Anyone able to help?

Hey Paul,

I can't provide the full solution, but maybe I can get you part of the way.

For #1, you could hook into the content events for the page and programmatically force approval.

Example, as done in an initialization module:

    [InitializableModule]
    [ModuleDependency(typeof(EPiServer.Web.InitializationModule))]
    public class CustomApprovalsInitialization : IInitializableModule
    {
        public void Initialize(InitializationEngine context)
        {
            var contentEvents = ServiceLocator.Current.GetInstance<IContentEvents>();

            contentEvents.RequestedApproval += ContentEvents_RequestedApproval;
        }

        private void ContentEvents_RequestedApproval(object sender, EPiServer.ContentEventArgs e)
        {
            if (PrincipalInfo.HasAdminAccess)
            {
                var approvalRepository = ServiceLocator.Current.GetInstance<IApprovalRepository>();

                var contentApproval = approvalRepository.GetAsync(e.ContentLink).Result;

                if (contentApproval != null)
                {
                    var approvalEngine = ServiceLocator.Current.GetInstance<IApprovalEngine>();
                    approvalEngine.ForceApproveAsync(contentApproval.ID, PrincipalInfo.Current.Name, "Auto-approved by Admin.");
                }
            }
        }

        public void Uninitialize(InitializationEngine context)
        {
            //Add uninitialization logic
        }
    }

The only downside of this approach is you'll need to refresh the page to see the auto-approval take place.

Optionally, I think if an admin is part of every step of an approval sequence, they should be able to see the "Approve Entire Approval Sequence" link below the "Approve Content" button. This is likely the better way to go.

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For #3, I dug into this a bit, and there's not a super simple way to do it. The actual email template is an embedded resource, and the call to get the template is internal. To get started, you'll need to create a custom formatter (INotificationFormatter) as explained here: https://world.episerver.com/documentation/developer-guides/CMS/using-notifications/usage-examples/. From here, I would suggest digging into this more by decompiling the class "ApprovalHtmlEmailFormatter" in the EPiServer.Cms.Shell.UI.Approvals.Notifications namespace, and looking how the FormatMessagesAsync() is done.

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Hope this helps!

Thanks so much Chris, forcing the approval worked well, it actually does refresh and displays a publish button.

Very much appreciated thanks!!