How to Reduce Document Approval Time: 7 Proven Tips for Faster Project Delivery

Approvals slow everything down, right?

If you’re constantly chasing signatures and re-sending documents, you’re not alone. Delays from manual approvals pile on stress and push your project timelines way off track.

What tends to happen is you spend more time managing paperwork than doing the actual work that matters for delivery.

A recent SenseTask report found that document processing inefficiencies are costing up to 1 trillion dollars each year. That’s a staggering amount of wasted money and lost productivity—so if you feel stuck, it totally makes sense.

But here’s the thing: streamlining approvals doesn’t have to be impossible. There are practical steps you can take that genuinely speed this up without creating more headaches for you or your team.

In this article, I’m going to show you how to reduce document approval time using 7 proven strategies that actually work—no fluff, just actionable fixes you need.

You’ll walk away with real tactics to hit deadlines, keep your team moving, and finally stop wasting hours on bottlenecks.

Let’s get started.

1. Automate Your Approval Workflows

Is manual document routing slowing your projects down?

If your process depends on email chains and spreadsheets, you’re probably spending more hours chasing approvals than moving work forward.

What usually happens is this: manual approvals create bottlenecks that stall key project deliverables or leave you wondering where things stand. There’s lots of after-the-fact recovery, unhappy team members, and high stress right before deadlines.

According to SenseTask, companies that invest in intelligent document processing experience an average of 4x faster document processing speed compared to manual methods. That means document automation could be the single biggest win for quicker project delivery.

If you’re still relying on manual steps, you’re risking missed deadlines and lost productivity—there’s a smarter way to get ahead.

Automating approvals streamlines your entire workflow.

Instead of passing documents around for sign-off, you can set up automated pathways that guide every file to the right person instantly. That clears up confusion, slashes turnaround times, and helps you reduce back-and-forth follow-ups.

Your team gets notifications automatically when they need to review or sign off, so nothing slips through the cracks or waits in someone’s inbox.

Automation platforms let you build workflows that match your exact process—like routing contracts to Legal, then to Finance, and finally to your boss for a sign-off. You get built-in tracking, instant status updates, and clear audit trails, which is exactly what you want if you’re figuring out how to reduce document approval time. Example: you can create a rule so expense reports automatically go from submitter to budget owner, then to accounting, without a single email thread.

All of this means fewer headaches for you.

Automated workflows make it a lot easier to deliver projects on time, keep everyone accountable, and free up your day for more important work.

Ready to speed up your approvals? Start a FREE trial of FileCenter today and see how easy faster document processing can be.

2. Define Clear Roles and Responsibilities

Role confusion is a recipe for missed deadlines.

If you don’t know who owns what, approvals get lost in the shuffle, which keeps your projects on hold and your team second-guessing their next move.

It all piles up because unclear responsibilities lead to repetitive chasing, duplicate reviews, and missed accountability. You end up spending more time tracking down approvals than actually moving work forward, which only adds frustration and wasted hours.

A recent finding from Adlib Software points out that 66% of organizations cite unclear responsibilities as the biggest workflow bottleneck. The reality is that not having specific roles creates confusion and unnecessary back-and-forth during document approval.

Without clear ownership, you risk constant delays and errors—so it makes sense to address this head-on.

Assigning roles fixes the chaos instantly.

When you spell out exactly who’s in charge of reviewing, approving, or escalating each document, suddenly everyone knows what to do and when to do it. That means approvals land on the right person’s desk the first time, which knocks out confusion and speeds everything up.

Setting and sharing those responsibilities in advance is what really boosts accountability. If you’re using a modern document management tool, you can tag responsibilities right in the workflow, making it clear for everyone—and easy to track if something’s stuck.

For example, assigning a project manager as the sole approval owner on a contract while legal is a reviewer shows exactly how defining responsibilities helps reduce approval time. No more guessing whose desk it’s on or why it’s stalled.

That’s what makes all the difference.

Defining clear roles and responsibilities keeps your team focused, helps you hit project goals on time, and puts an end to endless email chases.

3. Set Firm Deadlines and Reminders

Most projects stall when no one’s tracking deadlines.

If you’re chasing approvals with no end in sight, everyone’s motivation drops off and priorities slip through the cracks. Before you know it, you’re stuck waiting for signatures or comments that never seem to arrive.

What usually happens is that bottlenecks pile up and projects miss delivery dates. Deadlines get fuzzy, reminders are forgotten, and you wind up feeling like you’re herding cats just to get one document across the finish line.

Take a look at what FileCenter found: 87% of organizations report significant reduction in approval cycle time after implementing automated deadline tracking and reminders. That means just adding structure can seriously move the needle for your business.

When you don’t set clear expectations or follow up regularly, you’re practically inviting avoidable delays—and your stress level just keeps climbing.

Setting and automating reminders is a game changer.

What makes this so effective is that it puts clear timeframes around every approval, so there’s less room for procrastination and more accountability built in from the start.

You can even automatically notify document reviewers when it’s their turn, so nobody’s waiting around for an email or Slack ping that never comes.

For example, with a document management software, you can assign due dates for each approval, auto-schedule reminders, and track outstanding tasks in real time. That structure lets you see at a glance who’s holding things up, and your team learns exactly what’s expected and when. Sending prompt reminders is one of my favorite strategies for reducing document approval time, especially in bigger projects where feedback cycles get lost in the shuffle.

This tip adds focus when you most need it.

I include this approach because it’s easy to roll out and consistently delivers faster results, no matter the size or complexity of your project.

4. Centralize All Document Feedback

Approvals get delayed when feedback is scattered everywhere

If your team leaves comments across emails, chats, and different tools, it’s way too easy to miss important feedback.

The real struggle starts when you’re forced to chase down missing or contradictory comments from a dozen people, trying to figure out which piece of feedback came first, or even if you have the latest draft.

According to 63% of document review errors reported by Docsumo, feedback being spread across different channels is the main reason for mistakes during reviews. So if you’re constantly reconciling feedback from Slack, email, or handwritten notes on PDFs, you’re actually setting yourself back rather than moving approvals forward.

This mess is one of the biggest reasons approval cycles keep stretching out instead of shrinking.

Centralizing feedback makes all the difference.

When you pull everyone’s comments into one spot, nothing gets lost, skipped, or misread, and it instantly cuts down on review loops that slow delivery.

Having feedback in a single place means you never have to waste hours tracking down what was changed, by who, or when.

The right document management software makes it easy for your team to drop all notes, suggestions, and questions into a shared review pane—no more hunting through inboxes. It also gives project leads instant visibility into exactly what still needs to be addressed and which approvals are stalled. If you’re serious about reducing document approval time, centralizing feedback is the move that pays off in every project.

It’s a simple switch that keeps things moving.

Your workflow just works better—and approval bottlenecks become a thing of the past.

5. Standardize Your Approval Criteria

5. Standardize Your Approval Criteria

Conflicting criteria drag project approvals down

If you’re not clear on what qualifies for approval, you’re probably seeing a lot of wasted back-and-forth as people try to make sense of requirements.

I’ve watched this play out and it leads to confusion and corrections that don’t just burn time—they also frustrate everyone involved and sometimes even introduce compliance risks.

Take this into account: 58% of companies saw a reduction in compliance errors after standardizing their document approval workflows, according to Cflow. Reducing compliance mistakes means smoother handoffs, and that almost always speeds up delivery.

So if you feel approvals are always “almost there” but never done, you’s definitely not alone—and there’s something you can fix here.

Clarity solves more problems than you’d expect

When you create standard criteria that everyone understands and follows, you take most of the guesswork out of document approval. Not only do you reduce revisions, but you also seriously improve turnaround time.

Putting this in place also ensures every decision is based on consistent rules, so people know exactly what they’re responsible for before forwarding a doc.

I recommend making a checklist or a simple rubric that lays out all non-negotiables for approval. For instance, if data privacy or formatting is a concern, spell it out so no one’s left guessing. These steps show exactly how standardizing approval criteria contributes to reducing document processing times—and that helps you hit tight project timelines with less stress.

That’s a quick win most people miss.

Honestly, putting this foundation in place is what sets up every other improvement you’ll make—standardization takes the pain out of document approvals.

Ready to simplify your approvals? Start a FREE trial of FileCenter and see how clear criteria speed up your document workflows today.

6. Reduce Unnecessary Approval Steps

Sometimes approvals get stuck for no real reason.

If you’re dealing with too many approval layers, it’s easy to get bogged down chasing signatures or waiting on people who don’t need to be involved.

What I see all the time is that extra approval steps kill momentum fast for everyone involved, causing unnecessary hold-ups and even risking missed deadlines for you and your team.

After looking into this, Feathery found that eliminating excess approval steps led to 31% faster average time-to-approval for big company workflows, which is a massive difference if you’re trying to hit project deadlines. And when approvals move faster, projects get off the ground and close on time.

Cutting out those extra steps is sometimes all it takes to turn a sluggish process into a smooth one, and it’s definitely worth a closer look.

Start by trimming down your approval chain.

The key here is to look for spots where too many people are reviewing or giving sign-off but aren’t adding much value—that’s where “Reduce Unnecessary Approval Steps” comes to the rescue and directly helps you speed things up.

When you can identify and remove redundant approvers quickly, you’ll notice your approval process becomes more focused and accountable.

Let’s say you’re working with project proposals. If your department head and a financial officer both have to approve, but the head just rubber stamps what finance decides, letting one person handle it immediately shortens the wait. This shows exactly how reviewing your current workflow and pruning excess steps speeds up your document approvals in a meaningful way.

Things get a lot simpler when fewer hands are involved.

That’s why this approach stands out—it’s actionable, practical, and instantly helps with unnecessary slowdowns in your document management workflow.

7. Implement Digital Signatures

Approvals always seem to take forever, right?

If you’re still collecting handwritten signatures, I know the frustration of waiting days for someone to print, sign, scan, and send back crucial documents.

Approval bottlenecks are usually caused when paper signatures or outdated tools create a frustrating back-and-forth that stalls your project. Not only does this waste time, but it also leaves you constantly checking your inbox and chasing updates.

According to MokaHR, 81% of enterprises using digital signatures report turnaround on signed contracts is much faster. That means fewer delays, reduced error rates, and far less manual work during tight project timelines.

If you’re feeling the pain of slow approvals, getting an electronic signature tool in place could be a game-changer.

Digital signatures simplify the process massively.

I’ve seen projects move at double speed as soon as you swap out wet signatures for a digital tool, since everyone can sign from anywhere—no printing or scanning needed. This is how you unblock your workflow and start actually moving projects forward again.

You’ll also get better tracking visibility since most digital signature platforms give you a real-time view of who’s signed and who’s holding things up.

Switching to digital signatures means you finally have a concrete answer for how to reduce document approval time with minimal disruption. Instead of juggling paper or waiting for updates, you’ll see approvals flow right inside your document management software.

This just works.

Digital signatures are secure, legally recognized, and are easy for almost anyone to use, which makes them the obvious fix for faster project delivery and less wasted time.

Conclusion

Approvals shouldn’t be this stressful.

When your small business is stuck chasing signatures and tracking down feedback, project delivery just slows to a crawl.

Here’s why this matters—SenseTask found that 78% of enterprise executives list document automation as a top digital transformation priority. That means streamlining approvals is mission-critical for your team’s success, not just a “nice to have” feature.

You can fix this, starting today.

I’ve shown you practical, tested ways to cut approval times and finally get the project momentum you want.

For example, when I introduced automated workflows and digital signatures, project managers reported drastically fewer bottlenecks, more visibility, and less wasted effort. It’s a game changer for real-world delivery.

Pick one of these tips and get started now.

You’ll see faster turnarounds, less frustration, and more confident project completions.

Ready to see these benefits in action? Start a FREE trial of FileCenter and watch your document approvals speed up today.