Approval steps depend on the type of workflows you use. Control Center sets the hierarchy of workflow steps for each default workflow and which steps are permitted next.

Files you upload to Document Storage in workflow-enabled folders start on the Draft step. When authors complete their initial layout and label contents, they move the file to the next step: Request approval. When configured, approvers receive email notifications for files they're assigned to review and approve. Approvers can Reject files (this notifies Authors to make changes) or approve them. Approval moves the files to the Approved step. Each workflow defines available steps and the transitions from one step to another.

Moving files to the Approved step can require users to provide login credentials again. Re-authenticating this way confirms the correct users are still logged in. The Two-step label production approval process includes this re-authentication by default.

The Approved step (or Published step in some workflows) is the final state for files. You cannot use labels in production until they are approved and published. Operator role members (or any users with print-only permissions) can only see files on the Approved/Published step. Authors can work on new revisions of label files, but these changes are not visible to print-only users until their revisions reach the Approved state.