Document approval is one of the everyday tasks that almost every business, department, or team has to carry out. Whether you’re part of a sales team signing legal documents for a business deal, or you’re part of a PR team approving the final text for a new product release, you’ll understand how important it is to make this approval process as efficient and straightforward as possible. Luckily, there are many document approval tools on the market today that can help simplify and streamline this complex process. Through clever workflows, your teams can come together in a centralized system where they can easily communicate, edit and approve documents in no time at all.
With so many document approval tools out there, it’s hard to figure out which one is best for you and your business needs. Let’s explore the top 5 document approval tools and their unique features to find the best tool for you.
What is document approval?
Document approval is the entire process of creating a new document draft to sending and storing the final approved version. Usually, the document approval process consists of many stages:
- Drafting
- Proofreading
- Feedback
- Collaboration
- Edits
- Tracking progress
- Reporting
- Confirmation
- Sending
Many organizations continue to resort to numerous back and forth emails, shared folders, or perhaps even multiple printouts of the documents as a way to keep the process going.
Why use a document approval tool?
A document approval tool provides a methodical process for document approval that streamlines the entire operation. What’s more, document approval tools also enhance communication and progress tracking by offering a space where users can access and manage all your documents, feedback, files, and messages in one place.
Here are just a few of the many reasons you should use a document approval tool within your business operations.
- Save time: With an automated, streamlined process, your business can save hours of work previously spent on sending many emails, finding lost files, or manually compiling notes.
- Avoid miscommunication: Rather than relying on hundreds of back-and-forth emails that often fall through the cracks, various team members from across departments can effectively communicate with each other in one place.
- Complete audit trail: Each stage and update can be logged digitally, so you have the entire trail to monitor the history of the approval and any previous document versions.
- Track progress: Document approval tools offer intelligent features that give project managers complete visibility of overall progress, as well as a comprehensive breakdown of each stage. This way, they can easily identify who is responsible for the next stage of the process.
Top 5 document approval tools in 2023
1. Integrify
Integrify is a document management software that offers a comprehensive workflow to automate and streamline document approval management.
This tool is a centralized solution where team members access documents, share comments, upload information. Not only does Integrify allow you to customize your workflow based on your approval needs, but also offers great tracking visibility and reporting features for managers. Finally, once documents have been approved in Integrify’s document approval workflow, you can easily transfer these documents to another document management workflow within the software.
Integrify is a great option for businesses looking for a comprehensive solution that can easily expand to the more general domain of document management.

2. Proofhub
Is your business particularly struggling with effective communication when approving documents? Proofhub is a brilliant solution that offers a range of intuitive features that optimize communication and collaboration both internally and externally.
Proofhub offers intelligent annotation, commend thread and feedback suggestion features that make communication between different users flawless. What’s more, you can use Proofhub on your Android and IOS devices. Overall, Proofhub is great for businesses who require a tool that allows team members to be part of the approval process on the go.

3. Nintex
If you’re looking for a simple document approval workflow that’s intuitive and less technically challenging, try Nintex. This no-code platform allows you to create document approval workflows using an easy drag-and-drop interface. Nintex also offers a pre-built dashboard for monitoring, so you can easily track document approval processes with ease.
In fact, Nintex offers a document approval template that users can download and use straight away. If you’re looking for a quick fix to your document approval process, look at Nintex.

4. Filehold
Filehold is a great option for businesses that need a large-scale document approval system. It’s usually recommended for large operations dealing with numerous documents every day, such as high-tech companies and manufacturers. Filehold offers a powerful system that can manage millions of documents all at once.
Filehold offers some intelligent features such as document scanning software and its Courier document links, so you can access everything digitally and securely. It’s also accessible through mobile devices and the cloud.

5. PandaDoc
Is your sales team on the lookout for a document approval tool? PandaDoc is a solution specifically designed with sales teams in mind. PandaDoc has built a workflow to automate the business deals process, including the legal document signing stages at the very end. You can create your own custom document theme to represent your company, as well as receive real-time analytics when documents have been opened or edited.
As a result, PandaDoc can improve customer experience and streamline your work, creating professional-looking sales documents whenever you need them.

What is the best doc approval software?
And there you have it! There is a fantastic range of tools available today that provide innovative features. These tools not only streamline the entire process but also optimize communication and collaboration amongst your team.
Are you looking to automate other processes within your business? Take a look at The best invoice software in 2023 to help automate invoice generation and save hours of work!
Alternatively, find more related blog posts on the best productivity tools below.