Internal governance
Approval Workflow
Approve a Google Form request straight from your Google Sheet and have Portant send the requester a branded Google Doc. Approval workflows trigger Data merge and Output management to produce and file the confirmation.
~5 min setup · Used by 100+ teams
Trusted by 40,000+ teams
Overview
Automate internal approvals from Google Forms with a confirmation Google Doc
Most internal requests still live in a Form response tab nobody checks. The requester messages a manager, the manager updates a hidden Sheet column, and someone forgets to email back with the answer. By the end of the week nobody can prove who approved what.
This template uses Portant's Approval workflows to watch the Status column on your Sheet. When a manager marks a row Approved or Rejected, Data merge pulls the request details into a confirmation Google Doc, and Output management files it to the right department folder.
It fits ops managers, IT leads, finance teams, and RevOps at SMB and mid-market companies who run requests through Google Forms and a hidden Sheet tab today. You get a real audit trail without buying Jira or ServiceNow for a job that should take seconds.
Who is this for
Is this template right for you?
Teams who generate documents from structured data.
-
Decisions reach the requester in minutes. The moment a manager updates the Sheet, Approval workflows fire and Portant emails a confirmation Google Doc to the requester, no follow-up nudge needed.
-
One audit trail per request, not five. Data merge stamps each confirmation with the approver, timestamp, and request ID, and Output management files it to the same folder every time.
-
No new platform for the team to learn. The work happens inside Google Forms, Google Sheets, and Google Docs, so requesters and approvers keep the tools they already use every day.
Setup
How to set up the approval workflow
-
01
Step 1: Connect your Google Form and Sheet
Open Portant, link the Google Sheet that captures Form responses, and add a Status column with values like Pending, Approved, and Rejected.
-
02
Step 2: Build the confirmation Google Doc
Create a Google Doc that uses merge tags for the requester name, request details, approver, and decision date so each confirmation reads in plain language.
-
03
Step 3: Configure Approval workflows
Set the trigger to fire when Status equals Approved or Rejected, choose the matching template per outcome, and add the manager email as the approver.
-
04
Step 4: Set output and email rules
Use Output management to name the file and pick the destination folder, then turn on Email tracking so you know the requester opened the outcome.
Frequently asked questions
Build a Google Form to capture the request, link it to a Google Sheet, then add a Status column for the manager to update. Connect Portant's Approval workflows to that column and it sends a confirmation Google Doc the moment the manager picks Approved or Rejected.
Yes. Google Sheets is a great backbone for approvals because every row is a request and every column can hold a decision. Portant turns those status changes into automated Doc creation and email replies, so the Sheet stops being a hidden tab and becomes the source of truth.
Yes. Add a column for each approver and tell Portant to fire only when both cells read Approved. The same setup works for sequential approvals, so finance can sign off after the line manager without anyone resending the form, and Portant logs each approval in the Sheet.
Spend approvals, time off, IT access requests, policy exceptions, vendor onboarding, and expense pre-approvals all fit. Anything where a Google Form starts the request and a manager makes a yes or no call belongs here, and you can clone the workflow per process.
Switch the output format inside Portant from Google Doc to PDF and the requester receives the file as a finished attachment. Output management also lets you name each file with the request ID so finance can search by reference later.
Yes. Portant connects to HubSpot too, so the same Approval workflows feature can route a deal, contract, or quote for internal sign-off before it goes to a customer. The setup mirrors the Sheets version, just with HubSpot deal properties as the source.
Related templates
Incident Report Template
Staff log the event in a Google Form, and Portant generates a formal incident report Doc from the response. Data merge handles every field, and approval workflows route it to your HSE manager before the report goes to safety, legal, or insurance.
View template
Purchase Order
Turn approved rows in your Google Sheet into a finished purchase order Doc with vendor, line items, and PO number filled in. Portant's data merge and approval workflows route the PO so you stop chasing sign-off by email.
View template
Invoice Workflow
Turn each row in your Google Sheet into a branded invoice in Google Docs, with line items, totals, and customer details filled. Portant's data merge and line items features assemble the doc, then output management saves the PDF to Drive.
View templateJoin over 40k+ teams using Portant
Portant has been a game-changer for Clipboard! It's saved our sales team countless hours every week by generating order forms, proposals and contracts with info from HubSpot automatically filled in.
With Portant, I run documents directly from HubSpot. No jumping between platforms. No copying data.
Portant replaced three separate tools for us. One platform handles docs, signatures, and follow-ups without leaving HubSpot.
Hundreds of contracts go out in a few clicks. The signed ones come back in, and the rest are easy to spot.
At RepCard, Portant gave us an end-to-end automated workflow inside HubSpot, we replaced manual agreement creation at scale.
We're seeing higher average closed revenue with Portant and faster days to close, it's showing us a material impact on sales velocity.
Love this product. Have been using it for over a year and the integration to Google Workspace is awesome. Lots of credit for listening to your users!
When the executive team asks for an extension document, Portant gets it to them in about an hour, it's empowered my whole team.
Truly a gamechanger! Portant streamlines these tasks and allows me to focus on the things that require my attention and problem-solving!
This software brilliantly takes over the tedious process of creating and sending invoices. This not only saves time but massively reduces errors of data entry.
This product is a gamechanger for all of those painful manual document merges. Love what you and the team have built!
Our reps used to spend 30 minutes per proposal. Now it’s under two minutes and the documents look better than ever.