In May 2025, Freshservice had introduced the ability for customers to configure whether workflows should be blocked on pending approvals. This setting would be available for customers who have started using the new approvals capability, which was launched in the same release.


We will deprecate the “Unblock subsequent workflows from pending approvals” configuration under Admin > Global Settings > Workflow Automator > Settings, by May 2026. This deprecation ensures a seamless approvals automation process, without impacting other workflows and will also help to support advanced automation scenarios in the future.


In this article


What will change after this deprecation?

Following this deprecation, the ability to manually enable or disable non-blocking workflow execution when waiting for an approval will be removed. This means if a workflow is paused waiting for an approval, subsequent matching workflows will always continue to execute.


How do I know if this deprecation impacts me?

This deprecation impacts all Freshservice accounts that utilize approvals in workflow automation. The non-blocking workflow execution configuration is enabled by default for all new customers from May 2025. 

For existing customers, you are required to review workflows and manually enable the non-blocking execution setting (Admin > Global Settings > Workflow Automator > Settings).


Note: This setting is currently provided only for those customers who have opted for early access to the new approvals capability.


What is the impact of this deprecation?

The non-blocking workflow execution setting will be permanently enabled for event-based workflows for all Freshservice accounts after November 2026, and the configuration toggle will be removed from the user interface in a subsequent release. As a result, when an approval is triggered from a workflow, all subsequent matching workflows will immediately start executing. Meaning that workflows which used to be blocked earlier will start executing.


What should you do?

To ensure a smooth transition and prevent unintended workflow behavior, you must take the following steps before May 2026:

  1. Review your workflows: Analyze your current workflow setup. Check for workflows having approval actions followed by other nodes. Subsequent workflows will start executing when the approval is triggered from the previous workflow. Monitor the order of execution and any dependencies that might be affected when workflows run without blocking each other.

  2. Re-order or modify: Adjust your workflows as necessary to ensure they function correctly in a non-blocking environment.

  3. Enable the setting: Once your workflows are prepared and reviewed, enable the non-blocking workflow execution setting.

For any queries, reach out to us at support@freshservice.com.