The review and approval process
Follow an asset from preparation and feedback through revisions and final sign-off.
Brightproof keeps the creative work, discussion, and decisions for each review round together. The process is collaborative, but each person has a clear part to play.
- A creative team member or admin prepares the asset, chooses who should review it, and shares it.
- A reviewer examines the current version, leaves feedback, and records an approval or change request.
- A guest can take part through a limited review link when someone outside the workspace needs access.
This guide explains the complete process from a user’s point of view.
1. Prepare the work
The creative team begins by creating an asset. An asset is one item being reviewed, such as a deck, PDF, image, video, HTML email, or live web page.
The asset can be placed in a project during upload or left ungrouped. A project is useful when several pieces of work belong to the same campaign and should be shared with the same reviewers.
New assets begin as Draft. While an asset is a draft, the creative team can check the title, project, preview, and reviewer list before opening the review.
For decks and PDFs, Brightproof prepares a page-by-page preview after upload. The asset page updates when processing finishes. If conversion fails, the creative team sees the error and can retry it.
2. Choose the reviewers
The creative team can invite internal reviewers in two ways:
- Invite someone to the project when they should review every asset already in that project and anything added later.
- Invite someone directly to the asset when they should see only that item.
These are separate access grants. A person can have access through the project, the asset, or both. Removing one grant does not remove the other.
If the email address is new to Brightproof, the invitation creates a reviewer account and sends a magic sign-in link. Existing users are added without creating another account.
When an external person should not receive a workspace account, the creative team can create a guest review link instead. Guest permissions are chosen link by link.
3. Set expectations for the round
Before sharing, the creative team can prepare the review in a few optional ways:
- Set a deadline for the current version.
- Attach a checklist for quality or compliance checks.
- Create a guest link with an expiry date, optional passcode, and carefully chosen permissions.
- Mark a guest link as Required sign-off when external approval must be part of the final result.
Deadlines and checklists belong to the current version. A new version begins a fresh review round with a fresh decision state and no inherited deadline.
4. Share the asset
On the asset’s Info tab, the creative team turns on the sharing switch. The label changes from Draft to Shared with reviewers, and the asset enters In review.
Reviewers can now open it from their dashboard, review queue, direct link, or invitation email. A guest link also becomes usable. Guest links cannot open an asset while it is a draft.
Sharing and inviting are different: Inviting determines who has access. Turning on sharing determines whether the current asset is ready for those people to review.
Info · Version 1
The reviewers are invited, but the sample work is not open for review yet.
5. Review the current version
A reviewer opens the asset and checks that the version menu says Current. Earlier versions remain available for reference when permitted, but they are read-only.
The viewer changes to suit the content:
- Decks and PDFs have slide or page thumbnails and zoom controls.
- Images use a single review canvas.
- Videos support timestamped feedback.
- HTML emails can be checked at desktop, tablet, and mobile widths.
- Live pages can be viewed at desktop or mobile width and opened in a separate tab if embedding is blocked.
The reviewer should examine the entire asset and any checklist before recording a decision.
6. Leave feedback
Comments are best for observations, questions, and requested edits. A reviewer can:
- Add a general comment.
- Place a pin on an exact point in the artwork.
- Attach a comment to a slide, PDF page, or video timestamp.
- Reply to an existing thread.
The thread author or a creative team member can resolve a thread when the discussion is complete. Resolving a thread organizes the conversation; it does not approve the asset or change its status.
Comments belong to the version on which they were created. This keeps the review history accurate when a revised version looks substantially different.
7. Record a decision
After reviewing the work, each assigned reviewer records a decision from the Decisions tab:
- Approve means this reviewer considers the current version ready.
- Request changes means the version needs revision. Brightproof requires a note explaining what must change.
A comment is not a decision. Leaving feedback without selecting Approve or Request changes leaves the asset in the reviewer’s awaiting queue.
Every internal reviewer has an individual decision slot. One person’s approval cannot approve on behalf of everyone else.
Version 3 · Maya’s individual decision
Reviewer
Try recording one reviewer’s decision. This example changes no real asset.
8. Respond to requested changes
If any required reviewer—or a guest participating through a required sign-off link—requests changes, the asset moves to Changes requested.
The creative team can use comment threads to confirm the requested revisions, then upload a new version from the asset’s three-dot menu by choosing Upload new version.
The earlier version is preserved with its comments and decisions. The new version becomes current and starts a new review round. Everyone must review and decide again, including people who approved the earlier version.
When comparing two renderable versions, the Compare view can place them side by side. The revision checklist can mark an earlier comment as addressed, not addressed, or not applicable on the newer version. Those outcomes are informational: they do not resolve the original thread and do not count as approval.
Comments and decisions stay with v1.
Ready for a revised upload.
This illustration starts from a shared asset with requested changes.
9. Reach final approval
Brightproof derives the final status from the current review round. The asset becomes Approved when all of the following that apply are complete:
- Every assigned internal reviewer has approved the current version.
- Every active guest link marked Required sign-off has at least one approval and no outstanding change request.
- Every required checklist item is Passed or N/A.
Until those conditions are met, the asset remains In review or Changes requested. This prevents one person’s action from silently bypassing another required sign-off.
Overall asset status
Everyone has approved, but the required check still holds the round open.
What each status means
- Draft: The creative team is preparing the asset. Reviewers and guests cannot act on it.
- In review: The asset is shared, but at least one required decision or checklist item is still pending.
- Changes requested: An internal reviewer or required guest asked for a revision of the current version.
- Approved: All required decisions and checks for the current version are complete.
If a reviewer responds outside Brightproof
Sometimes a reviewer gives approval by email, phone, or in a meeting. A creative team member can select Record override beside that reviewer and document the reason.
An override is recorded in decision history with the person who entered it. It does not erase the audit trail. If the reviewer later records their own decision, the newer decision becomes their current response while the earlier override remains in history.
After the review
Keep approved work available while it is active. When a project or asset is no longer needed day to day, archive it rather than delete it. Archiving is reversible and removes the work from reviewer access without destroying its history.
For the detailed controls used during review, see Review an asset. For access choices, see Invite and manage reviewers.