A delegated approver (sometimes called delegated user in interview banks) is a user you’ve designated on your User record to approve approval requests on your behalf. When an approval routes to you, the delegate gets a copy in their queue and can approve or reject as if they were you.
How to set one up
- Open your User record (Setup → Users, or click your avatar → Settings)
- Find the Delegated Approver lookup field
- Pick the user who can act on your behalf
- Save
That’s it. From the next moment on, any approval that routes to you also routes to the delegate.
What the delegate can do
| Action | Delegate can do? |
|---|---|
| Approve | Yes |
| Reject | Yes |
| Reassign | Yes (if step allows) |
| Recall | No — only the submitter or admin can recall |
| Edit the record | Only if their normal sharing/permissions allow it |
When approvals get delegated
The delegate receives the work item as soon as the approval arrives in your queue. They don’t see your queue per se — they see the item appear in their approval queue with a note that it was originally for you.
Delegated approver vs Approver Reassign vs Manager
These three concepts overlap; interviewers love testing the distinction:
| Concept | Where it lives | When it activates |
|---|---|---|
| Delegated Approver | Field on User record | Always — every approval routed to this user also goes to delegate |
| Approver’s Manager | Field on User record (Manager) | When an approval step uses “User’s Manager” as the approver |
| Reassign | A button the approver clicks | Manually, one approval at a time |
Common interview confusion
Candidates often conflate delegated approver with manager. They’re separate fields and they serve different purposes:
- Manager is hierarchical — used by features that route up the org tree (approvals using “the user’s manager”, role hierarchy sharing, opportunity rollups, etc.)
- Delegated Approver is a peer or substitute — used only by approval processes, only for the approve-on-my-behalf use case
A user can have a manager and a delegated approver set up — they’re independent.
Why use it
- Out-of-office coverage — set up before vacation, clear when back
- Permanent delegation — VPs who never personally handle approvals and want a chief of staff to act for them
- Team leadership — when a manager wants their direct reports to share approval load
Caveats
- Only one delegated approver at a time per user
- The delegate cannot delegate further (no chain)
- Deactivating a user with delegates assigned to them doesn’t automatically clean those references
- The audit trail records that the delegate approved, not the original user — this is important for compliance
What interviewers want
- A clean definition: a user designated to approve on your behalf
- The distinction from Manager and from Reassign
- Bonus: that it’s a field on the User record and one user only
Verified against: Salesforce Help — Delegated Approvers. Last reviewed 2026-05-17 for Spring ‘26 release.