval Form Details

​1. Product Introduction

​2. Usage Instructions

​1) Becoming an Approval Admin

​1. The Super Admin sets an Approval Sub Admin

1.1 On mobile

1.2 On desktop

​2. Apply to become an Approval Sub Admin

2.1 On mobile

2.2 On desktop

​2) Approval Form Setup and Management

​1. Open the Admin Console

1.1 From a browser

1.2 From DingTalk on desktop

​2. Create an Approval Form

2.1 Create an Approval form

2.2 Edit an Approval form

​3. Configure the Approval Form

3.1 Basic Settings

3.2 Form Settings

3.3 Process Settings

3.4 Premium Settings

3.5 Preview & Publish

​4. Other Form Actions

​5. Group Management

​3) Data Management

​1. Data Query and Export

​2. Attachment Management

​3. Activity Log

​4. Process Handover

​5. Download Approval Form Details

1. Product Introduction

2. Usage Instructions

1) Becoming an Approval Admin

1. The Super Admin sets an Approval Sub Admin

2. Apply to become an Approval Sub Admin

2) Approval Form Setup and Management

1. Open the Admin Console

2. Create an Approval Form

3. Configure the Approval Form

4. Other Form Actions

5. Group Management

3) Data Management

1. Data Query and Export

2. Attachment Management

3. Activity Log

4. Process Handover

5. Download Approval Form Details