**Source:** https://heykiku.com/help/approve-document

# Approve Documents

Documents stay in "Pending Review" until you approve them. Approval makes them searchable.

## Who Can Approve

You need the **Approve** permission. Owners and Admins have it by default. Other members need it [granted explicitly](https://heykiku.com/help/manage-team-permissions) in the Team settings.

If you don't have the Approve permission, the Approve button won't appear.

## Why Approval Exists

Not everything you upload should go live immediately:
- OCR might have errors
- Content might need cleanup
- You might want to remove sensitive sections

Approval gives you a quality gate.

## How to Approve

1. Go to **Knowledge**
2. Find documents with status "Pending Review"
3. Click to open and review the extraction
4. If the content looks good, click **Approve & index**

The document is now searchable. Your team can find it via chat.

When a document finishes processing, everyone with the Approve permission gets a [notification](https://heykiku.com/help/notifications) so you know when content is ready for review.

## What Happens on Approval

1. The document is indexed in your knowledge base
2. Status changes to "Complete"
3. The content becomes searchable in chat
4. Your team can get answers from this document

## Can't Approve?

If the **Approve & index** button doesn't appear:
- Check that you have the Approve permission (ask an Owner or Admin)
- Make sure the document is in "Pending Review" status (not still processing)

## Need to Make Changes After Approval?

You can [edit an approved document](https://heykiku.com/help/edit-approved-document) — this temporarily removes it from search while you make changes, then you re-approve it.