Learn/Approvals
How to get a set approved without the email chain
Thirty sizes, three approvers, one launch date. How to get a clear yes on the right version without a week of forwarded attachments.
The short answerDecide who approves what before you send anything, then send the whole set in one place where every size can be seen side by side, never as attachments. Ask for notes on the page they are about, one note per change, and get the yes recorded against the exact version that will run. After your approval comes the platform’s: Meta’s review is typically done within 24 hours.
- Every approver should know what they are approving: the brand, the claims, the legal line, or all three.
- A note pinned to the spot it is about cannot be misread; a note in an email often is.
- The yes belongs to a version. If anything changes after it, the changed sizes go back.
- After your approval, Meta reviews the ad too, typically within 24 hours.1
On this page
Approval is where launches lose days. The set goes out as a folder of files; three people reply at different times, each about a different size; two replies contradict each other; someone approves a version that was already replaced. None of this is anyone’s fault. It is what happens when a visual decision is made by email.
- The finished set, every size, checked.
- The names of the people who approve, and what each one approves.
- The date the set has to run, so the approval date can be worked back from it.
Step 1Decide who approves what
Write down who approves the set and what each person is approving, and send that with the set. An approver who knows they are checking the claims reads the claims. One who thinks they are approving “the ads” comments on the colour of the sky.
| Who | Approves | Looks at |
|---|---|---|
| Whoever owns the work | That the set is complete and right | Every size, against the brief |
| The brand side | That it is on brand and says the right thing | The look, the words, the product |
| Whoever approves legal copy | The claims and the legal line | Every claim and every disclosure |
A common split of who approves what. Name the people, not the roles, when you send the set.
Agree the order, too. Legal often has to see the claims before the brand side spends time on the look, because a claim that has to change can change a layout. Write the order into the message, so each approver knows whose yes they are waiting for.
Step 2Send the whole set in one place
Send one link to one place where every size is visible side by side, with the version clearly marked. Do not send attachments. Attachments get forwarded, renamed and replied to separately, and within a day nobody knows which file the notes are about.
Give the date in the message, not just the link. Work it back from the launch: the platform’s review, then the last round of changes, then the time each approver needs, and ask for the yes by the end of that. An approver who knows the set has to go to the platform on Thursday answers by Wednesday; one who only knows “soon” answers when they can.
Say what happens if someone does not answer. Agree in advance with whoever owns the work whether silence by the date means a yes, a reminder, or a delay. Most launches that slip do so waiting for one person who did not know they were the one being waited for.
Step 3Ask for notes on the page they are about
Ask approvers to put each note on the spot it is about: on the price of the smallest banner itself, not “the price on the small one”. One note per change, so each can be done and marked done on its own. A pinned note cannot be misread, and it shows the maker exactly where to look.
| A note in an email | The same note on the page |
|---|---|
| The price looks off on the small ones | Pinned on the price of the 320×50: the price is cut off |
| Can we make the logo bigger? | Pinned on the logo of the Story: the logo is below our minimum width |
| Legal says the line needs changing | Pinned on the legal line: replace with the approved wording, attached |
Example. The same notes, made checkable by where they are put.
When two approvers disagree, do not resolve it by choosing. Put both notes in front of whoever owns the work and let them decide, in writing, on the page.
Step 4Get the yes recorded against a version
A yes has three parts: who gave it, when, and on which version. Record all three in the same place as the set. Then hold the line: if anything changes after the yes, even a small fix to one size, the changed sizes go back to the approver before they run.
The legal line deserves its own yes. The FTC’s guidance on digital ads asks that a needed disclosure work on every device and platform the ad can be seen on;2 the person who approves legal copy should see it on the smallest size it runs at, not only on the master.
Step 5Leave time for the platform’s review
Your approval is not the last one. Meta says its ad review is typically completed within 24 hours, may take longer, and that ads can be reviewed again, including after they are live; edits to an ad’s creative are among the changes that may lead to another review.1
| Step | Who | How long to allow |
|---|---|---|
| Notes and changes | Your approvers and the maker | Agreed in advance, per round |
| Final yes | Your approvers | Recorded against the final version |
| Platform review1 | Meta | Typically within 24 hours, sometimes longer |
Meta’s review time, from its ad review page.1
Common mistakes
- Sending attachments.Notes end up about files nobody can identify.
- Not saying what each approver approves.Everyone comments on everything, and nobody reads the claims.
- Approving a version that was then changed.The change runs without anyone having seen it.
- Planning the launch around your approval only.The platform’s review comes after it.
Share the set for review. Your team reviews and approves in a browser, with nothing to install, and their notes sit on the page they are about. Approved pages export in every size, named and ready to upload.
See approvals →Questions
How many rounds of changes should we plan for?
Plan the date for two, and run the first round on the claims and the legal line so that the second can be about the look. Each round that changes a claim can change a layout, so claims go first.
Does every size need approving, or just the master?
Every size that runs. The master is where the decisions are made, but the sizes are where the mistakes are: a price cut off on one banner is only visible on that banner.
Can we launch while Meta is still reviewing?
The ad does not run until review is done. Meta says review is typically completed within 24 hours and may take longer, so submit with at least a working day to spare.1
Sources
- Ad review, policy and support, Meta for Business. Review is typically done within 24 hours, and edits may send an ad back to review.Checked 26 Oct 2026
- .com Disclosures: How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital Advertising, US Federal Trade Commission, March 2013. Disclosures close to the claim, on every device the ad runs on, including space-constrained ads.Checked 26 Oct 2026