Easy Sequential Approvals in Power Automate | Beginner's Tutorial

[@RezaDorrani]

📝Currently available in early release environments for US Region Try learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/early-release

[@AniketPachore-ky8oo]

Hi Reza, The Sequential Approval New feature it's still not their early release environment too. I selected the region as Europe and also make the environment type as Sandbox. Please help me out.

[@RezaDorrani]

@@AniketPachore-ky8oo Try US region

[@tzisorey]

How long do these things typically wait in Early Release? Because it's the exact feature I've been looking for.

[@RezaDorrani]

@@tzisorey Typically a month or two, but depends on the feature

[@valentingracia]

I need this so much in the Brazilian tenant , thanks Reza your videos are gold.

[@RezaDorrani]

Hopefully soon.

[@dougydoe]

This new feature would definitely add another dimension to Approval while the ultimate would be a true State machine. Great video and excellent presentation as usual. I did create a new environment in the US region to test it and it worked perfectly. Hopefully, it will get to Europe tenants soon enough. Thanks for sharing

[@RezaDorrani]

You’re most welcome and glad to hear you were able to test this out

[@dambad71]

Outstanding E2E example! Thanks for sharing!

[@RezaDorrani]

Glad you liked it!

[@cdunsford]

You are awesome Reza. Thank you for this latest feature and use case!

[@RezaDorrani]

Most welcome

[@taaee]

What's most impressive in your posts (and differs from the others) is your ability to create cases (real ones like Dynamic Expense Approvers) and not just show the feature! Congrats again, you're number 1.

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks so much. It’s all about showcasing a feature with a use case.

[@Syed.FarhanRaza]

@@RezaDorrani can you also demonstrate same scenario using dataverse table(s) rather sharepoint list?

[@RezaDorrani]

@@Syed.FarhanRaza I make videos when I receive multiple requests on a topic. Every 6 months I ask subscribers for topic suggestions on Community Tab of my channel. Most voted idea gets added to my backlog. Make sure to post this idea whenever I post the next topic suggestion post.

[@ram04199]

Hi Reza, Can you please make a tutorial on multiple approvals in the powerapps dashboard without using power automate.

[@RezaDorrani]

I make videos when I receive multiple requests on a topic. Every 6 months I ask subscribers for topic suggestions on Community Tab of my channel. Most voted idea gets added to my backlog. Make sure to post this idea whenever I post the next topic suggestion post.

[@muhammadgarba7162]

Use galleries to filter for each step, get the forms and allow the approvers to edit. each approver should have a section and the section should be allowed access based on the approvers' email.

[@adhithyaathirumeni3510]

It seems this functionality is in preview mode. How can we develop sequential workflow with existing actions. Can u show a demo

[@RezaDorrani]

Check pinned comment on video.

[@CS-xt5qe]

Nice! It would be even more powerful if you could discern approver roles so you could take specific actions or provide a different approval body text based on that role. For example, if you could add your own attributes to the JSON array... but this is a great improvement and a much needed step in the right direction.

[@RezaDorrani]

This is a single action for now. For the scenario mentioned, this may help kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZPCd4ibh8-anZYsi=cQAY-s3zq1qtmuC5

[@mehdielkarmouni7725]

Hi reza , this option from power automate is intresting , so she allows as to create a sequensel approvals in one action approvals , but only thing we can't do , is adding a time line for the approvals in shapoint colomn after every approver response , the thing that we can do easly in separate approvals action

[@RezaDorrani]

This is a single action. For updating status after each response, use kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZPCd4ibh8-anZY

[@AshuKumar-lo5vt]

I have an approval flow. I have manually set it up to send an email to the approver. However, it also automatically sends a Teams notification though the Approvals feature on Teams. To avoid confusion, I don't want the Teams notification to be sent. Is ther any way to do it.

[@RezaDorrani]

Not sure what the confusion is? Teams approval notification and email notification, both point to same approval task. It gives users multiple mediums from where they can respond to the approval action. There will also be a notification sent on power automate mobile app to approver. I don’t think there is an option to only send notification to a particular medium.

[@SiNGiTCHRiSTiNa]

Is it possible to add attachments to each approver request in the sequential approval process to easily view instead of having to open the item?

[@RezaDorrani]

Not to each approval request. For that you can look at my other video of multi step approvals.

[@SiNGiTCHRiSTiNa]

@@RezaDorrani Thank you for the quick feedback. You're the best. I love your videos they have helped me so much. I actually have watched that one. :) Thank you again!

[@harsh.mscrm991]

Great learning & content

[@RezaDorrani]

Glad to hear that

[@tvenkatesh81]

Hi Reza thanks for this. I would like to store the approver names in each step in the share point list with the approval status. Is it possible ? Also how do we trigger the same approval steps everyday till it is approved. We have to give the flexibility of approving the flow from mail and not through the power automate console by giving the link to the approval. When the approval is triggered it goes to the mail. But if I would like to send the same approval triggered mail with an approve reject option each day till the approval is fulfilled is there a way ?

[@RezaDorrani]

The sequential approval process is basic. You can check my other video on multi step approvals which may help.

[@AndreaRomano-xj6hm]

thank you for your video, i'm struggling for a features that i cannot find somewhere a olution. the following. an approval flow that keep in consideration someone presence or absence, let's assume that 1 person is absente (maybe from out of office reply ) and then flows skip ti a backup person. i'm sure you already have a pathway to get that solved 😁😁. thanks again

[@RezaDorrani]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/qGnNnGiunsyjh8ksi=DEO6GXt32FGcRldX

[@rohitnema1556]

Hi Reza, I have a query regarding Power automate desktop flow. We have 3 unattended BOT licenses. Can we assign all 3 license to one power automate desktop flow and run in same VM?

[@RezaDorrani]

Im not well versed with PAD licensing. I would recommend checking the licensing guide or posting your on forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@mtamitolanga]

Very useful feature. Thanks Reza

[@RezaDorrani]

You're welcome

[@trentonatwork]

Hi Reza, this is a great solution! Thanks for sharing. I managed to get it working for a similar process where I needed the ability to add parallel approvers in the first step and sequential approvers for the subsequent steps. In my testing though, using the Sequential approval type option, only approvers in step 1 receive a notification via Teams. I cannot figure out how to make the second/third/etc. step approvers receive a notification in Teams. Have you experienced this? Any ideas?

[@RezaDorrani]

I have not experienced any issues with notifications for approvers in sequence.

[@trentonatwork]

@@RezaDorrani Interesting. I have created a test workflow with just a manual trigger into a sequential approval and consistently experience only the first step approver receiving a notification in Teams. May be a bug?

[@RezaDorrani]

@@trentonatwork Might be

[@FollowTheLion01]

I'm excited about this, but I don't seem to have the fifth option in Power Automate so I can't do it. Is this because it hasn't been rolled out in Canada, or is there something else that needs to be set up?

[@RezaDorrani]

Check pinned comment in video

[@Cybermatik]

Hi Reza, thx so much for this video ! I am waiting for this feature since 1yr. In France we can't see/select Sequential Approval, do you know if the feature is on the process to be GA ?

[@RezaDorrani]

Check pinned comment on video. I am not aware of the exact GA date.

[@JStan-s5z]

Is there any timeline for when sequential approvals will be available in standard release environments?

[@RezaDorrani]

I am not aware of the timeline.

[@rishushrivastava4866]

Fantastic Reza, I wish I could become 5% of you 😅. BTW Instead of creating "order" column in approver list, why don't we create column like for Microsoft there are two approvers: Manager1, Manager2. ? I am trying but failing. So, by doing this we can easily edit the list in grid view for future changes in approver's name.

[@RezaDorrani]

List makes it more dynamic. You dont need to pre-create columns. You can also edit the list easily for changes to approvers.

[@georgegualda4262]

Excellent Video.

[@RezaDorrani]

Thank you very much!

[@monkeydog8681]

Why don't I have that sequential approval? BTW I have business basic subscription.

[@RezaDorrani]

Check pinned comment on video

[@malmedia]

Question, is there an easy way for a scenario where if the first approver picked by the user is the hard coded final approver that it automatically completes the final approval as well? Sorry if that is confusing.

[@RezaDorrani]

If approvers in order are same then action errors. So approvers have to be unique. Better option would be to frame the approval chain dynamically. If approver is already in list then dont add them.

[@porschefuel]

I don’t see a sequential approval option. What do I do?

[@RezaDorrani]

Check pinned comment on video

[@expressivo1]

Does the approval flow for sequential approvals expire after 30 days like the create and wait for an approval ones?

[@RezaDorrani]

Flow run is what times out after 30 days

[@akboadu]

Great Video. Realised all the requests have my name and details even though they are requested by other people. How do I fix this?

[@RezaDorrani]

Thats bcoz the flow is running under your account. Flow users context will be there in approval action. Better to use a service account to run the flow.

[@akboadu]

Thanks @@RezaDorrani. I will try and switch. But currently even the requestor's name doesn't appear in the approval's sequence even though i have changed it in the approval connector dynamically to "created by email"

[@RezaDorrani]

@@akboadu I’m not sure why that would be the case.

[@akboadu]

@@RezaDorrani fixed it now. Really grateful 🙏

[@akboadu]

@@RezaDorrani 1 more thing. The approval connector automatically entered the "for each 1" ring. And now loops the approval from approver 1 to approver 2 to 1 to 2 again. Removing "for each 1" fixes it but seem not permanent. Any recommended solution?

[@arsalancontractor8494]

Is there a way to see who is the approval currently assigned to?

[@RezaDorrani]

For that you would need to query approvals table in Dataverse

[@edinsonrd]

Finally!!!

[@RezaDorrani]

Yes

[@kamalakarreddyuppala3772]

tq reza 🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@RezaDorrani]

Welcome

[@MJFam2009]

Thank you for your instruction. Is it possible to show approval progress in Power Apps (SharePoint) before approval process completion ? If there is no such function, I think we need to use conventional approval method and update SharePoint every approver response.

[@RezaDorrani]

Conventional method is the option

[@MJFam2009]

​@@RezaDorrani Noted. Sequential approval is great method for Power Automate creater to simplify the flow. However, it is not user friendly, because user cannot see the approval progress in Power Apps until process is completed. For example, if approval status has been pending approval for a long time, a user wants to know who does not approve yet in Power Apps. I hope Microsoft will implement the function to get approval progress in SharePoint/PowerApps in sequential approval method. Until then, I will use conventional method which is makes the flow complicated.

[@oluwatobiyusuf]

Thank you Reza

[@RezaDorrani]

Most welcome

[@ShantiniSivanesan]

Hi..im new here. Is this something like a free trial feature?

[@RezaDorrani]

Check pinned comment on video

[@anjanchidige]

Excellent Video as always from Reza. I have a question. Is there a way to see at which approval step the flow is waiting for?

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks so much! To get details of where flow is waiting, you would need to query Approvals Tables in Dataverse

[@mukhayyarmohammed5874]

​@@RezaDorraniHow can we do? Can you please explain?

[@RezaDorrani]

@@mukhayyarmohammed5874 I would have to try that out to know the steps. I dont have a video reference on it.

[@annapurnabonakurthi9174]

Thanks for the Video,Is it possible to take the digital Signature by each Approver.Thanks

[@RezaDorrani]

Possible but its not an out of the box feature with approvals. There are integrations available with adobe and docusign for that.

[@vicam001]

This is exactly what we were waiting for, thanks for the great video. Is there any way to set an existing environment to "early" release cycle? (in the environment edit form only the refresh cadence seems to be changeable)

[@RezaDorrani]

I don't believe there is currently an option to set existing environments to early release

[@Sk8n2Enjoi]

Another superb video! Pairing these real world and useful examples with you step by step explanations of your methodology is refreshing. I request to know, is there a way to have the sequential approvals continue through the entire chain of approvers and only have the last (highest approval level) be the determining factor for approved/rejected? In other words, treat all previous responses as recommendations for approval/rejection but still have the request go through the entire chain of approvers?

[@RezaDorrani]

Glad to hear that! Sequential approvers does not allow the option mentioned. You could build a single approval type pattern and assign approvals in sequence and define whose decision is final. Something like kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZPCd4ibh8-anZYsi=YwCH2tx9E1FdAb16

[@MNdere7424]

Hi Raza, Thank you for sharing you knowldge. I really appriciate your presenation . you are helping many people. God Bless you. Is it possible to creat Undo button in power app to recover delete item from sharepoint recycle bin ?Thank you

[@RezaDorrani]

Most welcome and thanks for the good wishes. I am not aware of any option to undo from recycle bin in power apps. I will recommend checking or posting your query on forums in case someone has done something similar powerusers.microsoft.com

[@Sunilprakashsabbithi]

Awsome Reza again you nailed it... Is there any way to create the remainder emails between different approvals ?

[@RezaDorrani]

To create reminder emails, you would need to query Dataverse tables to get the details. Briefly shared here kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKbTgmN3l6mfZqssi=nYcLbNtNdG7qCSuE

[@amol.murkute]

@RezaDorrani Videos are gold and you are Dimond

[@RezaDorrani]

Thank You so much!

[@shenalhooks]

This is so cool! Do you know if it's possible to use this with a powerapps form?

[@RezaDorrani]

Power apps can call a flow

[@chrisbani7944]

Hi Reza. I shared the flow with other users, but it displays my name as the creator when they run it. Is there a way to show the requesters name instead of mine (creator) whenever they run the flow?

[@RezaDorrani]

Flow runs under owners account. Ideally, configure it to run under service account

[@ChrisLT-19]

Hi Reza, thank you for great video as always, I am trying to add reminder email for sequential approval. how do I do that ? In previous video that you created, you can add parallel branch under the start approval and next to wait for approval. thank you !

[@RezaDorrani]

For this, you would need to query the Dataverse approval based Tables to get the info in a parallel branch and accordingly send reminders.

[@italomagnossao2965]

I started to have some issues with more than one approver (1st approvers), they could both accept it and the flow didn't get to the 2nd approvers. Any tips in how to avoid that, Reza?

[@RezaDorrani]

Have not experienced that issue, hence not sure of workarounds.

[@MinhNhut104]

I have a question. When I select Start and wait for an approval, I can not see Sequential Approval on Approval Type field Is it because my account is not updated, or is that function not available in my country ( vietnam)? Looking forward to hearing from you.

[@RezaDorrani]

Check pinned comment on video

[@ruplandtran4870]

Could you implement sequential approval with Microsoft list?

[@RezaDorrani]

Yes

[@ylmazozturk06]

Hi reza, Is it possible to add more than one person in sequential approvals? Send approval to multiple people at the same time

[@RezaDorrani]

Each step can have multiple approvers. The first one to respond in that step, their decision would be final. And then process would move to next step.

[@cynthiao731]

I set up the flow and the approved is working but when the request is rejected there is an error. Is there any way to fix it? ☹

[@RezaDorrani]

I have not come experienced this and hence not sure what is the cause for your issue. I recommend posting your issue/query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@alvinbryan3835]

Hello Reza, can the second approval not be in power automate?

[@RezaDorrani]

I did not understand the question

[@satnammannn]

Is it possible to add attachments in Approval Section? I have watched your other video of Multi-Step Approval with attachments but that one doesn't have all Approvers in a single pane. But in Sequential Approval Process, I couldn't find the attachment section to add varAttachments. Please help.

[@RezaDorrani]

Sequential approvals feature is in preview and hence missing that feature.

[@satnammannn]

@@RezaDorrani Thanks for the reply. You are the best.

[@samuelkamaloni]

If you add a group email, why does it only pick one response? Is there no way all of the people in the group have to approve before the flow goes to the next approver?

[@RezaDorrani]

As mentioned in video, each step is a single approval. If you give group email, first person to respond from group, that is the decision for that step.

[@AshuKumar-lo5vt]

Please help me ,How to disable teams approvals as I want on email notification.

[@RezaDorrani]

I don’t think there is an option to do that, apart from completely disabling teams approval app from teams admin center. Have not tried it though.

[@jhansipentakota]

I can't see that sequential approval option in my power automate What I have to do?

[@RezaDorrani]

Check pinned comment on video

[@rajasekare3817]

Useful... Thank you so much...!

[@RezaDorrani]

You are most welcome!

[@mallelajyothi9819]

Thanks for sharing Reja😊

[@RezaDorrani]

Any time!

[@chrisbani7944]

Hi Reza. Thank you for this. But I am experiencing some issues - The Approval Status column is not updating to Approved. Remains Pending. Any way to go past this issue?

[@RezaDorrani]

Video description has link to download entire solution (members only - check description for details) I would suggest giving that a try. As for the issue mentioned, I have not experienced it and hence not sure what the cause for it could be. I will recommend posting your issue on forums in case someone has experienced something similar powerusers.microsoft.com

[@chrisbani7944]

@@RezaDorrani Done. Thank you

[@Khadeer82]

can we approve/reject the approvals from Canvas app?

[@RezaDorrani]

For that you would probably need to update the approval Dataverse tables directly. It would require a connection to Dataverse + premium licensing for all your app users.

[@davidthornton2788]

Great video thank you

[@RezaDorrani]

Most welcome

[@ChingJunXiong]

Hello Reza, you mentioned in the video that each step can include multiple approvers. I have a use-case where all the approvers in each step must approve before it proceeds to next step level. Does the Sequential Approvals able to achieve this objective? Thank you.

[@RezaDorrani]

Not an option with sequential approval. You could use technique shown in this video and use approval type as everyone must approve - kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZPCd4ibh8-anZYsi=l65_PXAswRmODCMy

[@ChingJunXiong]

@@RezaDorrani noted. thanks for your information. 🙂

[@yyz619]

Hi Reza, thanks for your tutorial! Quick question: After 'Update Item' for approvals and denials, I want to send an email back to the requester. For approvals, I plan to say: "Your request 'project name' has been approved by 'Person A', 'B', C', and 'D', I can list all names since order doesn’t matter. But for denials, how do I specify which person denied it? How can I set up the email to indicate who denied the request during the process? Thanks

[@RezaDorrani]

The approval action is a single action. Its output json has all the details on who approved or rejected.

[@yyz619]

@@RezaDorrani in my case if i want to send an email and say 'Your request 'project name' has been denied by 'Person X'', how should i do that? thanks

[@RezaDorrani]

@@yyz619 You would need to parse the json output to get that info. I don’t have a specific video reference on it.

[@tripathiayushman24]

Hi Reza, If the first approver rejects, notification still goes to second approver. Can this be stopped so that the second person should not get unnecessary notifications.

[@RezaDorrani]

I don’t remember the second approver getting a notification. This feature is in preview.

[@tripathiayushman24]

@@RezaDorrani I was just testing it with my colleague a few moments back and after my rejection he was also getting teams notification of my rejection.

[@RezaDorrani]

It’s a preview feature. May be something changed since the video.

[@charlpienaar7697]

Thanks Great video and content, my question is how would you add escalation to and approval workflow sequential or basic? Thanks

[@RezaDorrani]

I did 1 video on approval escalation a while ago. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qGnNnGiunsyjh8ksi=O29w3qfnpXZUKeKh

[@charlpienaar7697]

@@RezaDorrani Thanks I followed that but having some issues...Mainly I think I need to rethink my workflow.

[@RezaDorrani]

@@charlpienaar7697 I will recommend checking or posting your query on forums in case someone has done something similar powerusers.microsoft.com

[@iamrichalready]

how to adding attachment from form to sequential approval?

[@RezaDorrani]

I have done a video on adding attachments to approvals. Technique would be similar.

[@italomagnossao2965]

@@RezaDorrani Hi Reza, it looks like there's no field for 'Attachments' in the Sequential Approval just yet, hopefully they'll add that setting when it's available officially

[@RezaDorrani]

@@italomagnossao2965 Its in preview. Hopefully coming soon. I have done a video on a multi-step approval pattern which is similar to sequential approvals.

[@yimonkyaw8256]

Thank you, Reza. I would like to know how I can include attachments in these sequential approvals.

[@RezaDorrani]

Same as how you would for other approval types. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iZmxmaFjn7h1eZIsi=QtFuPKxz4e_md3C6

[@muka_32]

Combining all approves seems promising, however, this will limit the time out to be 30 days for all approvers. Hope they extend it

[@RezaDorrani]

Approval actions never time out. Its the flow run that times out after 30 days.

[@Gouthamivemula9]

If I want to do some activity at item level permission after 1st level approver is approved/rejected in this sequence approval?? Is it possible?

[@RezaDorrani]

This is a single action, so not possible out of the box. You could use the technique shown here kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZPCd4ibh8-anZYsi=wHc3a5JnoqaH2-Jx

[@RahulPatel-yi9ch]

Hi Reza Great video. Is it possible to add comment of the first approver and so on so to the next approver?

[@RezaDorrani]

I believe each approver in sequence gets the comment option

[@leahylivestock6271]

what is a workaround for sequential approvals until the release

[@RezaDorrani]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZPCd4ibh8-anZY

[@kishorekrishna83]

Nice video ❤ by any chance light up on parallel approvers with the same may Microsoft need to take use case I feel

[@RezaDorrani]

What is light up on parallel approvers ?

[@rajeshjurukuntla7165]

i cannotsee the download flow link reza iam the member

[@RezaDorrani]

Its in community tab of my channel for members in silver club or higher.

[@eduardomendes3078]

Great video! But this option not show to me.

[@RezaDorrani]

check pinned comment on video

[@VkKarangiya-o9k]

Hi, Reza I faced one error in power apps. When i insert the purchase header and purchase invoice lines into business central and when i update any purchase line first time in power apps it blank the purchase order line item unit cost and amount including vat field value and when i update same lines second time it works properly. Please can you help me to resolve this issue.

[@RezaDorrani]

I do not have a video reference on this scenario and would have to try it out to provide guidance. I will recommend checking or posting your query on forums in case someone has done something similar powerusers.microsoft.com

[@VkKarangiya-o9k]

@@RezaDorrani Thank you so much for guidance

[@ylmazozturk06]

Thank you for the useful content. Sequential approval 1. Or 2. 3 in case of validating rejection. Is the confirmation going to the validator? How can we resolve this.

[@RezaDorrani]

What is validating rejection?

[@ylmazozturk06]

@@RezaDorrani Does it switch to the other validator when it reject? Or does the flow stop?

[@RezaDorrani]

@@ylmazozturk06 flow stops as shared in video

[@ResponsibleXI]

What if the approval times out at 2nd or 3rd approver? Does output show null values for those approvals to figure out for next actions?

[@RezaDorrani]

An approval never times out. Its the flow run that times out after 30 days.

[@ResponsibleXI]

@@RezaDorrani But can't we set the time out at approval action?

[@RezaDorrani]

@@ResponsibleXI Yes you can. But not at approver level. Sequential is a single action in flow. So all you can do is timeout this action.

[@jasonjacome5963]

Thanks for sharing Reza!

[@RezaDorrani]

My pleasure