Rejecting a task

What you'll learn#

• When to reject a task versus asking a question first
• How to reject, explain why, and attach evidence
• What happens to the document after a rejection
• What the creator sees and what they do next

What rejecting does#

When you reject, you're saying "this document shouldn't move forward in its current form". VAT Portal immediately:

• Ends the entire approval flow — no other approvers will see it in their My Tasks.
• Changes the document's status to Rejected.
• Shows the creator your comment so they know why you rejected.
• Lets the creator click Make Correction to fix the issue and restart the approval with a new version (v2, v3, and so on).

Rejection isn't a cancel or a pause — it's a clear, final "no" for this version of the document. If the creator makes a correction, the document comes back as a fresh version and the approval flow runs again from the start (or from the point your admin configured).

Reject vs. ask a question first#

If the document has a small issue that could be fixed in conversation, don't reject — use the Discussion Board instead.

• Ask a question when you need clarification or a minor tweak: a missing number, a clarifying note, a question about intent. The creator answers you, and if everything's fine you approve.
• Reject when the document genuinely needs to go back, be rewritten, or restarted: the wrong person submitted it, the request isn't justified, a key field is entirely wrong, it conflicts with policy.

Rejecting is heavier. It stops the whole flow and forces the creator to issue a correction. Use it when that's actually what should happen.

Is the Reject button available?#

Most tasks have a Reject action. There's one exception: creator-confirmation steps. When a workflow ends with the creator confirming the final result, the Reject button is hidden on that specific step (the creator can't reject their own document's outcome). If you don't see Reject, either:

• You're on a creator-confirmation step (expected — this shouldn't happen if the task isn't yours).
• The task is no longer active and you just need to go back to My Tasks.

Rejecting, step by step#

1. Open the task from Document Flow → My Tasks.
2. In the right column, click the red Reject button.
   • The button highlights, and a form expands below it.
3. Write a comment explaining why you're rejecting. The comment is required and must be at least 5 characters long. There is no maximum.
4. (Optional) Attach any supporting files by clicking Upload — for example, the policy document the request conflicts with, a screenshot of the problem, a marked-up version of the document.
5. Click the red Reject button at the bottom of the form.
   • It shows a spinner while the rejection is being processed.
6. You'll see a green checkmark once it's done (yes, green — the action finished successfully) and you're redirected back to My Tasks.

What the creator sees#

Once you submit, a few things happen from the creator's side:

• The document's status changes from Approving to Rejected.
• Your comment is shown on the document's detail page, associated with this approval attempt.
• Two buttons appear on the document: Make Correction (blue) and a delete button (🗑).
• If the creator wants to fix the issue, they click Make Correction — the document version is bumped (v1 → v2) and the status returns to Active. They can then edit, save, and start the approval again. See Correcting a rejected document.
• If the creator decides not to pursue it, they can delete the document.

Common questions#