Review and approval
Video approval email templates
that name the version, the approver and the deadline.
An approval email fails when it leaves out which cut, whose yes counts, or when the answer is due. Below are three templates you can copy that name all three, plus the one-line reply for a client who answers “approved” in the thread. Send them with a review link so the email and the approval record point at the same cut.
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By uncompressed.io · Updated September 2026
Before you write it
Every approval email names three things,
and a link to that exact cut.
Most approval trouble starts with an email that was friendly and vague: “Here is the latest, let me know what you think.” It does not say which cut, whose answer counts or when the answer is due, so the reply cannot settle any of those questions either.
The version
Write the label exactly as the review room shows it, V3 and not "the new one". If you deliver several aspect ratios, name the aspect too: V3, 16:9.
One approver
Name the one person whose yes ends the round. Everyone else can comment through that person or through their own link.
The deadline
A date and a time zone, plus what happens after it: when you deliver if they approve, and when delivery moves if they do not answer.
The link
One review link to the room where that version plays. Do not attach the file; an attachment becomes a copy nobody can trace back to a version.
Copy and adapt
A first cut, a final approval,
and a reminder.
Replace everything in square brackets. Keep the version label and the approver’s name identical in the subject, the body and the review room, because the whole point is that all three describe the same cut.
Template 1: first cut, notes only
Subject: [Project] V1 (16:9) ready for your notes by [Thursday 24 September, 5 pm ET]
Hi [Name], V1 of [Project], the 16:9 edit, is ready for your notes: [review link] This round is for notes, not approval. Play it in your browser, pause where something needs to change and leave a note at that moment. If it is easier to point than to describe, draw on the frame. You do not need an account. Please send everything by [Thursday 24 September, 5 pm ET]. You are the one person whose notes I will work from this round, so if [other stakeholder] has comments, please fold them into yours. Once your notes are in, I will send V2 by [date]. [Your name]
The first email asks for notes, not approval, and says so. Clients who are asked to approve a first cut tend to approve it with twelve conditions, and then nobody knows whether it was approved. Naming one person whose notes you will work from saves you from reconciling two sets of notes that contradict each other.
Template 2: final approval on a named version
Subject: [Project] V3 (16:9) for your approval by [date]
Hi [Name], V3 of [Project], the 16:9 edit, addresses the notes from round 2. It is here: [review link] If V3 is ready to deliver, open it, check that V3 is the version selected, and mark it approved in the room. The approval is saved on V3 under your name, so we both know exactly which cut was signed off. If something still needs to change, leave a note on V3 instead. A new note takes the approval off that version, and I will come back with V4. Please decide by [date]. Once V3 is approved, I will deliver [the masters and deliverables] by [date]. [Your name]
This email tells the client how to approve and how not to. Approving means marking V3 approved in the room. Asking for changes means leaving a note on V3. Both happen on the version itself, so the answer cannot end up on the wrong cut.
Template 3: the reminder
Subject: Reminder: [Project] V3 approval due [date]
Hi [Name], A reminder that V3 of [Project] is waiting for your approval, due [date]: [review link] Nothing has changed since I sent it on [date]. It is still V3, 16:9, and you are still the approver. If I have not heard from you by [date], delivery moves to [new date], the next slot I have. If someone else should approve this cut now, tell me who and I will send them their own link. [Your name]
A reminder repeats the version, the approver and the date, and states the real consequence of a late answer: your schedule moves. It offers a clean way to change the approver, because “I am not the right person any more” is a common reason an approval stalls.
When the client replies “approved” in the thread
Thanks, good to hear. So the record sits on the right cut, could you click Approve on V3 in the room? [review link] It takes a few seconds and saves the approval on V3 under your name.
Why the link matters
The email and the record should
point at the same cut.
An email can name V3, but only the room knows what V3 is. In the review room here, an approval is saved on one version, under the reviewer’s name. When the email and the room use the same label, a later question like “which cut did they sign off?” has one answer.
Neither column is a signature. The difference is precision: the second column ties the yes to a specific file and a specific name.
Set it up once
Four steps in the room
before the first email goes out.
Upload the cut, then add revisions as versions
The first upload is V1. Add each revision as the next version of the same film so V1 and its notes stay available. Versions are kept per aspect ratio, so a 9:16 cut has its own V1, V2 and so on.
Make a share link for the approver
Create a share link for the named client. The name or email on that link is the name saved with their approval, which is why one link per person matters. Anyone else who needs to watch gets a link of their own.
Send the template with that link
Copy the version label from the room into the subject line. If the room says V3, the email says V3.
Read the approval back before delivering
Check which version carries the approval and whose name is on it. A newer upload is not an approved upload; if V4 exists, ask for approval on V4.
Replace or version: pick deliberately
Honest limits
What this workflow does,
and what it leaves to you.
The room records which version was approved and under which name. It does not send your approval emails, track your deadline or chase a late client; those stay in your inbox and your calendar. A name typed on the film’s own page is not a verified identity, which is another reason to send each approver their own named share link.
If your client approves through its own procurement system or a signed PDF, use that for the commercial sign-off and use the room for the version question. They answer different things. For how an approval looks from the client’s side, see how to approve a final cut online.
Questions
Frequently asked
Is an approval by email or by a click legally binding?
This page makes no claim either way. An email and a recorded approval are both records of what someone said about a cut. Whether that decision binds anyone depends on your contract, so put the approval process and who may approve in the contract itself, and ask a lawyer if the money depends on it.
Should I CC every stakeholder on the approval email?
CC them so they know the deadline, but name one approver in the body. If three people can each approve, you get three answers on possibly three versions. Ask the approver to collect the others' views first, and send anyone who must see the cut a link of their own.
What if the client replies "approved" in the email thread?
Thank them and ask them to mark the same version approved in the room, with the one-line reply above. The thread then says yes and the room says which cut. If they will not click, note the version and the date in your reply so the thread at least names the cut.
Does the client need an account to approve?
No. A share link made for a named client opens the review room directly. The client watches, leaves notes and marks a version approved without signing up, and reviewers do not use any of your plan's seats.
What happens if the client approves, then asks for one more change?
A new note on an approved version removes the approval from that version, so the record never shows an approval that a later note contradicts. Replies inside an existing thread do not remove it. Send the next cut as a new version and ask for approval again.
Send the email with a link that records the answer
Versions, timecoded notes and per-version approval are on every plan, including the free plan (5 GB, one film at a time). Clients need no account and never take a seat.
Sources
- 1.uncompressed.io: the client review room (product page, verified: per-client share links, versions per aspect, timecoded notes and per-version approval under the reviewer's name, checked in product code on 16 September 2026)
- 2.uncompressed.io: pricing (product page, verified: plan storage and the free plan, 16 September 2026)