Upon logging into Ziflow, the existing proof list will be visible to you. Click the New button in the upper right corner and select the New proof option. Alternatively, left-click on the first proof on your list or use a drag & drop method to start a new proof.

Proceed with the following steps to submit your first proof:

1. What to review?

2. Brief details

3. Reviewers & stage settings

4. Properties

5. Integrations

6. Security

7. Settings

1. What to review

1. Browse your files or drag and drop them into the What to Review field. Or,

2. Upload a web page by entering the URL into the Review a website field. You can choose between Taking a snapshot or View live content.

As you drag and drop or browse your files, you will see the following:

1. Proof name - by default, the proof name will be the same as the file name you upload. If you upload more than one file, the proof name will be shown as Multiple files.Please note that there is a 255-character limit on a proof name field. If a file name exceeds that limit, please make sure to have it shortened before hitting the Create button.

2. Folder (Standard, Pro, Business Legacy & Enterprise) - the folder icon in the upper left corner allows you to choose an existing folder or create a new one and select it as a destination for your proof. For more detailed information, please look at our folders functionality article.

3. Progress bar - appears as the file(s) are uploaded. All files will be listed numerically to quickly reference what's been added to your proof cycle.

4. Trash icon - this can be used to delete uploaded files.

5. Choose proof type - if you are on the Standard, Pro, Business Legacy or Enterprise editions, you will see this option. You can tell Ziflow to bundle all the files into a combined proof or create a separate proof for each uploaded asset. If you selected combined proof, your reviewers would receive only one notification for all the files, and the proof cycle will be based upon all the files being reviewed as a collective. When you combine files into one proof, you can drag and drop them to change their display order in the newly created proof.

Please note:

• Standard, Pro, Business Legacy & Enterprise Edition allows proof creators to combine multiple static files into a single proofing project. Many files can make heavy work. Combine static files into one proof, maintaining organization and efficiency in your review process.

  

• On Enterprise Edition, non-static file types (website, video, audio, or Rich Media files) can be combined into a single proof, making cross-channel campaign review a snap.

  

Once you finish this step, proceed to the next stage of proof creation.

2. Brief

If you are on our Standard, Pro, Business Legacy, or Enterprise plan, you can provide additional information about the asset. The brief will be available to all invited reviewers in the Ziflow Viewer.

With the brief field, proof creators may provide additional information and attachments to reviewers invited to the proof. This is an easy and effective way of ensuring that all people invited to the proof have access to proofing guidelines before they start collaborating on a project.

Brief information will be added for reviewers in Ziflow Viewer at the top of the comment box.

Please note that our antivirus is scanning files attached to the brief, so if any uploaded files are infected, we will remove them from the attachments list automatically.

3. Reviewers & Stage settings

Now, you are ready to configure your proof stages and add reviewers. By default, Ziflow creates Stage 1 and automatically assigns ownership to the proof creator (you can change the proof owner later if needed).

Ziflow understands that you may need two or more stages (proof groups) reviewing one file (e.g., copywriters check the text, and the legal team checks compliance). The stages can run simultaneously or successively. For this purpose, Ziflow allows you to create multiple proof stages.

If your Workflow usually has the same scenario, or you have teams for which the flow is always the same, you can use the Workflow Templates feature.

One of the best features of the Standard, Pro, or Enterprise edition is Sequential & Parallel Workflows. This feature simplifies the review and approval process by eliminating steps that otherwise would need to be done manually.

The workflow can be configured using two views: Compact & Expanded. Both views let you customize the workflow to fit your needs. Please choose the option that suits you the most.

The Compact view options when configuring a proof workflow:

The Expanded view options when configuring a proof workflow:

1. List/Diagram View - allows a proof creator/manager to select a favorite way of displaying and configuring proof workflow. The List View outlines all stages as a list. The Diagram View is great for visually seeing the relations between added stages.

   

2. Stage name - click on "Stage 1" to edit the name (e.g., "Internal Review").

3. Reviewers - in this section, you add users to the proof stage. You can set up their role during the review process (mark nr 3) and define their notification preferences (mark nr 4 ). If they are registered users in your Ziflow account, begin typing their name, and the system will populate their email addresses. If you want to invite someone who is not a registered user in your account, enter a valid email address and click the + button.

4. Role - Please note that guest reviewers (without a Ziflow account) cannot be granted Manage permissions. If you would like more information, you can see our Proof Roles article.

5. Notification preferences - this setting allows you to choose the frequency of email notifications for each reviewer. The options are all comments and decisions, replies to my comments, decisions, final decision, hourly digest, daily digest, or none. Please note that notifications will maintain the same for the reviewer added to the multiple stages (if you change a reviewer's notifications settings in one stage, the system will match them for the same throughout the stages for this reviewer).

6. Trigger (Standard, Pro, Business Legacy & Enterprise edition only) - select how and when you want the stage to start. Read more about automated workflow in the Sequential & Parallel Workflows article.

7. Skip on new version (Enterprise edition only) - this setting allows skipping a stage when a new proof version is added. This way, you can speed up the decision process and eliminate stages that do not need to be repeated in the recent proof version.

8. Set a deadline (Personal Legacy, Starter Legacy, Standard, Pro, Business Legacy & Enterprise edition only) - this setting allows you to set a deadline for your reviewers. By default, once a proof has reached its deadline, an auto-reminder goes out to reviewers who still need to take action on the proof. You can also manually send out reminders from the proof summary page. The Enterprise edition allows you to create auto-reminders to trigger before and after the deadline.

9. Lock stage (Enterprise edition only) - choose if or when the stage should be locked: never, manually, or when all decisions are made.

10. Custom invitation message (Enterprise edition only) - If you need to add additional information about a proof, you can customize the email invitation. You can format the invitation message using custom in-built tokens and have them dynamically populated in your custom message.

    

11. Final Status Calculation - here, you can define the final status calculation for each stage. If you choose All decisions, every reviewer with decision-making permissions must submit a decision for the proof to reach an approved status. If you select Only one decision required, the first reviewer to decide on the proof will make that decision on behalf of every reviewer with decision permissions. The option Decision made by.. allows you to pick a primary decision-maker from the reviewers in that stage.

12. Allow comments (Enterprise edition only) - decide what comments can be added to the proof. Read more about private vs. public comments in this article. If someone from a stage submits a private comment, it will only be visible to the reviewers in that specific stage.

4. Properties

Custom fields/properties that allow you to zero-in on a subset of your proof library according to your preferred business and/or process views. Read more about properties in the following article.

5. Integrations

If you have linked Ziflow with one of our integrations, you'll be able to connect a proof that is being created with items (tasks/projects) that already exist inside third-party applications. Right now, we support such integration with Asana, monday.com, Slack & Salesforce.

6. Security

Configure access authorization requirements, manage options for downloading original files, enable self-subscription to proofs, and enforce electronic signature of decisions, ensuring a secure and compliant review process.

1. Proof Security - the Proof Security Setting allows customers to share proofs securely, not only with registered users but guests as well. This functionality ensures that only designated reviewers can access proofs. After selecting reviewers, determine whether or not they need to authenticate to access the proof.

   There are three security settings to choose from if you are on a Standard, Business Legacy or Pro edition, and four settings if you're on Enterprise.

   1. Users & Guests (Authentication not required)

   2. Users & Guests (Authentication required) - Enterprise edition only

   3. Users only (Authentication not required)

   4. Users (Authentication required)

   When authentication is required, Ziflow will:
   - generate a unique token and email it to the guest reviewer
   - ask users to log in before accessing the proofPlease see our Proof Security Settings article for more information.

2. Download of the original file - if this feature is on, reviewers can download the proof's original file. A download icon is visible on the Ziflow Viewer and the Proof Details page.

   Just so you know, multiple files inside a proof will be downloaded as a zip file.

3. Electronic signatures (Enterprise edition) - with this setting enabled, you can share the proof with just user reviewers. Invited reviewers will be asked to sign their decisions on this proof electronically. Read more about electronic signatures in the following article.

4. Proof subscriptions - allow anyone to subscribe to the proof and make comments and decisions. Read more about this future in the following article.

7. Settings

1. Proof owner allows the creator of a proof to transfer ownership to another user.

2. Minor version (Pro, Business Legacy & Enterprise edition) - in many cases, creative proof must be reviewed internally before being shared with external team members or clients. Most online proofing applications will label versions using the standard pattern V1, V2, and V3.

   Depending on your workflow, this may not be ideal - by the time a proof is shared externally, you could be sharing what is now known as V3. It could confuse external reviewers and raise questions about what happened to V1 and V2. Enable this setting to make the proof a minor version (e.g., V0.1, V0.2, V0.3, etc.). Minor versioning will not automatically change if you allow viewing previous versions or the full workflow.

3. Lock the proof when all decisions are made - once a decision is made, proofs or stages can be locked to prevent reviewers from taking further actions (like adding comments or decisions). The only people able to unlock it are proof owners and managers. They also can manually lock the proof at any point. More detailed info can be found in the Manually lock & unlock proofs article.

4. Suppress the proof created/failed email - when adding a proof, the creators may prefer not to receive email notifications about a new proof being created or failed. To accommodate this, Ziflow offers the option to opt out of such notifications.

Summary

After configuring the proof settings, click on the Create button. If any incorrect settings are configured, you will receive a pop-up message. Ziflow will highlight the problem area with a red exclamation mark adjacent to the relevant stage that needs your attention.

Once the proof is processed, the reviewers will receive an email notification that a new proof needs to be assessed.

Once you log into Ziflow, you will see the Proofs List. From there, click on the Create Proof button in the upper right corner.

Proceed with the following steps to submit your first proof:

1. What to review?

2. Proof briefing information

3. Stage configuration

4. Proof settings

What to review

1. Browse your files or drag and drop them into the What to review field. Or,

    

2. Upload a web page by entering the URL into the Review a website field. You can choose between Take a snapshot or View live content.

As you drag and drop or browse your files, you will see:

1. Proof name - by default, the proof name will be the same as the file name of the file you upload. If you upload more than one file, the proof name will be shown as Multiple files.

   
   Please note that there is a 255-character limit on a proof name field. If a file name exceeds that limit, please make sure to have it shortened before hitting the Create button.

    

2. Folder - the folder icon in the upper left corner allows you to either choose an existing folder or create a new one and select it as a destination for your proof. For more detailed information, please take a look at our folders functionality article.

    

3. Progress bar - this appears as the file(s) are uploaded. All files will be listed in numerical order to reference what's been added to your review cycle quickly.

    

4. Trash icon - this can be used to delete uploaded files.

    

5. Combine into a single proof - you will see this option if you are on the Standard, Pro, or Enterprise editions. By selecting this setting, you can tell Ziflow to bundle all the static files into a single proof. In doing so, your reviewers will receive only one notification for all the files, and the review cycle will be based upon all the files being reviewed as a collective. When you combine files into one proof, you can drag and drop them to change their display order in the newly created proof.

Please note:

• Standard, Pro, Business Legacy & Enterprise Edition allows proof creators to combine multiple static files into a single proofing project. Many files can make heavy work. Combine static files into one proof, maintaining organization and efficiency in your review process.
  ​

  

   

• On Enterprise Edition, non-static file types (website, video, audio, or Rich Media files) can be combined into a single proof, making cross-channel campaign review a snap.
  ​

  

Once you finish this step, scroll down to the next one.

Brief

If you are on our Standard, Pro, Business Legacy, or Enterprise plan, you can provide additional information about the asset. The brief will be available to all invited reviewers in the Ziflow Viewer.

With the brief field, proof creators may provide additional information and attachments to reviewers invited to the asset. This is an easy and effective way of ensuring that all people invited to the proof have access to proofing guidelines before they start collaborating on a project.

Added brief information will be visible for reviewers in Ziflow Viewer at the top of the comment box.

Please note that files attached to the brief are being scanned by our antivirus, so if any of the uploaded files are infected, then we will remove them from the attachments list automatically.

Configure Stages

Now, you are ready to configure your stages and add reviewers. By default, Ziflow creates Stage 1 and automatically assigns ownership to the proof creator (you can change the proof owner later if needed).

Ziflow understands that you may need two or more stages (review groups) reviewing one file (e.g., copywriters check the text, and the legal team checks compliance). The stages can run simultaneously or successively. For this purpose, Ziflow allows you to create multiple proof stages.

If your Workflow usually has the same scenario, or you have teams for which the flow is always the same, you can use the Workflow Templates feature.

One of the best features of the Standard, Pro, or Enterprise edition is Sequential & Parallel Workflows. This feature simplifies the review and approval process by eliminating steps that otherwise would need to be done manually.

The screenshot below outlines the stage options:

1. Stage name - click on "Stage 1" to edit the name (e.g., "Internal Review").

    

2. Reviewers - in this section, you add users to the review stage. You can set up their proofing permissions and define their notification preferences. If they are registered users in your Ziflow account, begin typing their name, and the system will populate their email addresses. If you want to invite someone who is not a registered user in your account, enter a valid email address and click the + button. *Please note that guest reviewers (without a Ziflow account) cannot be granted Manage permissions. For more information, see our Proof permissions article.

    

3. Notification preferences - this setting allows you to choose the frequency of email notifications for each reviewer. The options are all comments and decisions, replies to my comments, decisions, final decision, hourly digest, daily digest, or none. Please note that notifications will remain the same for the reviewer added to the multiple stages (if you change a reviewer's notifications settings in one stage, the system will match them for the same throughout the stages for this reviewer).

    

4. Skip on new version (Enterprise edition only) - this setting allows skipping a stage when a new proof version is added. This way, you can speed up the decision process and eliminate stages that do not need to be repeated in the recent proof version.

    

5. Trigger (Standard, Pro, Business Legacy & Enterprise edition only) - select how and when you want the stage to start. Read more about automated workflow in the Sequential & Parallel Workflows article.

    

6. Set a deadline (Personal Legacy, Starter Legacy, Standard, Pro, Business Legacy & Enterprise edition only) - this setting allows you to set a deadline for your reviewers. By default, once a proof has reached its deadline, an auto-reminder goes out to reviewers who have not taken action on the proof. You can also manually send out reminders from the proof summary page. The Enterprise edition allows you to create auto-reminders to trigger before and after the deadline has been reached.

    

7. Lock stage (Enterprise edition only) - choose if or when the stage should be locked: never, manually, or when all decisions are made.

    

8. Final Status Calculation - here, you can define the final status calculation for each stage. If you choose All decisions, every reviewer with decision-making permissions will need to submit a decision for the proof to reach an approved status. If you select Only one decision required, the first reviewer to decide on the proof will make that decision on behalf of every reviewer with decision permissions. The option Decision made by.. allows you to pick a primary decision-maker from the reviewers in that stage.

    

9. Allow comments (Enterprise edition only) - decide what comments can be added to the proof. Read more about private vs. public comments in this article. If someone from a stage submits a private comment, it will only be visible to the reviewers in that specific stage.

    

10. New proof/version (Enterprise edition only) - if you uncheck this option, the new proof/version notification will not be sent.

     

11. Custom invitation message (Enterprise edition only)- if you need to add additional information about a proof/project, you can customize the email invitation.

Proof Settings

The last step of the proof creation process is configuring proof settings.

1. Proof Owner Setting - the proof creator may transfer ownership to another user.

    

2. Proof Security - the Proof Security Setting allows customers to share proofs securely, not only with registered users but guests as well. This functionality ensures that only designated reviewers can access proofs. After selecting reviewers, determine whether or not they need to authenticate to access the proof.
   ​

   There are three security settings to choose from if you are on a Standard, Business Legacyor Pro edition, and four settings if you're on Enterprise.

   1. Users & Guests (Authentication not required)

   2. Users & Guests (Authentication required) - Enterprise edition only

   3. Users only (Authentication not required)

   4. Users (Authentication required)
      ​

   When authentication is required, Ziflow will:
   - generate a unique token and email it to the guest reviewer
   - ask users to log in before accessing the proof

   
   Please see our Proof Security Settings article for more information.

    

3. Minor version (Pro, Business Legacy & Enterprise edition)- in many cases, creative assets must be reviewed internally before being shared with external team members or clients. Most online proofing applications will label versions using the standard pattern V1, V2, V3.

   Depending on your workflow, this may not be ideal - by the time proof is shared externally, you could be sharing what is now known as V3. It could confuse external reviewers and raise questions about what happened to V1 and V2. Enable this setting to make the proof a minor version (e.g., V0.1, V0.2, V0.3, etc.). Minor versioning will not automatically change if you allow viewing previous versions or the full workflow.

    

4. Electronic signatures (Enterprise edition) - with this setting enabled, you'll be allowed to share the proof only with user reviewers. Invited reviewers will be asked to sign their decisions on this proof electronically. Read more about electronic signatures in the following article.

    

5. Lock the proof when all decisions are made - once a decision is made, proofs or stages can be locked to prevent reviewers from taking any further actions (like adding comments or decisions). The only people able to unlock it are proof owners and managers. They also can manually lock the proof at any point. More detailed info can be found in the Manually lock & unlock proofs article.

    

6. Allow download of the original file - reviewers can download the proof's original file if this feature is on. A download icon is visible inside the Proof Viewer and on the Proof Details page.

   Please note: multiple files inside a proof will be downloaded as a zip file.

    

7. Suppress proof created/failed email - proof creators may not want to receive an email informing them that a new proof has been created/failed since they are making the proof. For that reason, Ziflow gives them the ability to opt out of that email notification.

Summary

Once the proof settings are configured, click the Create button. You will see the following pop-up message if something is set up incorrectly. Ziflow will identify the problem area by placing a red exclamation mark next to the stage that requires attention.

After the proof is processed, reviewers will get an email notification informing them that they have new proof to review.