diff --git a/RenderPipeline2.md b/RenderPipeline2.md
index 5d18ffa..70e87de 100644
--- a/RenderPipeline2.md
+++ b/RenderPipeline2.md
@@ -1132,6 +1132,10 @@ Cost note: the AE preview pass roughly doubles machine time per export. This mat
 
 Finalize (E13) then creates the `Version` row server-side (Section 6.4) in pipeline mode — visible internally, never client-shared, no task/shot status changes.
 
+**Re-exports inherit approval, and carry no artist-facing text.** A shot is routinely re-exported after client approval — most often for an unscaled/un-punched-in delivery pass — and that must not read as new work awaiting review. The new `Version.approvalStatus` is copied from the task's previous latest version rather than left at its `PENDING_REVIEW` default; an export that starts a task's history has nothing to inherit and gets `PENDING_REVIEW` as before. `Version.notes` is left unset rather than stamped with an internal description: `notes` is the artist's message to reviewers and is rendered verbatim in the client portal and the review player, so pipeline provenance belongs on the Export and its `ExportEvent` timeline — where a human would go looking for it — not in a field a client can read.
+
+**Known gap:** `shareWithClient` (and the per-task share action) promote whichever `Version` is `isLatest` for a task to `isClientVisible: true`, with no awareness that a pipeline-created version is meant to stay internal permanently (this section, "never client-shared"). Re-sharing a shot after a pipeline re-export will currently expose the internal version if it is the task's latest. Closing this needs a way to identify a pipeline-origin version at the share call sites — `Export.versionId` is presently a one-way scalar with no inverse relation on `Version` — and is not yet implemented.
+
 ### 9.3a Where a preview sits in the queue
 
 The queue is ordered `priority ASC, createdAt ASC`, and a preview job is only created when its render *finishes* — so at equal priority it sorts behind every render queued alongside it. Ten shots queued together would run as ten renders and then ten previews, with nothing reviewable until the end.
diff --git a/lib/render-pipeline/preview.ts b/lib/render-pipeline/preview.ts
index ded5eed..471764c 100644
--- a/lib/render-pipeline/preview.ts
+++ b/lib/render-pipeline/preview.ts
@@ -319,6 +319,7 @@ export async function finalizePreview(jobId: string, machineId: string, body: Fi
 
     let versionId: string | null = null;
     let versionReplaced = false;
+    let inheritedApproval: string | null = null;
     if (artifacts.previewMovKey) {
       const mediaFields = {
         fileUrl: `/api/files/${artifacts.previewMovKey}`,
@@ -350,6 +351,20 @@ export async function finalizePreview(jobId: string, machineId: string, body: Fi
         // Version numbering stays monotonic for the task (existing review flows
         // rely on the newest version having the highest number) while matching
         // the export version whenever it is ahead.
+        // A re-export does not change the picture — it re-renders EXRs for
+        // delivery from a shot that has usually already been approved. A fresh
+        // Version defaults to PENDING_REVIEW, which is what the dashboard, the
+        // shot page and the client portal all read, so an approved shot would
+        // silently reappear as awaiting review. The approval carries over from
+        // the version this one supersedes.
+        const previousLatest = exportRow.taskId
+          ? await tx.version.findFirst({
+              where: { taskId: exportRow.taskId },
+              orderBy: { versionNumber: "desc" },
+              select: { approvalStatus: true, versionNumber: true },
+            })
+          : null;
+
         const taskMax = exportRow.taskId
           ? await tx.version.aggregate({
               where: { taskId: exportRow.taskId },
@@ -365,12 +380,17 @@ export async function finalizePreview(jobId: string, machineId: string, body: Fi
             shotId: exportRow.shotId,
             taskId: exportRow.taskId,
             artistId: exportRow.submittedById,
-            notes: `Pipeline render ${exportRow.versionString} (internal only)`,
+            // `notes` is the artist's message to reviewers and is shown in the
+            // client portal, so the pipeline stays out of it. What this version
+            // is and where it came from lives on the Export and its timeline,
+            // which is where someone would go looking anyway.
+            approvalStatus: previousLatest?.approvalStatus ?? "PENDING_REVIEW",
             isLatest: true,
             isClientVisible: false, // never shared to the client portal (§10.0)
           },
         });
         versionId = version.id;
+        inheritedApproval = previousLatest?.approvalStatus ?? null;
       }
 
       if (exportRow.taskId) {
@@ -416,7 +436,7 @@ export async function finalizePreview(jobId: string, machineId: string, body: Fi
           (versionId
             ? versionReplaced
               ? " — review version media replaced"
-              : " — review version created"
+              : ` — review version created (${inheritedApproval ?? "PENDING_REVIEW"})`
             : " — no preview media reported") +
           (taskRenamed ? ` — task renamed to ${taskTitle}` : ""),
       },