Approval Link Issues

This page covers common issues with the customer approval portal and how to resolve them.

Customer says the link doesn't work

Symptom: Customer clicks the approval link and sees an error page.

Possible causes and fixes:

• Link expired. If the link had an expiration date set and it's passed, generate a new approval link from the job detail page. The old link is automatically deactivated.
• Link was replaced. Generating a new approval link deactivates the previous one. If you generated a new link after sending the first one, the first link no longer works. Send the customer the most recent link.
• Link was copied incorrectly. Make sure the full URL was copied. Links use 21-character tokens — a truncated link won't work. Try sending the link again.

Customer sees "Too many requests" error

Symptom: Customer gets a rate limit error when accessing the portal.

Cause: The approval portal is rate-limited to 100 requests per 15 minutes per IP address. This protects against abuse but can be triggered if a customer rapidly refreshes the page.

How to fix:

• Ask the customer to wait a few minutes and try again.
• If they're on a shared network (office, school), multiple users may be sharing the same IP address. This is rare but possible.

Customer can't see updated proofs after a revision

Symptom: You fixed an item and regenerated the proof, but the customer still sees the old version.

How to fix:

• Ask the customer to refresh the page in their browser (pull down to refresh on mobile, or Ctrl+R / Cmd+R on desktop).
• The approval portal loads proof images from a CDN that may cache the old version briefly. A hard refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R / Cmd+Shift+R) clears the cache.

Customer approved the wrong item

Symptom: A customer approved a proof that contains an error.

How to fix:

• You can edit the item on the job detail page even after approval. The item's status will revert to "pending" after editing.
• Regenerate the proof for the corrected item.
• If the customer needs to re-approve, generate a new approval link.

Customer can't approve on their device

Symptom: The approval portal doesn't load or buttons don't work on the customer's phone or tablet.

How to fix:

• The approval portal works on all modern browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge). Ask the customer what browser and device they're using.
• If they're using a very old browser, suggest trying a different browser or using a desktop computer.
• Check that the link URL is correct and complete — some messaging apps (especially SMS) may truncate long URLs.