# Approve, lock and re-open a proposal

URL: https://engiprose.com/help/review-and-approval/approve-lock-and-reopen
Updated: 2026-09-13
Audience: reviewer

Approve a reviewed proposal, understand what the approval lock protects, and re-open it when more review work is needed.

Approval freezes the reviewed proposal before export. EngiProse records who
approved it and when, changes the proposal to **Approved**, and makes its
content read-only until an eligible person re-opens it.

:::figure src="/help-figures/review-and-approval/approve-lock-and-reopen-1.png" srcDark="/help-figures/review-and-approval/approve-lock-and-reopen-1-dark.png" alt="An approved proposal Final screen with the approver byline, locked confirmation, approval history, read-only document preview, and Re-open action" caption="The locked Final screen" route="/proposals/$proposalId/finalize/final"
:::

This workflow is available when your Organization Admin has turned on in-app
review. In organizations without a Reviewer stage, the proposal is marked final
instead.

:::checklist title="What you'll do"
- Confirm the proposal is ready to approve
- Review the locked proposal and its approval history
- Re-open it safely if the review must continue
:::

## Approve the proposal

The **Approve** action appears while a proposal is **In Review** for people on
that proposal's Approvers list.

::::steps
:::step
Open the Reviewer stage and finish your tracked changes and comments.
:::
:::step
Select **Approve**. The confirmation explains that the proposal will be locked
for export and cannot be edited until it is re-opened.
:::
:::step
If tracked changes are still pending, review the warning before you continue.
Approval does not discard those marks. It freezes them with the approved
content.
:::
:::step
Confirm **Approve**. The proposal moves to **Approved**, and EngiProse opens the
Final screen.
:::
::::

If the proposal needs author changes instead, use **Return with notes** rather
than approving it. See [Handle returns and
resubmits](/help/review-and-approval/returns-and-resubmits).

## What the approval lock does

The Final screen shows the approver and approval time, the proposal's approval
history, and a read-only preview of the frozen document. The lock protects the
approved version from further editing while you continue toward export.

Select **Continue to Export** when you have checked the frozen content. For the
rest of that flow, see [Mark a proposal
final](/help/finalize/mark-a-proposal-final).

:::warning title="Pending changes are preserved"
Approving with pending tracked changes does not accept or reject them. They stay
visible in the frozen document and cannot be changed until the proposal is
re-opened.
:::

## Re-open an approved proposal

An Admin, Organization Admin or a person on the proposal's Approvers list can
see **Re-open** while the proposal is approved.

::::steps
:::step
Select **Re-open** from the proposal overview or Final screen.
:::
:::step
Read the confirmation and add an optional reason. If the proposal already has
an exported record, the dialog also warns that re-opening will delete the saved
final document and clear its sent date and recorded outcome. You can export and
save a new final after editing.
:::
:::step
Confirm **Re-open**. The proposal returns to **In Review**, while the earlier
approval and re-open event remain in its approval history.
:::
::::

Re-opening resumes the reviewer's workflow. It does not return the proposal to
the author. If the author needs to revise the draft, choose **Return with notes**
from the Reviewer stage after re-opening.

::::faq title="Common questions"
:::q question="Can I edit an approved proposal without re-opening it?"
No. The approved document is read-only. Re-open it before making more review
changes, or continue to Export if the approved version is correct.
:::
:::q question="Who can re-open the proposal?"
An Admin, Organization Admin or anyone listed as an approver on that proposal
can re-open it while it is approved.
:::
:::q question="Does re-opening erase the approval history?"
No. The history keeps the earlier approval and adds the re-open event, including
the person and time. A later approval is added as another event.
:::
::::