How to run video proofing and approval with clients
A five-step video review round: one browser link, notes in one place, versions kept straight and a named sign-off.
Video proofing and approval works best as a short, fixed loop: you send one cut, the client watches it in the browser, all notes land in one place, and one named person says yes. This guide shows how to run that loop for a single review round, so you finish with a clear answer instead of a pile of email replies.
You need the review export, a way to share it with one link, and a single place where feedback is collected. You do not need a dedicated proofing product to do this well.
Video proofing: prepare the review version
Export a file made for watching, not for delivery. A review cut can be a smaller, lower bitrate file with a burned-in timecode and a small "review" mark, which keeps the upload fast and stops the review copy from being mistaken for the final master.
Give the file a name that carries the project, the version and the date, for example brand-film_v2_2026-10-28.mp4. The client will quote this name in their notes, which helps avoid arguments about which cut they watched.
Write down three things before you send anything: what changed since the last round, what feedback you want (story, pacing, music, legal lines), and what is out of scope. A review round with a stated question gets shorter answers.
Burn the timecode into the review export. Clients rarely know how to read a player's position, but they can always read a number on screen and type it into a note.
Send one link that plays in the browser
The client should press play, not download a large file and hunt for a player that opens it. Share the cut as one link that opens on a page with a video player.
In Tarkle, you upload the cut and share it on a video page, which has a built-in player, so the client can watch before downloading anything. You send the one link by email or message.
Uploads have a size limit by plan: Free uploads and transfers go up to 1 GB each, and Pro and Agency go up to 200 GB each, so a long cut may need Pro. See the plans.
Put the three points from your preparation in that message: what changed, what feedback you need and what is out of scope. Add the date you need the notes back. Keep the message and the link together so the reviewer finds the question when they open the page.
Lock the review link to the people who should see it
An unfinished cut should not travel further than the people on the review. Decide the controls before you send, not after a forward you did not expect.
Ask for a password, and send it in a different message from the link. In Tarkle you can password protect the transfer. Free also lets you protect shared files with passwords.
Set a date after which the link stops working, so an old cut does not stay open for months. In Tarkle, link expiration sets a date after which a transfer or request link stops working.
Use a view-only transfer when the client should look at the files without a download option.
Afterwards, transfer status shows whether a transfer was delivered, viewed or downloaded. That helps you tell whether silence means "approved" or "has not opened it yet".
Collect video proofing feedback in one place
Pick one channel for the round and say so in your message. One email thread works, as long as everyone replies to that thread and not to the person next to them. A shared document with a table of timecode, note and owner works as well.
Ask the client to write each note as a timecode plus one instruction: "00:42 shorten the pause before the logo". Ask for one set of consolidated notes from the client's side, not five separate lists from five people. When two people disagree, the client decides, and you say that in your first message.
Be honest about what your tools do. Tarkle's client feedback boards turn images and PDFs into a review board, and video review is not part of the feature yet. So for video notes, the timecode in the text carries that job. For the storyboard, the script or the key frames before you cut, a reviewer opens the link, clicks the file to drop a numbered pin and writes a comment. They then click Finish review and choose Approve this work or Request changes. Reviewers never need an account. Client feedback and approval is on Free, Pro and Agency. Free holds 5 active boards at once, and archived boards do not count. Pro and above have no limit.
Open the round with the script or the stills on a feedback board, and keep the video review for the cut. Approving the frames first settles the story before the final cut.
Keep versions straight
Every new cut is a new file with a new version number in its name, and a new link. Never replace the file behind an old link and tell nobody, because the client's notes then point at a cut that no longer exists.
State in each message which version is the live one and which earlier ones to ignore. If you can, add a line that lists what changed from the previous cut, so the client checks fixes instead of watching everything again from the start.
Tarkle's file versions let you upload a new version of a file, open the version history and go back to an earlier one. File versioning is on Pro, and Agency includes everything in Pro. Use it for the scripts, briefs and storyboard PDFs that travel with the project, and keep the version number in the file name for each cut.
Record the final video approval
Approval is one sentence from one named person that names the version: "Approved: brand-film_v3_2026-11-02.mp4, signed off by Maria Costa, 2 November." Ask for exactly that. A thumbs up on a chat message does not say which cut was approved.
Store that reply with the project. Put it in the same folder as the approved file, or paste it into the project notes. If your client works with a procurement or legal team, ask them what form of sign-off they need, because an approval email is a working record, not a legal document.
When a reviewer finishes a review on a feedback board, the owner gets an email at once, saying whether they approved or requested changes and including their note if they wrote one. The Activity list under the answer shows what happened on the board, with who did it and when. Every verdict stays on the board, and a later answer becomes the current one. A submitted review cannot be edited or deleted, so keep that email or the Activity entry with the project.
Once the cut is approved, deliver the final files. Our guide on how to deliver video to clients covers that step.
Common mistakes
Sending several cuts in one round, so the client reviews the wrong one.
Accepting feedback in three channels, then reconciling them by hand.
Skipping the deadline, so one reviewer holds the round open for weeks.
Recording approval as "looks good" without the version name.
Leaving the review link open with no password or expiry date.
What to remember about Tarkle
Tarkle shares a cut on a video page with a built-in player, so the client can watch before downloading, and a password and an expiry date can lock the link. For the storyboard, the script or the key frames, client feedback boards take images and PDFs with one link and no reviewer account, on Free, Pro and Agency. Pick one project, run the loop once, and start for free.