Invoices move through a series of tabs as they're processed and approved in Lightyear. Knowing how each stage works helps you keep invoices moving and resolve issues quickly.
Follow the invoice approval journey
Invoices progress through three main tabs:
Processing
Approval
Review
Processing tab
When an invoice arrives, it's processed here first. Once it's Smart Extracted or mapped, it moves automatically to the Approval tab. You can't disable this automatic progression.
If an invoice skips the Processing tab and goes directly to Approval, you can move it back to Processing and adjust the mapping or extraction settings as needed.
Approval tab
The invoice waits here until all required approvers have approved it. Default approvers for each supplier receive an approval task.
If you have email notifications enabled, approvers also receive an email alert when an invoice reaches this tab.
đ¤ Tip: Adding a note to an invoice does not notify the approver. If you need to flag an invoice and pause the approval process, use the Dispute action instead. This moves the invoice to the Disputed tab.
When assigning tasks, ensure you select the approver's user profile rather than their email address to route the task correctly to their Lightyear profile.
Review tab
Once all required approvals are complete, the invoice moves to the Review tab.
Certain account settings or approval rule issues can prevent this from happening; see the sections below.
Account settings that can affect your workflow
Two settings have a significant impact on how invoices progress through the approval workflow.
Manager approval
When the 'Manager Approval' setting is on, an invoice must be approved by the assigned approver's manager, as well as any other approvers based on amount thresholds, before it can move to the Review tab.
Auto approve
If the 'Auto Approve' setting is off, invoices won't advance automatically even after they've been approved. They'll remain in the Approval tab until manually progressed.
To turn on Auto Approve:
Click Company Settings, then click Auto Approve.
Select Yes, then click Update Settings.
â ď¸ Important: Turning on Auto Approve doesn't retroactively advance invoices that were approved while the setting was off. You'll need to manually progress these by opening each invoice and clicking Sign Off (Single workflow) or Move to Review (Double/Executive workflow).
Troubleshooting
Invoice missing from a tab in the approval workflow
If an invoice is missing from a tab you expect to find it in, such as Approval, Review, or Signed Off, the most common causes are Department restrictions or permission settings.
Follow these steps to troubleshoot missing invoices for approvals:
Go to Company Settings, then click Internal Departments.
Confirm the supplier is assigned to the correct Department and that the affected user is a member of that Department.
Go to Company Settings, then click Users.
Select the user, then review their role and tab access permissions. Users without Approval tab access won't see invoices waiting there.
Search for the invoice in the Archived, Disputed, or Signed Off tabs. It may have progressed further than expected, or been moved manually.
If the invoice isn't visible in any tab, open the invoice's direct link and check the Activity Log for any processing errors that may have prevented it from appearing correctly.
Best Practices
When managing invoices through the approvals workflow and assignment tasks, it's best practice to:
Have email notifications enabled to ensure approvers receive alerts for approval requests.
Confirm that the invoice has moved to the Approval tab after your approval to trigger task assignment.
Ensure the correct user profile is selected when assigning tasks to avoid misrouting.