Send When
Every rule sends on exactly one event, chosen under Send when in the rule's When step, when creating or editing. The default, Every response, sends on each new submission. The other two add an approval step to the rule.
| Send when | Fires |
|---|---|
| Every response | Each new response |
| Only after approval | The approver you pick for this rule approves a matching response |
| When rejected | The approver you pick for this rule rejects a matching response |
Picking Only after approval or When rejected shows the approver field right there: a person's email, or a Slack, Discord or Teams channel. Each rule's Only if conditions still apply, so a rule with an approval step only waits on responses it would otherwise send for.
Why use it
- Email the respondent once their request is approved, from a rule with its own wording
- Post Approved by Dana: Workshop sign-up to a Slack channel when a manager signs off, while another rule emails the recipients on the same approval
- Send approved responses to a webhook so your CRM only receives vetted entries
- Email the respondent when their request is rejected
Setting it
Pick the event under Send when, then pick the approver for that rule. It applies to that rule only. Changing it is a save like any other: pending approval requests are unaffected.
If several rules on the form share the same approver, that approver still gets one request per response; see one request per approver.
In the list
The when chip on each row shows its event: every response, only after approval or when rejected. A rule with an approval step is also marked held for approval, because its send waits for the decision.
Email on an approval event
An email rule can use any event. Email sent only after approval or when rejected goes out from Skyfield's mail servers, not from your Google account, because no form submission is happening at that moment. Two consequences:
- Your sender name is kept; replies go to your reply-to address, or to your own address if you did not set one
- It needs an active license (the trial counts). Email on every response stays free
Good to know
- Chat and webhook messages on an approval event start with a headline such as Approved by Dana: Workshop sign-up or Rejected by Dana: Workshop sign-up
- For webhooks,
eventin the payload tells your endpoint which event fired. See Webhooks - Rules with an approval step pause when a trial or license ends; rules sending on every response keep sending. See what needs a license