# Start an approval every time an invoice is captured

The moment an invoice lands in Content Central, put it on the approver's queue automatically — one Content Capture trigger, one Start Process action, one rule — plus the checkbox that does the same job with no rule at all.

Product: content-central · Versions: 7.8+ · Audience: catalog-administrator · Time: 15 minutes · Last verified: 2026-09-05

Canonical: https://help.ademero.com/content-central/workflow/start-an-approval-when-an-invoice-arrives

**When you're done, every invoice that enters Content Central — scanned, emailed, dropped in a hot folder, or uploaded — starts its approval process by itself and appears on the first approver's Approval tab within seconds.**

```plan
scope: document-type
trigger: Content Capture › Content Captured in this Document Type | Any source, any format, no field condition
action: Approval Process - Start Process | Assignment Type: Single Approval Process · Approval Process: your invoice process
rule: "Invoice captured → start approval", enabled
```

## The shortcut you might not need a rule for

Every approval process has its own switch: **Automatically start this process on all captured content of this document type**, under **Options** on the process details page. If *every* invoice should enter the *same* process with no conditions, turn that on and you're finished — no trigger, no rule.

Build the rule below when you want any of these:

- A condition — only invoices from a certain source, in a certain format, or with a certain field value (that's the [second-approver recipe](/content-central/workflow/route-large-invoices-to-a-second-approver)).
- More than one thing to happen on arrival — start approval *and* email someone, *and* stamp a field.
- One place to switch the automation on and off, with a name that explains it.

> **IMPORTANT:** Don't do both. If the process's auto-start checkbox is on *and* a rule starts the same process, you'll get duplicate assignments. Pick one.

## Build the trigger

1. Go to **Administration** > **Catalogs & Document Types**. In the selectors at the top, pick the **Catalog** and the invoice **Document Type**, then click the **Workflow** tile.

*[Screenshot: Triggers, Actions, and Rules each get a card with a live count. Everything you build here applies only to this document type.]*

2. Click the **Triggers** card, then **New Trigger**.

3. Under **Type:**, choose **Content Capture** in the first box and **Content Captured in this Document Type** in the second.

4. Give it a **Trigger Name:** you'll recognize in a list — `Invoice captured`.

5. Leave the conditions at their defaults: **Source Evaluation:** `All Sources`, **Format Evaluation:** `All Formats`, **Field Evaluation:** `No Field Evaluation`, **Capturing-User Evaluation:** `All Users and Groups`.

6. Click **Save**.

**What you should see:** the trigger in the Triggers list with **Type** `Content Capture`, **Sub-Type** `DocType`, and **Event** `Live`. Live means it fires the instant a document is filed — there is no schedule to wait for.

*[Screenshot: The Event column tells you how a trigger fires: Live triggers react to an event as it happens; Scheduled triggers run on an interval. Used By shows how many rules depend on each trigger.]*

## Build the action

1. Back on the Workflow page, click the **Actions** card, then **New Action**.

2. Under **Type:**, choose **Approval Process - Start Process**.

3. **Action Name:** `Start invoice approval`.

4. **Assignment Type:** `Single Approval Process`. **Approval Process:** pick your invoice process.

*[Screenshot: Two settings do all the work: Single Approval Process, and the process to start. The process itself decides who approves and in what order.]*

5. Click **Save**.

> **NOTE:** If the **Approval Process:** list is empty, the document type has no approval process yet. Build one first: [Set up an approval process](/content-central/workflow/set-up-an-approval-process).

## Wire the rule

1. Click the **Rules** card, then **New Rule**.

2. Leave **Enabled** checked. **Rule Name:** `Invoice captured → start approval`.

3. Click **Add Trigger** and pick `Invoice captured`.

4. Click **Add Action** and pick `Start invoice approval`.

5. Click **Apply**.

*[Screenshot: A rule is just a name, an Enabled switch, one trigger, and the actions to run. Add Action stays disabled until a trigger is chosen.]*

## Test it

1. Capture one invoice by whatever route your office really uses — scan it, email it to the capture address, or drop it in the hot folder — and code it into the invoice document type.

2. Ask the first approver to open **Queues** and check the **Approval** tab.

3. Open the document's **View History**.

**What you should see:** the invoice on the approver's Approval tab, and a history entry reading `Process started by workflow rule.`

If nothing happened, the usual causes in order: the document went to the **Coding Queue** and hasn't been committed yet (capture triggers fire when the document is *filed*, not when it lands in the queue); the rule is disabled; or the document was filed under a different document type. For scheduled-style problems, see [A scheduled workflow didn't run](/content-central/workflow/scheduled-workflow-didnt-run).

## Variations

| Want this instead | Change this |
| --- | --- |
| Only invoices that came from the scanner | Trigger: **Source Evaluation:** `DirectScan Upload` (or `Capture-Form Submission`, `XML Capture Job`, and so on) |
| Only PDFs | Trigger: **Format Evaluation:** `Selected Formats`, then list `pdf` under **File Extensions** |
| Only invoices with no PO number | Trigger: **Field Evaluation:** `Selected Field Lacks Value`, **Field:** your PO field |
| Start approval when a coded item is committed from the Coding Queue instead | Trigger type **Coding-Queue Commit** › **Committed in this Document Type** |
| Also email the AP team on arrival | Add a second action, **Send E-mail**, to the same rule ([recipe](/content-central/workflow/email-someone-when-a-capture-form-is-submitted)) |
| Different process depending on the amount | [Route large invoices to a second approver](/content-central/workflow/route-large-invoices-to-a-second-approver) |

## What's next

- [Route large invoices to a second approver](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/workflow/route-large-invoices-to-a-second-approver)
- [Escalate an approval that has waited too long](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/workflow/escalate-an-approval-that-has-waited-too-long)
- [Workflow rules, triggers, and actions](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/workflow/workflow-rules-triggers-and-actions)