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Save your design and request approval

Requesting approval closes the designer's part of a case in Cympha dental lab case management software and puts the deliverable in front of the doctor.

Audience: Designers who have finished refining a case in OrthoPlus / Implant Master / Studio and want to hand it back to the doctor for sign-off.

You'll come away knowing: how your saved files get to the cloud (which upload automatically and which wait for a click), exactly where the Request Approval button lives, what status change happens, and what the customer sees next.

Time required: Around four minutes.

Before you start

You need:

  • A case in status Designing that you are the holder of. The Request Approval button only renders when both conditions hold (you are a lab-side user and the case is currently Designing).
  • A finished deliverable saved into the patient's workspace folder. For an aligner case that's a .gvw review file or a .gos.gpk transfer pack (the .gos project itself stays local — it never uploads); for an implant case a .stl of the guide; for a generic lab service whatever the customer asked for in the intake form.
  • Cympha Agent Manager running and Paired in the tray. If the icon shows Not paired, follow Install and pair Cympha Agent Manager before you continue — without the agent your saved files don't make it back to the cloud.

If you haven't done the open-and-refine step yet, start at Open a .cyp in Studio and refine the plan.

Step 1 — Save your deliverable into the case folder

Export or save your deliverable into the patient's case subfolder under the workspace — {workspace}/{category}/{PatientName_Date_caseID}/. The Cympha Agent Manager's Cloud Monitor watches that folder, and what happens next depends on the file type:

  • .gvw review files and .zip design outputs upload automatically — no click needed. And the .gvw is more than an upload: arriving via the agent on a case in Designing, it requests Plan approval by itself — the case flips to Awaiting Approval and the doctor is emailed, with no button click from you. Export the .gvw when the plan is genuinely ready to be seen.
  • Most other file types wait for your click. The agent offers these extensions for upload: stl, ply, obj, png, gvw, txt, pdf, pie, xml, gpk, zip. Anything on that list that doesn't auto-upload sits in the Cloud Monitor panel under New in workspace, with per-file Upload / Ignore buttons and an Upload all — so you vet what goes to the cloud.
  • The .gos project file never uploads. It isn't on the list, by design — your OrthoPlus project stays local. The cloud deliverables are the exported .gvw and the .gos.gpk transfer pack.
  • A .gos.gpk has its own trigger, later in the cycle: arriving via the agent on an aligner case sitting at Approved or Changes Requested, it fires the Appliance-step approval automatically.

Step 2 — Confirm the file is on the case

For auto-uploading files, switch to your browser, open the case detail page at /cases/<id>, and scroll to the Files panel — the file appears shortly after you save it. For everything else, right-click the tray icon → Cloud Monitoring → Show panel, find the file under New in workspace, and click Upload; then confirm it in the browser's Files panel.

If the file doesn't show up:

  • Confirm the agent is paired. The tray shows the pairing state; the Cloud Monitoring → Show panel view shows the live activity.
  • Confirm the file is in the right folder. It must be inside the patient's case subfolder under the workspace — files dropped into the workspace root, or into the wrong patient folder, are ignored.
  • Confirm the extension is uploadable. Only the file types listed above are offered; a .gos (or a temp/backup file) will never appear in the panel.

What if I want to upload a file the agent didn't pick up? Use the Upload via Agent button on the case detail (desktop browsers only). It opens the local file picker, you point at the file, and the agent uploads it through the same authenticated channel. This is the right escape hatch for one-off uploads that don't live in the workspace folder.

Step 3 — Click Request Approval

Still on the case detail at /cases/<id>, look at the action row near the case header. You'll see the Request Approval button — an outline button with a check-circle icon — in the row of designer actions.

Note: if your .gvw already went up via the agent, the case may already be in Awaiting Approval — the agent upload requested it for you, and there's nothing left to click. This step is for the deliverables that don't auto-request.

There's no separate dialog or text box — the click sends the request directly, and Cympha works out which approval step is next (Plan / Appliance / Design) from the approvals already recorded on the case. There's no note field either: if you want to leave the doctor a written note, send it via the Case Chat first, then click Request Approval.

Step 4 — Confirm the status flip

The page refetches and you should see:

  • Status badge changes from Designing (blue) to Awaiting Approval (amber).
  • System label appears on the case: Plan Approval Pending, Appliance Approval Pending, or Design Approval Pending depending on what stage the case is in. The steps are fixed per category:
    • Ortho / AlignerBot / Implant: two steps — Plan, then Appliance.
    • Lab service (crowns, dentures, generic design): one step — Design.
  • Holder shifts from you to the customer for the purpose of the approval — they're now the one the case is waiting on.
  • Activity log gets an "Approval requested" event with the step name in the payload.

The Request Approval button disappears — it only shows while the case is in Designing. The Self-approve and run aligner design path (for AlignerBot operators) renders instead when relevant.

What happens next

  • The customer gets an email. The email links to /cases/<id>/approve — a dedicated review page that shows the lab slip download, the file list, and three buttons: Approve, Request changes, Escalate to lab manager.
  • The customer signs in and reviews. The review page is built so they see the files and the lab slip before signing off, rather than one-clicking something they haven't looked at.
  • They approve. Case status flips to Approved (teal badge) — and Approved is a pivot, not a resting state. For digital-delivery categories the case auto-advances immediately, with no click from you: back to Designing (still yours) if an approval cycle remains, or to Delivered on the final cycle. For physical lab-service categories the case waits at Approved until the lab moves it to In Manufacturing.
  • They request changes. Case bounces back to Changes Requested (rose badge). You stay as the holder — the system keeps you, not a generic queue. The doctor's note shows up in the chat, and for AlignerBot/ClearAligner.AI cases an XML tooth-position file or replacement .gos.gpk is attached as a file. Walk: Handle customer rejection.
  • They escalate. Case flips to Escalated (red badge). The holder transfers to your lab manager; they triage and either send it back to you with notes or reassign.

What the customer sees on the /approve page

If a doctor in your lab is curious what they're sending the customer to, here's a quick summary:

  • The patient's name at the top, with the Awaiting Approval badge and the step label ("Plan", "Appliance", or "Design").
  • A Download lab slip (PDF) link.
  • The Files section listing every file on the case, with View links back to the full file panel on the case detail.
  • A primary CTA panel: a one-paragraph reminder to review the files + lab slip, then the Approve / Request changes / Escalate to lab manager trio.
  • For AlignerBot and ClearAligner.AI cases specifically, the Request changes dialog enforces an uploaded XML tooth-position file or replacement .gos.gpk before it accepts the rejection (free-text-only rejection is blocked by design — the planner can't act on prose).

Troubleshooting

The Request Approval button isn't there. Two reasons: (1) you're not in Designing — check the status badge; or (2) you're not the case's current holder — the lab manager or intaker may have reassigned. Open the activity log and look for the most recent assignment entry.

I clicked Request Approval but the status didn't change. Refresh the page. If you're still in Designing after a hard refresh, the request hit a server validation error (most likely: every approval step already had an APPROVED label, so there's nothing left to request). Open the chat with the lab manager.

The customer says they got the email but the link 404s. The case has most likely already moved past Awaiting Approval — someone approved or changed the status in the meantime. Refresh the case detail to see where it sits now.

I want to attach a written note explaining the design choices. There's no note field on Request Approval — send the note via the Case Chat first, then click Request Approval. The chat thread is preserved on the case for the customer to see.

I'm an AlignerBot operator — do I use Self-approve or Request Approval? Self-approve runs the plan-step approval automatically on your workstation (it's the "I'm both the lab and the doctor" path). Request Approval is the standard path that bounces the case out to an external customer. Pick the one that matches your case's actual customer.

Related how-tos: Open a .cyp in Studio and refine the plan, Handle customer rejection, and Approve or reject a design for the doctor side of the same handoff.

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