> ## Knowledge Base Index > Fetch the complete knowledge base index at: https://support.contracthero.com/sitemap.xml > Use this file to discover available pages before exploring further. > Pure-Markdown content can be obtained by appending a '.md' suffix to the content URLs listed in the sitemap (without the trailing slash). # Approval rules: require approval before signing or deleting *The screenshots in this article show the German interface. The English label is given first, with the German label in brackets.* An **approval rule** puts a control step in front of a critical action. ContractHero has two **rule types** for this: * **Contract signature** — the contract only goes out for signature once the approvers have agreed. * **Contract deletion** — the contract only moves to the recycle bin once the deletion has been approved. You pick the type when you create the rule. Everything else — approvers, groups, order, conditions — works the same for both types. ## What's in it for you Without an approval rule, four-eyes control depends on people's discipline — and on an email that hopefully gets answered in time. With a rule, the control step is **built into the flow**: the action doesn't happen until the approvers have actively agreed. You get clear accountability, an automatic audit trail and less compliance risk — and the process doesn't get slower for the person doing the work, because the approval request fires automatically. The **contract deletion** type adds a second benefit: you no longer have to take delete rights away to prevent accidental or unaligned deletions. The role can still delete — just not on its own. With the advanced conditions (team, status, category, list fields, amount and number fields with operators like **=, >, <, ≥**) you can target rules precisely — for example only employment contracts above a salary threshold. And with **several approvers per rule plus multi-step approvals** you can model your real internal approval structures, from simple four-eyes to a chain of "department → legal → management". > **Prerequisite:** approval rules are available to customers with the **Approval feature**. If you don't see the "Approvals" area, talk to your Customer Success Manager. ## Before you start * You have **admin or owner rights** in your ContractHero account. * The **Approval feature** is active for your organisation. * The people who should approve exist as **members** of the organisation (see related articles: "Invite people"). ## How it works ### 1. Open the approvals area Go to **Settings** („Einstellungen") → **Approvals** („Freigaben"). You'll see the **"Approval rules"** page with the subtitle "Configure approval workflows and rules for your organisation." The table lists every existing rule with its **name**, **rule type**, **status**, **assigned to** and its **configured conditions**. On a new account you'll first see "No approval rules found". ![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/1/2/5/2/12522a019f980500/image_8vooqt.png) ### 2. Create a new rule Click **"+ New approval rule"** („+ Neue Freigaberegel") in the top right. A side panel slides in from the right. ### 3. Name the rule **Rule name** is a required field. Give it a name that makes the purpose obvious ("Legal — NDAs", "Finance — leasing > 50k", "Deletion approval — all contracts"). Generic names like "Rule 1" become a dead end later. The **"Is active"** („Ist aktiv") toggle at the bottom controls whether the rule takes effect immediately or is saved deactivated — useful when you want to prepare a rule now and switch it on at a later date. ### 4. Choose the rule type Under **"Rule type"** („Regeltyp") you decide **which action** triggers the approval. Pick exactly one of the two cards: * **"Contract signature"** („Vertragssignatur") — *"An approval is required before a contract is sent for signature."* * **"Contract deletion"** („Vertragslöschung") — *"An approval is required before a contract can be deleted."* One rule covers one type. If you want to protect both, create **two rules** — the approvers can be the same people. ### 5. Set the approvers — individually, as a group, or in steps Under **"Approvers"** („Freigeber") you define who approves: * **One or more people per approval group:** use the **"Select one or more users"** field to add as many members to a group as you like. As soon as **one** of them approves, that step is complete — ideal for covering holidays and avoiding bottlenecks. * **Several approval groups as steps:** use **"+ Add approval group"** to add more groups. Each group is its own approval step — the action only proceeds once **all** groups have approved. * **Set the order (optional):** **"Set approval order"** numbers the groups (1, 2, …) and lets you sort them by drag and drop. The next group is only notified once the previous one has finished its step, which gives you a multi-step approval chain. Without a set order, all groups still have to approve, just in no fixed sequence. Only members of your organisation appear in the picker — external or not-yet-invited people cannot be assigned. ### 6. Define the conditions — targeted, or all contracts Under **"Apply this rule when"** („Diese Regel anwenden, wenn") you define **which contracts** the rule applies to ("A contract only needs approval if it matches these conditions."). **The quick way: all contracts.** Switch on **"Apply to all contracts"** („Auf alle Verträge anwenden") and the rule applies without exception — the condition rows then disappear entirely. ContractHero spells out what that means: *"This rule applies to every contract, including contracts in categories created later."* That is the point of it: you no longer have to tick every category individually and remember to maintain newly created ones. **The targeted way: conditions.** Leave the toggle off and combine as many conditions as you like — they are linked with **AND** logic. Available field types: * **Category** — supplier contract, employment contract, NDA. * **Team** — legal, finance, HR (if your organisation has several teams). * **Status** — active, draft, resubmission. * **List fields** from the contract field builder — risk category, contract type, regional assignment. * **Amount fields** — contract value, annual volume, purchase price. * **Number fields** — term in months, kilometres. **Amount and number fields** also offer **operators**: **=** (equals), **≠** (not equal), **>** (greater than), **<** (less than), **≥** (greater or equal), **≤** (less or equal). **Worked examples:** * **HR approval for high salaries:** *Category = "employment contract" AND salary ≥ €100,000* * **Finance approval for larger supplier contracts:** *Category = "supplier contract" AND contract value > €50,000* * **Deletion protection across the whole portfolio:** rule type *Contract deletion* + **"Apply to all contracts"** ### 7. Save the rule Click **"Add rule"** („Regel hinzufügen") at the bottom of the panel. The rule appears in the "Approval rules" table straight away — with its **rule type** as a badge and its conditions (with the toggle on, it reads "Applies to all contracts"). ## What happens with rule type "Contract signature" As soon as someone starts the signature process for a matching contract, this runs automatically: 1. ContractHero checks whether the contract meets the conditions of an active approval rule of type "Contract signature". 2. The approvers in the (first) approval group get a **notification** with the approval request. 3. With **multi-step approvals**, the next group is only notified once the previous group has completed its step. 4. Only once **all approval groups** have approved does ContractHero trigger the signature request to the actual signers. 5. **If any approver rejects, the flow stops immediately** — the requester is notified with the reason and can adjust the contract and restart the approval. The signature request is not sent. ![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/1/2/5/2/12522a019f980500/image_pbh82a.png) ## What happens with rule type "Contract deletion" Here the rule kicks in the moment someone tries to delete a contract — individually or via bulk editing. 1. The person selects the contract and clicks **"Delete"** („Löschen"). The **"Delete contract"** dialog opens. 2. The dialog points out: *"Administrators are notified if approval is required for the deletion. For contracts where a request is already running, no further approval request is raised."* 3. The **"Reason for deletion"** („Grund für die Löschung") field is **mandatory** (up to 500 characters). Without a reason, **"Yes, delete contract"** cannot be triggered. The help text explains why: "This allows your colleagues to understand the context of why you want to delete this contract." 4. After you confirm, the contract is **not** deleted and does **not** move to the recycle bin. It stays in the contract list exactly as it was while the approval request runs. 5. Once approved, the contract moves to the **recycle bin** — from where it can be restored as usual. 6. **If it is rejected, the contract stays exactly as it was.** Nothing is lost, nothing about the contract changes. ## Common questions ### Can one rule cover both signing and deletion? No. Each rule has exactly one **rule type**. To cover both flows, create two rules — the approvers and conditions can be identical. ### Does anything change about my existing approval rules? No. Existing rules keep the type **"Contract signature"** and continue to work unchanged. The deletion trigger is an additional option, not a change to existing setups. ### Why do I now have to give a reason when deleting? So the approver can decide without having to ask. The reason is mandatory and travels with the request — which doubles as the audit trail for why a deletion was requested. ### What if the same deletion is requested twice? Nothing is duplicated. As the dialog says: for contracts where a request is already running, **no further** approval request is raised. ### What happens on a bulk deletion? Every affected contract the rule applies to runs its own approval. For large clean-ups — rolling back a botched XLS import, for instance — that can create a lot of requests at once. Plan those with your approvers, or switch the rule off temporarily via **"Is active"**. ### What happens if someone rejects? The entire approval flow **stops immediately** — no matter how many steps had already approved. The requester gets a notification with the reason. With **contract signature** the signature request is not sent; with **contract deletion** the contract simply stays as it is. ### Does deletion protection also cover imported legacy contracts? Yes. Unlike the signature trigger, the deletion trigger doesn't depend on whether a signature process ever ran in ContractHero. As soon as a contract matches the conditions — or the rule applies to all contracts — an imported PDF is protected too. ### Does the signature trigger apply to already-signed, imported contracts? No. A rule of type **"Contract signature"** is tied to the signature workflow inside ContractHero. Contracts signed elsewhere and imported as a PDF never start a signature process, so they never raise an approval request. For those contracts, the **"Contract deletion"** rule type is the protection that works. ### Approval rule or write access — which do I use when? Both prevent unaligned deletions, in different ways. The **"Write (read and edit, without delete)"** access level hides the delete action from the role entirely — right for teams that should never delete. A **deletion approval rule** allows the deletion but puts a control in front of it — right for roles that should be able to delete, just not single-handedly. The two can be combined. ### Can several people be authorised to approve? Yes. Add several members to an approval group — as soon as **one** of them approves, the step is complete. That covers holidays and stand-ins without the process stalling. ### How do I build a multi-step approval (legal first, then management)? Create one **approval group** per step ("+ Add approval group") and switch on **"Set approval order"**. The groups are numbered and sortable by drag and drop — each group is only notified once the previous one has approved. ### How are multiple conditions combined — AND or OR? All conditions in a rule are combined with **AND** logic. For OR logic, create **two separate rules** — both can have the same approvers. ### What happens to contracts already in approval if I change a rule? Running approval processes **stay unchanged** — they follow the rule configuration that was active when they started. New cases use the updated rule. ### A person doesn't appear in the picker — why? Check that the person exists as a **member** of your organisation and has accepted the invitation (a pending invitation isn't enough). ### Can I edit, deactivate or delete a rule later? Yes. The menu at the right-hand end of the rule row offers **"Edit"**, **"Deactivate rule"** and **"Delete"**. Deactivating is the right move when a rule should only pause — before a planned clean-up, for example. ### Who sees that an approval has been requested? The approvers are notified; for the deletion trigger the dialog explicitly states that administrators are informed. Which channels that arrives on — email, in-app or Slack — is controlled on your notifications page under **"Approvals"** (requested, accepted, rejected, cancelled, approval reminder). The history is also visible in the **change log**. ## Good to know * **For deletion protection, "all contracts" is often exactly right.** For signatures a blanket rule creates friction in day-to-day work — thresholds are usually better there. Deletion is different: deletions are rare, and a gap in the protection only shows up once something is gone. **"Apply to all contracts"** also covers categories that don't exist yet. * **Descriptive rule names save time later.** With 10+ rules, "HR — employment contracts ≥ 100k" is instantly recognisable, "Rule 1" is not. Put the rule type in the name if you use both. * **Handle stand-ins through the approval group.** Add the stand-in to the group — since one approval per group is enough, a holiday never blocks the flow. * **Switch off briefly before big clean-ups.** If you are deliberately deleting a lot of contracts — a botched import, test data — set the deletion rule's "Is active" to off rather than clicking through dozens of approvals. Switch it back on afterwards. * **The audit trail is built in.** Every approval and rejection is recorded with a timestamp and the person — and for the deletion trigger, with the reason that was given. For audits, ISO certification and internal compliance that is exactly the question nobody can otherwise answer. * **Test before going live.** Save the rule with **"Is active" off** first, run a test contract through the flow, and only activate once it works. Especially important for multi-step rules and thresholds. ## Related articles * [Write access: let your team edit without letting them delete](https://support.contracthero.com/en-us/article/write-access-let-your-team-edit-without-letting-them-delete-k3ykn6/) * [How to Request an Electronic Signature in ContractHero (FES & QES)](https://support.contracthero.com/en-us/article/how-to-request-an-electronic-signature-in-contracthero-fes-qes-1kbch7s/) * [Invite people: How to manage roles and permissions for additional users](https://support.contracthero.com/en-us/article/invite-people-how-to-manage-roles-and-permissions-for-additional-users-1o7xinp/) * [How are notifications configured and managed?](https://support.contracthero.com/en-us/article/how-are-notifications-configured-and-managed-g3sag5/) * [What information is available in the Change Log?](https://support.contracthero.com/en-us/article/what-information-is-available-in-the-change-log-1mdj620/)