This guide is for System Admins deciding whether to accept an existing order that is awaiting approval. It applies when the order shows Approve and Reject in its Order section.
An order records a customer’s purchase. Its approval status records your decision; its payment status records payment progress. A registration records a participant’s place on a course. Approving an order and receiving payment are separate results.
Approve applies immediately. There is no separate approval confirmation dialog. If an online payment is being held for approval, selecting Approve can collect that payment. Check the customer, course, amount and payment state before selecting it.
A pending course request or application handled in Inbox is a different process: accepting that request creates an order. See Handle Course Requests and Applications. This guide starts with an order that already exists. It does not explain how to enable manual approval in course settings.
Find the order awaiting approval
Open the Admin Dashboard as a System Admin and select Orders. Keep the Orders tab selected.
Open the saved filter or view button above the table, which may currently show Active Orders. Choose Awaiting Approval.
Find the intended order and open its row. Check the order reference and customer.
Expand the Order section if it is collapsed. Check its status and payment details. The Approve and Reject buttons appear for an order that is pending and awaiting approval.
Review the courses, dates, places and total in Details, and the financial records in Invoices & Payments. Confirm that you can fulfil the order before deciding.
If the order is missing, remove other filters or use All Orders and Search. It may already have been processed. An order awaiting payment is not necessarily awaiting approval. Do not create a duplicate order because it is absent from the approval view.
Check the payment consequences first
Held online payment: the customer may have authorised a payment which has not yet been collected. Approval attempts to collect eligible held Stripe or PayPal payments before saving the approval decision.
Invoice or manual payment: approval does not record money you have not received. The order can remain awaiting payment. When the applicable access-before-payment setting is explicitly enabled, approval can make the unpaid order active. Otherwise it stays pending until its payment requirement is met.
Already paid or free: approval can move the order into its active state when its payment requirement is satisfied.
Deposit or instalments: an order can become active after the required first payment has been received, while a balance remains due. Check the remaining schedule; active does not mean paid in full.
A System Admin can review these settings on the payment settings page. Expand the relevant section. Under Invoices & Receipts, check Allow Course Access Before Invoice Is Paid. Under Manual Payment Handling / External Invoicing, check Allow course access before manual payment is marked paid. Use the setting for the order’s actual payment method. If its access setting is hidden because that payment method is disabled, ask Support to check the saved setting. Do not enable the payment method or change its access setting just to approve one order.
If a manual-payment order remains pending despite the access switch appearing enabled, ask Support to check its saved setting. An older account can show the switch enabled without an explicit saved choice. Do not mark an unpaid order paid to work around this.
Order status names can be customised. Check the payment status and the actual invoice and payment records as well as the order’s status label. If the payment state is unexpected or an earlier attempt is unclear, resolve it before selecting Approve.
Approve the order
Open the intended order through Orders and review its customer, courses, dates, places, total and payment state.
In the expanded Order section, select Approve only when you intend to apply the decision and collect any eligible held payment. You do not need to select Edit Order.
Wait for Order approved and for the order to refresh.
Return to the Orders list, choose All Orders, find the same order reference and reopen it. Check that it is no longer awaiting approval. Check the payment status and Invoices & Payments separately. If payment is still due, do not mark it paid just to complete approval.
In Details, select a participant’s name to open their registration and check its status and course date. Repeat for the expected participants.
Approval can trigger confirmation or payment emails automatically. The applicable email depends on the payment method, order state and confirmation settings; account email restrictions still apply. There is no email-off switch beside Approve. Use View Email History for Contacts, Team Members, Orders and Registrations to inspect recorded messages if needed.
If approval fails or the result is unclear, reopen the order and check its approval status, invoices and payment records before retrying. A payment may have succeeded before a later step failed. If the records do not clearly establish what happened, contact Cademy Support with the order link, time and error. Do not repeatedly select Approve or ask the customer to pay again.
Reject the order
Reject is for an order still awaiting your approval. It cancels the order and its linked registrations, except that completed registrations stay completed. Registrations already cancelled remain cancelled. It is different from rejecting a pending application in Inbox.
Do not treat Reject as an automatic refund. If the order has a held or completed payment, credit or an invoice you need to preserve, check the required financial handling first. Contact Cademy Support if it is unclear. The rejection message is not evidence that money was returned.
Rejection’s invoice processing removes draft invoices and voids issued or overdue invoices with no payment recorded. Paid or partly paid invoices remain and need separate financial handling. Review those consequences before confirming, especially if you need to preserve an invoice or payment arrangement.
Open the intended order through Orders. Check the customer, courses and financial records before rejecting it.
In its expanded Order section, select Reject.
Read Reject this order?. The confirmation says the order will be cancelled and the action cannot be undone. There is no reason field in this confirmation.
Select Reject Order to apply the decision. Select Cancel if you want to leave the order unchanged.
Wait for Order rejected. Find the order again using All Orders, open it and check the cancelled/rejected status.
Check the participants’ registrations and Invoices & Payments. Check any held payment, refund or remaining balance separately; cancelled is not proof that a payment was refunded.
When emailing is enabled, Cademy automatically sends the order-rejection email to the Order Contact, the person the order belongs to. Check the recorded email status if needed. Do not rely on any immediate-refund wording in a message as confirmation that a refund actually completed.
For an order already approved, or when you need to choose a refund or credit outcome, use Cancellations & Refunds rather than trying to use Reject.
If the buttons are missing or an action fails
No Orders access: ask a System Admin to handle the order. The course’s Registrants view is not the order-approval screen.
No Approve or Reject: expand the Order section and check whether the order is still pending and awaiting approval. It may already be approved, rejected or cancelled.
Approval error: check the displayed error and the order’s payment records. A missing or expired payment authorisation may need a different next step; do not assume the customer must pay again.
Rejection error: reopen the order before retrying. The decision may have been saved even if later processing or refreshing failed.
Unexpected registration, invoice or email result: keep the order reference and contact Cademy Support with the intended action, time and error. Avoid creating a replacement order or repeating a financial action while the result is unclear.
Frequently asked questions
Will Approve ask me to confirm first?
No. Approve applies immediately and can collect an eligible held online payment. Review the order before selecting it.
Does Approved mean Paid?
No. Approval records your decision. Invoice or manual-payment orders can still await payment, and an active deposit or instalment order can still have a balance due.
Does Reject automatically return the customer’s money?
Do not assume so. Check held payments, paid amounts, invoices and any refund separately. The rejection confirmation or email is not payment-provider proof.
Can I add a rejection reason in the confirmation?
There is no reason field in the Reject this order? confirmation. If the customer needs an explanation, communicate it separately through the appropriate conversation.
Is this the same as accepting an application?
No. An application or request is reviewed in Inbox and creates an order when accepted. These Approve and Reject controls decide an existing order awaiting approval.