> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.printools.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Proofs and approvals

> Getting artwork signed off before it goes to press.

A proof is the artwork you send the customer to approve. Nothing should reach a press without one, and PRINTOOLS keeps the whole trail so "we never approved that" is a settled question rather than an argument.

## Mocks and proofs

A **mock** is the visual, artwork placed on the garment. A **proof** is the mock sent for a decision, with a revision number and a status.

You can attach mocks to a quote or a quote group while you are still selling, then send proofs once the job is live.

## The cycle

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create the mock">
    Place the artwork on the garment, at the position and scale it will actually print.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Send the proof">
    The customer gets it by email. Several proofs can go in one message if a job has multiple products.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Record the decision">
    Approved, or changes requested. The customer's decision is recorded against that revision.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Revise if needed">
    Opening a revision keeps the old one intact. History shows every version and every decision, in order.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Confirm the size split">
    Before production, confirm how many of each size the approved artwork applies to.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Approving on the customer's behalf

Sometimes a customer approves by phone or in person and someone records it for them. That is a deliberately separate permission. In the API it is the `proofs.approve` scope, held apart from ordinary proof editing, because approving artwork commits the shop to printing it.

<Warning>
  Only record an approval you actually received. The approval trail is what protects the shop in a dispute, and it is only worth anything if it is true.
</Warning>