Nintex: Setting Up Lazy Approval

Lazy Approval is awesome.  I love it, and perhaps more importantly end users love it.  Lazy approval allows someone to approve or reject a task by e-mail.  Managers generally do not like to click and navigate to several different areas.  By having your notification messages include the relevant details and enabling lazy approvals, managers only need to read the e-mail and respond with text as simple as Yes or No to approve.

So, how is this awesome feature enabled?

Step 1: Install SMTP Service

Installing SMTP is pretty straight forward and I don't really want to go through it, but I will provide a couple articles for those unfamiliar with the process.

• Setup and Configure SMTP Server On Windows Server 2008 R2
• How to Set Up an Internal STMP Service for Windows Server 2012

Step 2: Configure Nintex Workflow E-mail Settings

1. Go to Central Administration.
2. Under Nintex Workflow Management, click Global Settings.
   
3. Enter your Outbound SMTP Server, a From Address, a Reply To Address.  This may already be configured if Nintex is sending notifications through workflows.
4. Perform an IIS Reset.

Step 3: Enabling Lazy Approval

1. Go to Central Administration.
2. Click Nintex Workflow Management.
3. Click Lazy Approval Settings.
   
4. Click Enable / Disable Lazy Approval.
5. Select Yes for Enable Lazy Approval via E-mail.
6. Provide an e-mail alias.
7. Perform an IIS Reset or wait about 15 minutes for the changes to go into effect.

Step 4: Manage Lazy Approval Terms

Adding New Terms

1. Go to Central Administration.
2. Click Nintex Workflow Management.
3. Click Lazy Approval Settings.
4. Click Create a new LazyApproval term for the current server farm.
5. Provide the phrase and outcome and click OK

Adding New Terms to Ignore

These terms must appear in the e-mail subjects line to be ignored.

1. Go to Central Administration.
2. Click Nintex Workflow Management.
3. Click Lazy Approval Settings.
4. Click Create a term to ignore.
5. Enter term, click OK.