The document review sequence, and what each status means
Last updated: August 27, 2026
Every document that will be released passes through the same sequence. Nothing reaches a requester without going through it, and the status on a document tells you exactly where in that sequence it is.
The five steps
1. The document enters review. Anything attached to a request begins at Needs Review, which is the default status.
2. You decide whether redaction is needed. If any part must be withheld, move it to Redaction In Progress. If nothing must be withheld, it can go on toward release without a redaction pass.
3. You redact. The editor opens on the document. Each session is scoped to the single document you opened and expires on its own.
4. The output is verified, then signed off. When you finish, the redacted file is examined again for anything that should have been withheld and was not. A document waiting on a person's decision sits at Pending Approval.
5. Cleared, then delivered. A document that has cleared review sits at Ready for Release. Govflo moves it to Released when it is actually delivered to the requester.
The statuses
| Status | Means |
|---|---|
| Needs Review | Attached, not yet dealt with. This is the default |
| Redaction In Progress | Part of it must be withheld, and that work is underway |
| Pending Approval | Waiting on someone's sign-off |
| Ready for Release | Cleared, and may be packaged and sent |
| Released | Delivered to the requester. Set by Govflo, not by hand |
Your agency can rename these, reorder them, recolour them and set which moves are allowed, so yours may differ. Released is the exception: the system sets it on delivery and nothing moves out of it.
Only a cleared status lets a document go out
This is the sentence on the settings screen worth reading twice: only a status marked as cleared allows a document to be packaged, shared or delivered.
So the status list is not decoration, it is the gate on release. A document sitting in any status that is not cleared cannot reach a requester, whatever else is true about it.
Why a document comes back
The most common surprise is a document that will not release. That is verification doing its job: it found something and the product will not release material it cannot verify.
This is deliberate behavior and no configuration disables it. Govflo fails toward asking a person rather than toward releasing something it is unsure about.