Draft Reviews with Sequential Reviewers

Note: Users will need to be assigned to the 'Administration: Account Super User' role, or be the author of the document, or have the document category permission of 'Can Edit Any Document in Category'.

With our 29.4.0 release, we are introducing Sequential Draft Reviews. This new functionality streamlines your document lifecycle by enabling a structured, step-by-step review process for draft documents. Sequential draft reviews ensure that each designated reviewer completes their assessment in a specific, predetermined order, fostering greater control, accountability, and clarity in the document revision workflow. This update is designed to optimize collaboration, minimize errors, and accelerate the journey from draft to approved document.

Starting a Sequential Draft Review

Note: Track Changes for 'everyone' and 'reviewing' mode needs to be on the original document before uploading into the account.

From the draft document, click on the 'Launch Draft Review' option.

A slider box will appear with 3 different draft review options. The sequential draft review is the first, and default, option. Add the reviewers, in the correct order, from the dropdown to complete the review. Once you have chosen all users, click the 'Launch Draft Review' option.

Notifications for Draft Reviewers

Each reviewer will be notified via an email notification stating they are due for a signature. The notifications will go out to each user based on how they are listed on the Reviewers List. Reviewers must have their document notifications set to a value greater than 'never' to get these email notifications.

Completing the Draft Review

The reviewer can only access the draft review via their 'Main Dashboard' under 'Signatures Needed'. The screen will drill down. Click on the document's Key ID to enter the draft review.

The draft review information is on the right and the document viewer is on the left; to submit your draft review you will:

Download Current Version: Download the current version file to your local drive. Open the document in Microsoft Word. The track changes for everyone should be on, as it is strongly recommended that this setting has been set on the original file.
Upload Revision & Enter a Comment: Upload the updated revision by clicking the 'Upload Revision' button. It is strongly recommended to rename the file that you reviewed before uploading it back into the account.
Submit Review: Once you have finished uploading the revised file and added a comment, click 'Submit Review' to complete the review.

Note: If you deem that no changes need to be made once you are up to complete the review, you can simply add a comment in the screen above and click 'submit review'. Downloading the document will not be necessary.

Adding or Removing Reviewers During an Active Review

All active draft review information can be found at the document level, by clicking 'Mange Review'. This is where you can add and/or remove reviewers, if needed. To remove users, click the trash can icon next to their name. To add users, select their name from the dropdown.

You cannot edit the order in who the review goes to, if you add new users. If you need to change the order of reviewers, you must cancel the review and start again. The added user will be at the bottom of the list. You cannot remove users that have already completed the review.

Once all reviewers have completed their reviews, the the document author will get an email notification that the document completed the draft review.

The document will move to the 'Reviewed' status in the account. While the document is in the reviewed state, you can see the draft review information under the 'Reviews & Suggested Edits' icon at the document level.

Important: If reviewers left comments on the document during the review, these comments will show in the PDF viewer in the account will need to be deleted before uploading the final file to avoid seeing these comments in the account.

Author's Next Steps

Open the document from the full table. Download the original document.

Open the file in Microsoft Word. Click on the 'Review' tab.

Accept or reject all track changes and edit the document as needed, as this will be the final file that will be uploaded into the account. Save the file locally when all changes are completed.

Upload the file in the account; from here you can launch the document for approval.

Tips

Collaborative editing can not be used during a draft review. Users will get met with the message shown below.

Have the track changes on for everyone before loading the initial draft file into the account. This will ensure that all users' action will be recorded.

If reviewers leave comments on the file, you must delete them before uploading the final file, or the comments will be shown in the account.