In SharePoint 2013 it is possible to approve multiple items in one go by selecting the items in a view and clicking on the Approve/Reject button in the Items tab.

However, if the user has the appropriate permissions for the item, but not for the list and site, the user can select multiple items and click on Approve/Reject, but the Working on it… dialog will not disappear. It works if only one of the items is selected, but with multiple items it is loading forever.

The issue can be reproduced by doing the following:

1. Create a new list and enable content approval.

2. Create two items in the list.

3. Disable permission inheritance for both items and assign a user without approval permissions for the list or site approval permission for the items.

4. Now sign on with this user and select both items. The Approve/Reject button is enabled, however, if you click on it the Working on it… dialog will appear, but then doesn’t go away. The expected Approve/Reject dialog does never show up.

If you are experiencing this issue, make sure that the user has approval permissions for the list and the site as well.

I hope you found this information useful. If you have any problems or any other questions, please send an e-mail to support@sapiens.at or post a comment.