A stage in Dapple is a position in your project's workflow — each submission moves through stages from New to Completed as it progresses through your process. Every project's stages are managed from the Workflow & Reviews tab, where they appear as a horizontal column view that mirrors the stages board. From here, you rename stages, reorder them using the arrow controls, map them to a status, control board visibility, add automations, and attach review rounds — all without leaving the page.
How do I access the stages board?
Open your project, then click Workflow & Reviews in the top navigation (alongside Settings and Form Builder). The stages board appears as a horizontal sequence of columns — one per stage — in the order submissions move through them.
Each column shows:
The stage name and creator-facing label
A status mapping dropdown (New, In Progress, Completed, or Rejected)
An Automations section
A Review Round section
Use the Filter stages dropdown or the Show archived stages and review rounds toggle at the top to adjust what's visible.
How do I reorder stages?
Each stage column has left and right arrow icons in the header. Click the right arrow (>) to move a stage one position to the right; the left arrow (<) moves it left. The order here is the order submissions move through the project.
To reorder a stage:
Open the project → Workflow & Reviews.
Locate the stage you want to move.
Click the > or < arrow in the stage column header to shift it in that direction.
The board updates immediately — no separate save required.
Note: The first and last stage positions carry fixed status mappings (New and Completed respectively). You can move stages freely, but the New and Completed statuses will always follow the outermost positions.
How do I edit a stage name or applicant-facing label?
Click the pencil icon in the stage column header to open the Edit stage panel. Two names can be set independently:
Setting | What it does |
Internal stage name | The name your team sees throughout the admin app, exports, and filters |
Display name for creators | What creators see as their submission status on the Creator Dashboard — can differ from the internal name |
Click Save to confirm. Changes take effect immediately.
What is status mapping and how do I change it?
Each stage maps to one of four fixed statuses. The status drives how submissions appear in summary views and what notification logic applies. Change the mapping using the dropdown on the stage column.
Status | When to use it |
New | Submission just received; no review has started. Fixed to the first stage. |
In Progress | Active — under review or awaiting a decision. Use for most mid-workflow stages. |
Rejected | Declined. Can be applied to any middle or final stage to mark an exit point. |
Completed | Accepted or finalised. Fixed to the last stage. |
The first stage is always locked to New and the last stage is always locked to Completed — these can't be changed. All stages in between can be set to In Progress or Rejected.
How do I show or hide a stage from the stages board?
Open the Edit stage panel (pencil icon) and toggle Show on stages board. When toggled off, the stage is hidden from the column view but remains fully active — submissions can still be moved into it and automations still fire.
Hidden stages display a Hidden badge in their column header. This is useful for rejection stages or internal archive stages you want to keep functional without cluttering the board view.
To see hidden stages, enable the Show archived stages and review rounds toggle at the top of the Workflow & Reviews view.
How do I add automations or review rounds to a stage?
Each stage column has two sections below the status dropdown:
Section | What it does |
Automations | Actions that trigger when a submission enters this stage — for example, automatically assigning it to a set of reviewers. Click + Add automation to configure. |
Review Round | Attach a review panel and scoring method (Rating or Rubric scoring) to this stage. Click + Add review round to set one up. |
Both are managed directly from the Workflows & Reviews view. A stage can have multiple automations and multiple review rounds.
How do I add a new stage?
Click + Add Stage in the top-right corner of the Workflows & Reviews view. Give the new stage an internal name, set its status mapping and creator-facing label, and configure any automations or review rounds from its column.
New stages are added to the end of the board by default. Use the arrow controls to move them into position.
How do I archive a stage?
Open the Edit stage panel (pencil icon) and click Archive stage. Archived stages are removed from the active board and no longer appear in the stages view by default.
To view or restore an archived stage, enable the Show archived stages and review rounds toggle at the top of the view. Archiving preserves all submission history associated with that stage — nothing is deleted.
Best practices for managing stages
Keep internal stage names short — they appear in exports, filters, and throughout the admin app.
Use the applicant-facing display name to show something meaningful without revealing internal process names (e.g. "In Progress" rather than "Panel Shortlist Round 2").
Hide rejection or exit stages from the board to keep the column view focused for your team.
Add an automation to your In Review stage to automatically assign submissions to reviewers the moment they arrive.
Archive stages you no longer need rather than leaving them unused — archived stages keep their submission history but stay out of the way.
If you have multiple review stages, use distinct internal names so your team can tell them apart at a glance.
Where to go next