An electronic document associated with users of a collaborative document platform is identified. The electronic document is associated with an approval data structure including entries that correspond to approval requests. A portion of an approval data structure is included within the content of the electronic document for presentation to a first user. A first user updates a first entry of the portion of the approval data structure included within the content of the electronic is detected. The update to the first entry corresponds to a first approval request for a second user to approve a portion of the electronic document. A first notification is transmitted to a second client device associated with the second user. The first notification indicates the first approval request. The approval data structure is updated to include data of the first entry.