Sync data to Base from Lark Approval

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Sync data to Base from Lark Approval

3 min read

I. Intro

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Who can perform these steps:

Administrators can add approval data within their management permissions.

Members can add their own submitted, approved, processed, and cc'd approval data, but only for the approvals that they have permission to submit.

Lark Approval can add and sync approval data to Base for analytics, charts, process reminders, and so on.

II. Steps

Open the Lark app, go to the Approval app through Workplace or search for Approval, then select Data Management.

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Click Add Approval Data, and enter or select the approval entry that needs to be synced to Base.

Note: If you want to add two or more approvals to the same base, you can click Select multiple approvals and select multiple approvals in the pop-up.

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The data of the selected approval will display on the right, where you can filter, sort, and so on. The data refreshes every hour by default to retrieve any modifications and new records.

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You can also click the Open in browser icon in the upper-right corner for more Base options, or click the Copy link icon to share the base with other members.

For more information about using Base for data processing, see Get started with Base.

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III. Use cases

For example, a company wants to sync all the data of the "Payment Request" approval to Base.

In Data Management, click Add Approval Data.

Select the "Payment Request" approval to sync it to a base.

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Get statistics

Example: Calculate the total payment amount in the "Payment Application" of the company in April.

Click the Filter icon, set the Payment date to April as the condition.

Check the sum of the filtered "Payment amount", which is the total payment amount in April.

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Draw a Chart

Example: Intuitively display the approval status of the company's "Payment Application" as a chart.

Click the Open in browser icon in the upper-right corner to open the base in the browser.

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On the opened Base page, click Dashboard.

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Select a block to generate the corresponding chart. The following example uses a pie chart to present the status of the approvals.

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In Lark Approval, you can switch between the grid view and the dashboard at the top of the table in Data Management.

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Set process reminders

Example: Remind members to initiate the "Seal application" after their "Payment Request" is approved.

Click the Open in browser icon in the upper-right corner to open the base in the browser.

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On the opened Base page, click Automations, and select Automated notifications > When a record updates > Send a Lark message.

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Configure the settings to send a reminder to the approval submitter when the request status changes. You can also turn on Add buttons at the bottom, to allow the submitter to initiate the seal request directly by clicking the button on the message reminder card.

Note: To get the link to the seal request for the button, hover over the seal request entry in the Approval app's Submit Request page and click the Share icon.

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IV. FAQs

Is it possible to add and sync third-party approval data?

No. Only approval data created in Lark Approval can be synced to Base.

Which data in the approval process can be synced to Base?

Process data from Lark Approval: Approval number, approval status, initiation time, completion time, submitter, current handler, approval step, and so on.

Form data from the approval: The content entered by the approval submitter, except attachments and images.

If the approval widget references an external data source, can the external data be synced to the base?

Yes.

When there are new or modified approvals, will the base be automatically updated?

By default, the changes will be automatically updated to the base every hour.

If you need to manually refresh the data, open the base in the browser, click the ⋮ More actions icon > Sync Data.

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If you do not need automatic updates, open the base in the browser, click the ⋮ More actions icon at the right of the table name > Sync Setup, and turn off Automatic sync (every hour).

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Can I edit the approval data synced to a base?

No. But you can add fields that will only apply to the base. Those new fields won't be synced back to the approvals.

Note: Members with edit permission of the base can add the new fields.

How can I remove fields in the base synced from Approval?

You can do either of the following:

Adjust the display of the fields: In the base table, click the Customize Field icon to hide fields. You can also drag the field column to adjust the field order as needed.

Adjust the synced fields: Click the More actions icon at the right of the table name > Sync Setup > Configure > Specific fields, and select the fields that you want to display.

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How can I add approval data within a specified time range?

Open the Base file in the browser, Click the More actions icon at the right of the table name > Sync Setup, set the Date range, and click Save and Sync.

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What can I do if there is too much approval data that exceeds the limit of Base?

A single table in a base can import up to 2,000 rows. If the approval data exceeds 2,000 entries, it will automatically be split into multiple tables within the base.

A single base can import or split up to 100 tables of approval data. If the approval data exceeds 100 tables (200,000 entries), it cannot be imported.

Can other members see the approval data that I synced to Base?

No. By default, only the person who synced it can view the base. If you need to share the table with other members, copy the link and send it to them.

I am an administrator and have synced approval data. If I lose my administrator permission later, can I still view this base?

Yes. You can view the approval data that you added and synced previously. The future data updates will not automatically sync.

If A, B, and C are all administrators, do they see the same base or their own file?

Their own. Each base is only visible to the person who created it by default. If you want multiple people to view or edit the same base, the person who syncs the data to the base can share the file with other members.

How will the bases synced from Approval be transferred if the creator leaves the organization?

They will be transferred together with other bases according to the transfer rule for Base set by the organization, either to the person taking over or to the direct manager.

How can I change the time zone of the base of the synced approval data?

Open the base in the browser and click the ··· icon in the upper-right corner > More > Document Time Zone to configure the setting.

Are there any limits other than length for syncing approval data to Base?

Yes, only the latest 20 published changes of an approval process can be synced.

For example, if an approval process is edited 25 times in the Approval admin console, only the data for the 20 most recent changes can be synced to the base; the earliest 5 changes will not be included.

Can I sync multiple approvals to a single base?

Yes.

Go to the Approval app and click Data Management > Add Approval Data.

Click Select multiple approvals at the bottom of the approval list to select the approvals you need.

The approvals you selected will be imported to the base as different tables.

You can also click Sync Data From in your base > Lark Approval to do the same. For more data management options, such as syncing multiple approvals into one table, see Use automated workflows in Base.