Overview
Approval on hold pauses the current approval step of an invoice. Approvers can investigate an issue without rejecting the invoice, and everyone involved can see that the delay is intentional and why.
This is not default system functionality, to enable please contact your Vic.ai representative or Support.
How to put an approval step on hold
Open the invoice and go to the Approval sidedrawer
Note, only the pending approver, accountant, and admins can initiate a hold or resume the approval flow
On the current pending step, select Put on hold
Enter a reason and confirm
The step shows ON HOLD with a pause icon, your name, the time and the reason. All approvers on the step stay assigned.
What happens while a step is on hold
The whole step is paused for every approver on it, not only the person who placed the hold.
The invoice is left out of the daily reminder digest for pending approvers on that step and their substitutes, including anyone reassigned in while held. Their other pending approvals still appear.
Escalations are not sent (if enabled).
The requester (if a person started the approval) and approvers who have not yet acted receive one email with a note on who placed the hold and why. The person placing the hold does not receive it. If an approver is out of office, their substitute receives it instead.
The invoice remains editable and behaves like any other invoice under approval.
Approve, reject, cancel and reassign remain available.
There is no expiration. The step stays on hold until it is resumed or ends automatically.
How to see that an invoice is on hold
Approval tab: the step header shows ON HOLD with the pause icon, plus who placed it, when and the reason.
Invoices and Approval grids: a pause icon "II" appears next to the invoice's approval status icon.
How to resume
Open an invoice's Approval sidedrawer.
On the held step, select Resume. No reason is needed.
Approval continues at the same step with the same approvers. The invoice returns to the next daily digest, and any configured escalation delay is counted from the time of resume.
When a hold ends automatically
A hold ends if the step is approved or rejected, the approval is cancelled or reset, or an invoice edit triggers a different approval flow.
Reassigning an approver does not end a hold.
Hold history and audit
The Approval sidedrawer lists every hold, resume, and automatic hold ending for the step.
These appear on the Approval flow history.
Best Practices
Write specific reasons ("Waiting on PO correction from vendor") so others know what is needed
Resume as soon as the question is answered; holds do not expire
Use hold rather than reject when you want to keep approval progress
Frequently asked questions
Does a hold reject or restart the approval? No. Progress is kept and the step stays pending.
Can I hold the approval before it reaches my step? No. Holds apply to the current pending step only.
Can a hold be placed without a reason? No. A reason is required to place the hold.
Is on-hold time excluded from approval-duration metrics? It is not excluded.
Does a hold block invoice editing or posting? No, only normal configurations would block this.
Is it available on all approval step types? Holds apply to the current pending approval step.