Power Automate Document Approval workflow for SharePoint

[@TheDistractionStudio]

Paused the video for a quick to say Thanks. Ok, back to watching.

[@RezaDorrani]

😊 thank you

[@Cauletteindti]

This is an exceptional tutorial and much appreciated! Excited to implement for our PO process! I am amazed at how generous some people can be with sharing their knowledge!

[@RezaDorrani]

You are most welcome! Welcome to the most generous channel 😊

[@MountainStateAngler]

Great tutorial! Thank you. I love it. Quick question, particularly related different statuses. After it is uploaded and in draft and then selected for Submit for Approval and goes into Pending. Is there a way I can have it say "In Review" if it is in the approval process? Or would i just replace the "Pending" to "In-Review"?

[@RezaDorrani]

Most welcome! Oh its been a while that I have done this. Do not remember the video :) Approval Status is an inbuilt column. You can always add another column and show different statuses there.

[@nununu8]

Hi Reza. Thank you for this video. I am currently using a basic approval workflow (start approval + wait for approval) for our organisational document control. Basically issuing documents to users to confirm they have read and understood internall process documents. My organisational requirement is to be able to log each approvers response as they come in. At the moment i am unable to track the responses until after 'wait until approval' function is completed. Is there anyway to track individual responses in real time? Ive created a seperate list for these responses but i cant seem to get it working. Thank you so much for your work Reza

[@RezaDorrani]

To log each response whil approval is ongoing - you would need to query Approval tables in dataverse (premium feature). I did show one query to approvals in dataverse to find out which user(s) have not responded so they get reminder emails. kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKbTgmN3l6mfZqs

[@nel.caminantesolar]

Excellent! You helped me with a customer. Great explanation and very clear every step (something that is not usual on KZbin). Thanks!

[@RezaDorrani]

Glad to hear that! Thank You for the feedback and thanks watching the video.

[@mohamedyusuf9446]

AAWW Reza, JAK for continuing to share your wealth of knowledge. I know you refer to Dynamic approvers, hence my use case scenario is, I may have up to 10 approvers, thus what are the options to design an approval WF and assign it all 10 [either serial or parallel] using the most efficient method. Back in the day, SP had an out of the Box WK where document owners were able assign all approves and email the approval task to assignees, is there anything similar using the Power Automate? Appreciate your guidance.

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks! There are options but not as straightforward as old school SP workflows. I will recommend checking my playlist on approvals (covers various scenarios)

[@GavinScrimgeour]

This video was brilliant. Thank you very much for demonstrating the functions of the document library as well as linking it with a Flow. Well done mate 👍

[@RezaDorrani]

You're very welcome!

[@nikitananaware8211]

Hello Reza, Great video, very helpful. Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you! but I have one question - How to identify who approved a SharePoint document?

[@RezaDorrani]

Most welcome! Flow action of approval has details of who approved the document. You can use that to store the information. I have done several approval videos showcasing that. Check my approval playlist.

[@Schnauzyoulose]

Good morning, I have created many approval flow following your guidance (thank you) but now I get random etag errors preventing the status from being updated. Have you experienced this? I have tried some if the online 'fixes' but jet get further errors. Please can you help?

[@RezaDorrani]

I have not come across etag errors and not sure what would be the reason for it. I would recommend posting your issue with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@vazquecj]

Hi Reza, great job on your videos...thank you! I do have a follow-up question, if I may: I'm building a document approval triggered by uploading a document to a specific SharePoint folder. I'd like to prompt the uploader, at inception, for three users; they represent the second and third recipients of the approval workflow and the third just receives an email with a copy of the document that was uploaded.

[@RezaDorrani]

You can use the for a selected file trigger-based flow. In trigger action you can add input for 3-person selection. Something like kzbin.info/www/bejne/aHnTanaKmZ2th7c

[@joelasselin]

Awesome video Reza thank you ! Works fine on my side but the time stamp in the response summary is wrong, it is 4 hours ahead. What would you recommend to fix this ? I assume it is because i'm in Eastern Canadian Timezone. Is there an easy fix for this ?

[@RezaDorrani]

Power Automate works with dates and times in UTC format. Check flow expressions that allow you to change the time zone.

[@harshitbajaj364]

Hello Reza, Thank you so much for this video, it helped me to achieve wat I was trying but I have one question or query. When I'm trying to request for submission for multiple documents or items the 'Submit for Approval' option greyed out, I have to select each document one by one to submit this for approval. Is there any way we can submit multiple documents at same time?

[@RezaDorrani]

Currently, submit for approval is supported for single document only.

[@pauldegroot6648]

Thank you Reza for sharing. I have one urgent question. Is it possible for example in another column to display different text for the Approval, Pending, Draft text ?. Using a calculated column don't work according to docs.mcirosft.....Do you have a solution ?

[@RezaDorrani]

You can always maintain a different status column, the value for which you can populate from the Approval flow. Another option: May be you can add column formatting to the Approval Status column.

[@anshhuln]

great video. The only error I face is the Approver Email is sent from My Name and ID whoever modifies it. It doesn't come from flow.

[@RezaDorrani]

Flow actions run under context of its connections. This is an automated flow, so the action would run under creator name. You could build the flow with a service account so the approval goes from that accounts name.

[@fulcrum8653]

This is awesome Reza but in my power automate, I couldn't locate the Trigger Conditions which you show at 15:12.

[@RezaDorrani]

If you watch video from 15:00, I show how to get to it. It only works for the trigger action (first action in flow).

[@NicoleRowley-o7s]

This was so helpful. If the manager requires corrections on the document before approving, can those comments be made directly onto the document so that when the request is rejected, the employee can go into the document to see the comments the manager made within the actual document?

[@RezaDorrani]

Any changes in document will re-triegger the flow.

[@brianpowell8653]

Hey, good video thanks. I've got an issue though, my flow stops at 'Get MetaData', it says file ID is invalid, any ideas?

[@RezaDorrani]

I will have to look at your flow in action to provide guidance. I would recommend posting your issue/query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@EasyProj]

Awesome. Is it possible to select multiple files and submit for approval? I can't find the button after selecting more than 1 file.

[@RezaDorrani]

Only allows single file selection.

[@flightmode7655]

Great Tutorial Reza! i made a mistake i guess. it creates always the apply to each loop when i add responses comments afterwards.

[@RezaDorrani]

I have not come across the mentioned issue and hence not sure what the reason for your issue is. I recommend posting your issue with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@GabrielDunn-y4w]

Thanks! What if multiple people need to approve the document? And allow them each to approve at their convenience, not in a specific order ?

[@RezaDorrani]

Check my playlist on approvals. I have shown various approval patterns.

[@georgeb6238]

Dear Reza, thank you for your clear video. Do you know how to make the approval/rejection comments show up in the versioning history of a file? This would be really helpful. Kind regards, George

[@RezaDorrani]

I have not tried that. One alternative would be to write those comments in a separate column so it shows in version history.

[@Obiwan-ik2tw]

I tried and it is working beautifully :) Reza is amazing :)

[@RezaDorrani]

Great to hear!

[@Cleo23Blue]

❤❤ Amazing tutorial Will this still work if minor versioning is disabled in the library settings?

[@RezaDorrani]

Most welcome! Try turning off minor versions and check

[@kevinbriz17]

Great tutorial Reza, thanks. I can't get the comments out to the email and SharePoint library. I get the response summary only. But when i watch your video, the comments you enter at 25:43 don't appear in the email at 26:45 or your SharePoint at 27:17, so maybe you could look at this again?

[@RezaDorrani]

The comments don't appear in email because I did not add the comments to my send email action. Check 23:00 onwards I did mention in video that I missed showing the part to add comments. If you want to learn more about adding approval comments then check my full playlist on approvals (it contains various scenarios where I used it) - kzbin.info/aero/PLTyFh-qDKAiFUGTtwSwFT79Y7_jq_Aipe

[@pratima_153]

Thanks Reza! We learn so much from you always!! Could you please explain how to notify users that a certain document is reaching its expiry and automatically unpublish the document or page using power automate

[@RezaDorrani]

Will add it to my backlog but this is the first request on this topic. I will need a lot more requests on this topic to give this a higher priority.

[@nicoleq146]

@@RezaDorrani I need this too please :)

[@RezaDorrani]

@@nicoleq146 Noted! I have topics with over 20 requests that is in my backlog. I will need a lot more folks requesting this.

[@brownlkt]

@@RezaDorrani I need this as well please 🙂

[@raywhite8591]

I'd also be interested in this topic

[@asankalk]

Thank You for this awesome video. If the document approver on Annual Leave, can the requestor pick a different person to approve?

[@RezaDorrani]

Most welcome! Once approval process begins, only the approver can pick a different person. I have done many videos on approvals (all in a playlist on my channel) - where I have shown scenarios like approval timeouts, reminders, check if approver is out of office etc.

[@asankalk]

@@RezaDorrani Thank you, I'll check them.

[@ZasterWebHelp]

Really enjoy all your tutorials. Question related to this example. Is there a way I can call/invoke the "Submit for approval" from Power Apps? As is, I have to manually select a document and then select "Submit for approval" before the flow execute. Thank you :)

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks! I dont think there is a direct option to do so from Power Apps. You would need to create a flow that triggers from Power Apps and then implement similar pattern for flow.

[@RobDinsmore]

Thank You for this. This was just the level I needed to make the transition from SPD to Flow for approvals.

[@RezaDorrani]

Glad to hear that

[@rikhilpatel2613]

Hello Reza thank you! excellent tutorial. My flow works perfectly but my trigger/flow keeps running after it has been approved. How can I set the Power Automate flow to run only once after Sharepoint column has a value? Please assist, thank you.

[@RezaDorrani]

Check trigger conditions in flow. I would also recommend posting your issue/query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@jodieang8944]

Thanks for step by step guide and sharing, this is very useful for beginner. However would like to check how can we auto populate "approver name" under "Approver Name Column". I believe "Approver Name Column" was hidden in All Document view in your video above. Thanks in advance!

[@RezaDorrani]

You can populate hidden columns via flow.

[@jodieang8944]

@@RezaDorrani It would be good if you could also list down the guide in chat. Appreciate it :) thanks!

[@RezaDorrani]

@@jodieang8944 I would have to try it out to list it out in chat. Best to post queries on forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@broodled]

one of the best videos on approval flow. I have 1 Q. Suppose I do not activate content approval via versioning setting instead add a col for "Approval Status" with choices of Pending, Approved and Rejected. Default selection is Pending. If the file is approved, the Approval status col should change to "Approved", if rejected, it should change to "Rejected". What condition do I need to follow to ensure the flow works. If you have any video which caters this point with reference to a document library, pls. share the link. Thank you in advance!

[@RezaDorrani]

Thank You. I may not have an exact use case match video, but I do have a full series of videos on approvals that would help. Check kzbin.info/aero/PLTyFh-qDKAiFUGTtwSwFT79Y7_jq_Aipe

[@Productivity365]

Thanks Reza for sharing such useful content...

[@RezaDorrani]

You are most welcome

[@eloizeteixeira1570]

@Reza you are the best, I learn a lot with your videos. I am facing a demand: Client wants approve in batch and it would be the best approach (current I set buttons for each row to either accept or reject), however, the problem I notice is: #1 We are limited to accept this 3 status only (Approved; Rejected; Pending); #2 After 'Approved' or 'Rejected', the command for it is still available, so the approver can modify their response at any time, and it has an issue, because sometimes people wait for some approval so they can maintain a data, for example, and in this case would not be useful. Having said that, do you recommend anything in order to avoid these issues above ?

[@RezaDorrani]

#1 Approved, Rejected is related to the SharePoint "Approval Status column". In flow approval action, you can use custom approvals and add your own buttons. #2 Depends on the approval flow pattern you define. I will have to get a complete picture of your entire scenario to provide any guidance. I have an approval flows playlist which includes many use cases. It might help - 7_jq_Aipe

[@mikew-bl6zi]

Hi Reza, great video!! I have a question regarding editing a document DURING (not before) the approval flow. In our scenario, a user submits a document for approval. The approver needs to be able to review the document from the email and make changes to the document where needed before the request will be approved. Once the changes are made, the approver will approve the request from within the email. As changes to the document are made during the approval flow, the “Approval Status” of the document is set from “Pending” to “Draft” and not “Approved” Is there a workaround to enable approves to make changes in documents and approve the submitted request? Many thanks in advance 👍

[@RezaDorrani]

There is no workaround with this approach. You would need to avoid using "Approval Status" and create your own status column and track through that.

[@rebuseg]

This is awesome Reza! I've spent hours plodding around other training and couldn't get it 😂 I have a question tho.... Is it possible to stamp sharepoint documents with meta data from sharepoint? For ISO9001 compliance. I would appreciate your help

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks. Stamp docs with metadata I am not sure about it. I will recommend checking on forums at techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/sharepoint/ct-p/SharePoint

[@travishill4613]

Thank you for sharing Reza this is a fantastic video demonstration. I have been using the exact set-up for content approvals for a while now and it has been flawless. However, 24 hours ago the Submit for approval button that appears when selecting a draft item no longer appears. The only way I can move the document from draft to pending is by right-clicking on the item and going to More then Publish. Have you ever seen this before? Any idea how this could happen or beter still do you know how I can fix it. Any knowledge you have would be greatly appreciated.

[@RezaDorrani]

Draft is only accessible to current user. The owner of the flow will not be able to access draft items of other users. Not sure if this is something related to a change that was done recently (but never know, may be a change with SharePoint). I will recommend checking on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com/ in case someone has run into something similar.

[@pcostarg]

I have the same exact question. My Submit for approval button disappeared from the libraries. I lost a tons of time, trying to figure out if it was some setting I messed up. Guess Microsoft changed stuff for the worst again...

[@RezaDorrani]

@@pcostarg I did not see any communication on this on any forum either. Its strange that a change was made by MSFT!

[@travishill4613]

About 3 hours ago my submit for approval button returned. The only thing I did between it being missing and returning was go to manage my flows open it and hit turn off. I have since turned it back on and it is still there. I have no idea if it was my actions that caused the submit for approval button to return or just coincidence but it's worth a shot. Let me know how you go.

[@pcostarg]

@@travishill4613 I still don't have the button. Tried to turn off and turn on. My flow is a bit different from Reza's one, but the trigger is the same (with the same trigger condition and all). Either way, I thought this button was SPO library Approval setting bounded and not flow related.

[@eduhazard]

EXCELLENT video! One question, is there a way to add a step for digital signature to get the order approved? I mean the approver sign the doc, then got approved. Thanks!

[@RezaDorrani]

You would need to integrate adobe sign into your flow to get digital signatures.

[@abhijeetjaitapkar1687]

Hi Reza...this is superb...thanks..is it possible to have digital signature over a document itself as and when the workflow is approved by any individual...?

[@RezaDorrani]

Possible but I believe that will require premium connectors. You could generate HTML and generate a PDF file with signature embedded. Check this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/e3KmnGigobaSoLc

[@patriciapinpin5221]

Thank you for creating this video! few questions - there are 5 approvers in my scenario, but of those 5, 3 out of 5 are in 1 group and anyone of the 3 can approve (hope this makes sense). How will i set it up so that anyone of the 3 people in the group can approve?

[@RezaDorrani]

You can use the first to approval approval type. I have done several videos on approval patterns. Check kzbin.info/aero/PLTyFh-qDKAiFUGTtwSwFT79Y7_jq_Aipe

[@sunnygoyal9051]

@@RezaDorrani I watched this video. Really good insight. Thanks for the detailed video. Having said said we have also the document approval process requirement. But use case is bit different. We have SPOC list and email goes to SPOC to assigns the available reviewer. Currently SPOC assigns reviewer over email and we cannot track when SPOC assigns, whom he assigned etc. We want to know if SPOC can write the email id (via people finder filed) as the actual reviewer name in the notification which he receives. In your example, approver can Approve or Reject the request wherein our case we need the name of the actual Approver instead of Approve and Reject and can store the data. Also, is there anyway to change the default notification mechanism (Microsoft Flows notification) with shared mail box notification ? Looking for the support. Thank you Sunny

[@RezaDorrani]

@@sunnygoyal9051 Default notif mechanism cannot be changes as of now. I do not have a specific video on your use case and would have to try it out to provide guidance. I will recommend checking on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com/

[@jameshurrell2026]

Great video tutorial! I have one issue and that is with the status of the document in SharePoint not updating to "Approve", any ideas why that might be? The flow doesn't give any errors and just times out when it gets to the "if yes" or "if no" branch. I get the approvals and I'm able to approve/reject.

[@RezaDorrani]

I will have to look at your flow in action to know about the cause of your issue. I would recommend posting your issue/query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@lynadams1470]

Hello @reza dorrani Great video!!! When using out of the box content approval, is there a way to append multiple approvers comments in Set Content Approval Status - Comments field?

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks Lyn. Interesting question. I would have to try it out myself to know if it’s possible. My guess would be Yes. I would recommend to check on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com in case someone has done something similar

[@moxsc8562]

Great Tuto Reza. Now that you have an automated way to trigger your approval process. Do you know how I could remove the 'submit for approval' control in your top bar?

[@RezaDorrani]

I don't think we can hide that since it is a feature in SharePoint.

[@Markfx_w]

This is the best video out there on this topic. You are so clear and articulate and easy to follow. Appreciate your work.

[@RezaDorrani]

Wow, thank you!

[@hannahmay3078]

Excellent Video Reza, thanks for uploading. I have a couple of issues with my workflow that I hope you can help me with. The 'Submit for approval' button is missing in my document library. Also the approval workflow triggers as soon as I upload a 'draft' document or update the metadata, although I have added the trigger condition: '@equals(triggerOutputs()?['body/{ModerationStatus}'], 'Pending')' as explained in the video to trigger when the approval status is 'pending'.

[@RezaDorrani]

I will have to look at your flow & library setup in action to provide guidance. I would recommend posting your issue/query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@hannahmay3078]

@@RezaDorrani Thanks for your quick response, Reza. I replicated the flow you created in the above video in Power Automate with no issues. The issues I have are in SharePoint. I will post the screenshots in SharePoint on the forum.

[@RezaDorrani]

@@hannahmay3078 Let me know what you find!

[@hannahmay3078]

@@RezaDorrani Hi Reza, the submit for approval button has reappeared. However, I seem to have an issue with the workflow in Power Automate. The approvers are getting notifications when the document is still in draft status although I have configured the approval to trigger only when the approval status is 'Pending'. Is this how the flow is supposed the work?

[@VinodKumar-vu7sd]

Hi Reza... can u please Give one example for :- Can the override label be blank ? If so we can combine 2 parameters under a single label.

[@Cherry_Pavan]

👍

[@RezaDorrani]

Sorry I did not understand the request. Override which label?

[@VinodKumar-vu7sd]

For example : notify a team when a new form response is submitted.

[@RezaDorrani]

@@VinodKumar-vu7sd Absolutely can be done. There are flow templates available for that.

[@littlewires8715]

Thank you Reza for sharing. This is an excellent tutorial! One question: Is there a way to request the user to input the approver after the 'submit' button is pressed?

[@RezaDorrani]

Look at for a selected item trigger in flow. Check approvals playlist on my channel. I have done 18 videos on approvals with various scenarios.

[@sreeyeshmc60]

Great and informative content, Thank you for your time and effort. I have small query, How Can i Add external 365 user into Approval loop?

[@RezaDorrani]

I do not have a specific video on that. Check powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/General-Power-Automate/Approval-with-external-users/td-p/327840

[@rajaamohammed6965]

simple and neat combo of content approval with flow approval action. Thanks for sharing and appreciate including trigger condition to save flow API call !

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks for the great feedback.

[@RamonRodriguez-fk2oo]

Thank you so much this was so helpful. Do you know if an email notification can be sent to a different person depending on the payee account? I created a column to show the account it should be paid from (Payee Account) as we have multiple accounts/locations, each location has a different approver?

[@RezaDorrani]

You could use a shared mailbox to send the emails.

[@GEORGE93095]

Hello Reza, an excellent video tutorial like all the others you have. How can I define my approvers based on a sharepoint list?. I know you have another video where you define your approvers based on a sharepoint list, but I would like to know how I can merge that with this video tutorial, because that's what I really need.

[@RezaDorrani]

Thank You. I have done multiple videos on those. Check kzbin.info/aero/PLTyFh-qDKAiFUGTtwSwFT79Y7_jq_Aipe You would have to mix the logic in both the videos.

[@asadmughal6431]

Hello Reza, Excellent work can you please guide flow for file deletion. I mean if any one delete a file it must go for approval. Thanks.

[@RezaDorrani]

I do not have a video reference on file deletion scenario and would have to try it out to provide guidance. I will recommend checking on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com/ in case someone has done something similar.

[@asadmughal6431]

@@RezaDorrani I went through your recommended link but no luck if you get chance please create it will be very thankful. Much appreciate for your excellent work Man keep it up.

[@RezaDorrani]

@@asadmughal6431 You can post your question on the forum. I make videos on topics when I receive many requests on it. This is the first request on this topic. Chances of video being made on this are very low.

[@FabLz]

Great tutorial, thanks Reza! So thats a really nice out of the box feature, but how would you update metadata (e.g. approval date) AFTER it's approved? Cause then the status goes back to "Draft", is there a way to solve this?

[@RezaDorrani]

When an update is made it does go back to Draft. However, the users (who have read access) will see the last published version until the new draft version is Approved. That is the default behavior of the Content Approval feature.

[@chrisproctor2854]

I can't wait to eventually implement approvals for SharePoint, once I get the basics of PowerApps down.

[@RezaDorrani]

I have a full playlist on approvals on my channel covering various scenarios.

[@sairamrao-h5z]

Clear video demonstrating the approval flow. very useful. Except I am getting a bad gateway error at set content approval status.

[@RezaDorrani]

I have not come across this issue 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

[@sayantanchatterjee9015]

Thanks for the video. But my recent experience with this was the version history is not well maintained, meaning you will not know who has approved the document and will have to depend completely on the Approval comments. Handled it with a manually triggered flow.

[@RezaDorrani]

True! We can always add additional columns to track that information.

[@krishnabairi1581]

As always, this is a great video Reza around the document approval. Why is that Etag required in the flow? Without which the document status will not set to be approved?

[@RezaDorrani]

ETag is part of the file properties which are stored together with the file and is required for tracking content approvals in documents & pages.

[@perrysellers9198]

Excellent thorough explanation Reza. Thanks for taking the time to share your process. The only thing I would recommend is to check into the quality of the images. They are quite blurry and a bit hard to read. Thx

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks Perry. I would like to know which images are you relating to? Video is loaded in full HD.

[@walkmethroughyourlogic]

thank you Reza, beautifully explained. What if I want the document to be sent to an external email (eg. supplier) once it's been approved?

[@RezaDorrani]

You could use flow to send the file as an attachment to the external user by using the email connector.

[@prashantarya880]

Thank you, sir! After watching your videos, I am trained in MS PowerApp, MS Sharepoint. Thanks a lot sir!

[@RezaDorrani]

Your most welcome!

[@JamesHarrison-l3v]

Seems no matter what I am looking for you have a video. Thank you for making this content and for making it available to everyone.

[@RezaDorrani]

My content is driven from subscriber requests. I listen to signals. Most requested topics are my favorite signals :)

[@akkaradechsrithongchai7766]

Yes Very good , This is a new concept about data security that we can do that not just a lock it as we do so far .

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks

[@tbone536]

As usual- excellent video, Reza... You probably get tired of hearing how AMAZING you are? 🤣 In my use case, I'm also generating a .pdf of the final approved .docx document and checking it into the same library. Any thoughts on how NOT to allow users to "Submit for Approval" if the doc type is a .pdf?

[@RezaDorrani]

Thank you for the appreciation. I will not get tired of it :) You would need to create a flow that triggers whenever a pdf file is uploaded (use trigger conditions). In the flow, set content approval status to approved (like an automatic approval).

[@tbone536]

@@RezaDorrani Excellent! I see now that I can do multiple trigger conditions. 💙💚💜

[@TastyChickenLegs]

Excellent tutorial. Thank you for taking the time to explain it so thoroughly.

[@RezaDorrani]

You're very welcome!

[@hereicomepink87]

Hi there! This was my very first flow and it’s working wonderfully now. Thank you so much for this video. Question, do you have a solution for adding in the approver name and approved date once the content approval status has been set? When I add the update file properties step after content approval status to set these 2 fields, it sends the status back to draft. And I can’t add update file properties before because at that point we don’t have the approval name and date yet. Do you know if send http request to sharepoint to script this two fields at the end would work?

[@RezaDorrani]

Not sure if that would work. If any property is changed then approval status does change. May be there is some option via http to SharePoint and not forcing this to happen. Il recommend checking on forums in case someone has done something similar powerusers.microsoft.com

[@RezaDorrani]

I think http also has a system update approach where in it does not change content approval status. Explore those options.

[@hereicomepink87]

@@RezaDorrani thank you will do. I’m curious if I should just add a secondary pending and approval set status actions after updating the approver and approval date or if that would cause the whole flow to retrigger…

[@RezaDorrani]

@@hereicomepink87 System update should not retrigger.

[@hereicomepink87]

@@RezaDorrani gonna try this thank you!!

[@vinaysai740]

Hello Reza, Thanks for the good work that you are doing!! I created a powerapps application to assign a task and then complete it, I will calculate the productivity of the person based on the time taken. Each time a person is picking up a task and completing it, the data is stored in the form of a table. But, I'm not getting a consolidated table. Name Productivity Timetaken User1 95% 60 User2 102% 52 User3 70% 72 User1 66% 82 User2 89% 65 User3 110% 50 User1 99% 59 User2 120% 48 User3 91% 55 What should I do to get the combined productivity and the consolidated date as below: User1 82% 201 User2 102% 165 User3 70% 177 Thanks!

[@RezaDorrani]

I will have to try this out in an App to give you the exact formula. I would recommend you post your issue/query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@GarryFenimore]

Really great video, Reza! I'm now committed fully to the power platform with my job at Quisitive and have started the certification process. I miss you more here all the time!

[@RezaDorrani]

Awesome! Excited to know you are working fully on the power platform. I miss you’ll as well.

[@dilankamohotti3607]

excellent video, very help ful to show our users how the approval feature works in sharepoint!

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks

[@davidsimoneta8513]

Nice and usefull. Thank you very much.

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks David

[@jbecs]

This video is awesome, i^m working on a flow with múltiples approvers (cascade), and i have a question, is it possible Just to give full control or edit permission just to to the actual aprover, and the others Just read permissions, this to avoid editing the document approved. TY Reza. Your videos are my favoritos, and i'm learning a lot with you.

[@RezaDorrani]

Actually since the flow starts automatically, the flow will run under the context of the user who created the flow. So the flow owner could be your admin account that has approval rights. Then as you move through your approval process in flow, you can accordingly grant access to the approver to the item/doc from flow. You would need to set permissions using the rest api actions in flow.

[@jbecs]

@@RezaDorrani thank you for your answer, yes i think this is the only way. Thank you for your work!

[@anthonybasil3499]

Hi Reza, Thanks for the awesome video! Very helpful. One question... For some reason on both conditional statements the flow does not complete. The "Approval Status" does not write "Approved" or "Rejected" to the library for some reason; it just continues to read "Pending". I receive a Power Automate Approval email and a Microsoft teams Approved status so I know the actual status is "Approved" or "Rejected", but my library content does not update and the flow continues to run. Any thoughts or help would be much appreciated. Thank you!

[@anthonybasil3499]

One other note... I received a "Bad Gateway 502 error". From reading some online documentation, it looks like this is a temporary error and needs to be refreshed. Please help if you are able. Thanks.

[@RezaDorrani]

I will have to look at your flow in action to provide guidance. I would recommend posting your issue/query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@RezaDorrani]

I will have to look at your flow in action to provide guidance. I would recommend posting your issue/query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@superj2009guru]

Thank you Reza. Your videos have really helped me in my 365 journey. Quick question, after a document has been approved, is there a way to lock down the document so no amendments can be made?

[@RezaDorrani]

You would need to break item permissions and set it to view only after document is approved. Or you could just move the file to a different library using flow (library that has permission set to read only for users).

[@superj2009guru]

Thank you. Very much appreciated. 🙏🏾

[@Cherry_Pavan]

Thanks for creating video it is very useful for my current project

[@RezaDorrani]

Glad to hear that

[@kyawthumin9767]

Thank for your step by step guide which is very easy to follow and understand. Appreciate your efforts in contribution to others.

[@RezaDorrani]

Glad it was helpful!

[@peterteo1]

Hi Reza, thank you for awesome video as always. May i ask what is your advice between using this method compare to SharePoint list? Which one has more advantages to apply? (Lets say for project approval and has 1 word file to attach too).

[@RezaDorrani]

It depends :) sharepointmaven.com/why-you-should-never-use-sharepoint-lists-for-storing-files-and-attachments/

[@peterteo1]

Nice, thank you :)

[@Ohiomaprime]

Awesome video Reza. Thanks so much for this - timely and apt. Can this be cascaded to multiple levels of approvals ?

[@RezaDorrani]

Yes, absolutely. You can design any approval pattern of your choice.

[@aka9898]

The API 'sharepointonline' returned an invalid response for workflow operation 'When_an_item_or_a_file_is_modified' of type 'OpenApiConnection'. Error details: 'The API operation 'GetOnChangedItems' is missing required property 'body/value/0/Document_x0020_Name'.' Informative video, while using this i found error can you help, Raza?

[@RezaDorrani]

I have not come across this issue hence not sure. I recommend posting your issue with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@woodwork1645]

Reza I get this error when I try to save Flow save failed with code 'OpenApiOperationParameterValidationFailed' and message 'Input parameter 'emailMessage' validation failed in workflow operation 'Send_an_email_(V2)': The parameter with value '"@triggerOutputs()?['body/Editor']"' in path 'emailMessage/To' with type/format 'Object' is not convertible to type/format 'String/email'.'. Also the flow checker shows a message No Microsoft Dataverse database for this environment has been provisioned. Run this approval flow to initiate provisioning Thanks John

[@RezaDorrani]

I will have to look at your flow in action to provide guidance. You will need a Dataverse database in the environment in which you are creating the flow since Approvals requires Dataverse. I would recommend posting your issue/query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@lorneandersen]

Hi Reza, Thank you for this. I get this error though: "The 'inputs.parameters' of workflow operation 'Set_content_approval_status' of type 'OpenApiConnection' is not valid. Error details: Input parameter 'id' is required to be of type 'Integer/int64'. The runtime value '"%252fSTANDARD%2bWORK%252ftalking.png"' to be converted doesn't have the expected format 'Integer/int64'."

[@RezaDorrani]

I will have to look at your flow in action to provide guidance. I would recommend posting your issue/query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@steffidsouza7964]

Hi Reza, Thanks for the amazing tutorial. I am working on something similar and would like to know if this would work if i had a list of multiple approvers and everyone must approve. Similar to the flow, you have built for approval of list attachment but instead using a doc library with multiple sub-folders. It would be of great help if you could help me out.

[@RezaDorrani]

I would have to recreate your scenario to provide any guidance. I would recommend you post your issue/query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com I do have a playlist on approvals which may help - kzbin.info/aero/PLTyFh-qDKAiFUGTtwSwFT79Y7_jq_Aipe

[@Tolunia]

Thank you so much for this tutorial. It's exceptional.

[@RezaDorrani]

You’re most welcome

[@jasonthedogcatcher]

Another great video, Reza. A lot of interest in this topic as indicated by the number of comments! Just a question. Will the last Major version of a file be shown to a user with view permissions or will it not be visible at all if in draft (minor version)?

[@RezaDorrani]

Last Published Version only!

[@leena645]

Hello ..thanks for uploading this video..however ,I have one query..as you showed intially these functionality are available in built in sharepoint..like submitting it for approval and the owner approves or rejects it ..how does replicating it in powerapps improve the performance..Yes I agree ,the additional sending email action was an added advantage..however,is there any specific reason using powerautomate in these scenarios is better in terms of performance rather than using sharepoints inbuilt approval features.

[@RezaDorrani]

Its using Power Automate only (not Power Apps). SPD 2010 workflows are deprecated and 2013 workflows will follow them. Flow allows you to add additional layer of approvals. To learn more about flow approvals - kzbin.info/aero/PLTyFh-qDKAiFUGTtwSwFT79Y7_jq_Aipe

[@leena645]

@@RezaDorrani thanks Reza..appreciate your response and time towards making such wonderful videos

[@leena645]

I am quite a beginner in the world of powerautomate..your videos have been really helpful n informative.

[@DBuss-om8sh]

I'm new to Sharepoint and all the Power Platform tools. This is not your first video I watch and I have to say that they are very well explained and useful for a beginner. Thanks!

[@RezaDorrani]

Glad to hear that! Thanks for watching and liking the videos.

[@pcostarg]

Hi, How to avoid Approval dashboard cluttering with orphaned approval tasks? This can happen in a couple of ways.: The Approver might approve directly in the library using the Approve/Reject item during review. The flow is never finished. The Editor might edit again after submitting it to approval and submit again. Making in effect having 2 flows

[@RezaDorrani]

Ideally, once the approval process begins, you would want to lockdown modification of the item (make it read only). Flow is running under admin account (user account) who should have the access to make updates to item and once the approval response is received, we can perform the status updates and accordingly update item permissions.

[@GordeNN]

What will happen if previous approval is pending and another user checks in the document and 2nd approval flow triggers

[@RezaDorrani]

Best to lock down the item with permissions so that another user cannot update the doc when approval is in progress

[@GordeNN]

@@RezaDorrani You mean other users will have read permission and only modified by Person and approver will have elevated access. Is my understanding correct

[@RezaDorrani]

@@GordeNN However you would like to set it up.

[@GordeNN]

@@RezaDorrani do you have any prefered way on how to lock file till approval is finished

[@RezaDorrani]

@@GordeNN No as I have not come across that scenario:)

[@oguzkaangunduz7328]

Hello Reza, Thank you so much it is very useful but how can we disable Submit for Approval Button? I would like to create flow process but I don't want users to click this Submit for Approval button Do you have any advise for me? Thank you.

[@RezaDorrani]

Then how would the flow trigger?

[@brianhiggins9986]

Reza, great video, however, if you are using Project Online and build an Automate for the Risks list or the Document Library in the Project Site template when you provision a new Project Site how do you provision the Automate on the new Project site. When you are using SPD it is embedded in the Site Template but logically and in practice it won't work because the Automate is looking for a specific list or library on a site. Thoughts?

[@RezaDorrani]

I have never used project online, so not sure. I will recommend checking on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com/ in case someone has done something similar.

[@terrishkuda7085]

Thanks Reza, very clear instructions. I have two questions, 1. when the approver is viewing the document, is there a way to see what changes have been made? 2. what happens if you have multiple people modifying the document and submitting their changes for approval. Is there any lockout on a document that is in draft state by someone else to prevent issues with multiple people editing the document?

[@RezaDorrani]

1 - Approver can check the version history of the document in SharePoint. That will provide all the details. 2 - You have the option to check out a document as well. That prevents other users from making changes until checked in. Both of the above are SharePoint features.

[@oduwrestler]

This video is fantastic! Does this follow a similar flow process if you're using a MS Teams library? Do you have a video on integrating that? Thank you again!

[@RezaDorrani]

MS Teams libraries are also SharePoint Libraries. Process should be the same. I do not have a specific video on that.

[@oduwrestler]

@@RezaDorrani Indeed, should have checked before coming straight to ask. I really appreciate the video again, very easy to follow!

[@RezaDorrani]

@@oduwrestler 👍

[@MagicMotion_Tales]

Thanks for this tutorial on document approval. However I am facing an issue while copying file from doc. Library to another document library, copy file action copies the file to target library but flow completes with error message "file not found". Could you please help?

[@RezaDorrani]

I don’t think the video does anything related to copy file. I do not have any video related to copy file and would have to see your flow in action to provide guidance. I will recommend posting your issue with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@shathike4079]

HI Reza, Very Good Explanation, when a file deleted from sharepoint, document owner notify approve or reject using power automate. Please make a demo for this

[@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.

[@pizzarevieweruk5257]

Hi Reza. I have a SharePoint Document List on SharePoint 2013 which uses workflows on sharepoint designer. The list has forms on sharepoint which go from Stage 1 to Stage 9 where different uses fill out different stages. I was wondering what the best approach to achieve this is using power apps and power automate. I started looking at bulding a power app which was the first form where you create the customer name and it adds it to the sharepoint list, but i am not sure how to create other apps for stage 2 and so on and how they follow on from eachother. Any help would be appreciated.

[@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 on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com/ in case someone has done something similar.

[@chaddytee726]

Reza this is great!, thank you your, videos are very helpful!

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks Chad

[@ashishbaranwal4044]

Thank you Reza, I am facing issue . I have check the option "Enable notifications" in "Start and wait for approval". But I am not getting mail for approval and reject ,only getting notification on teams.

[@RezaDorrani]

I have not come across that issue before. Not sure what would be the reason. I will recommend checking on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com/ in case someone has run into a similar issue.

[@hilaryblank3725]

This is exactly what I needed!! Thanks Reza. Great video. So easy to follow along.

[@RezaDorrani]

Great to hear!

[@ashleysibanda]

Thank you Reza. I would like to add the approval date and the approver. I used the "Update items" action and called the approval date. Upon approving you can see the date in the list however the document changes from Pending to Draft. Any advice? could you make a video on this?

[@RezaDorrani]

It would set it back to draft since a change was made to properties. At that point you can call the set approval content status again.

[@Rolly_De_Castro]

Thank you Reza for this tutorial i really appreciate it. I would like to ask why the time in your computer did not match in the time of the response that the requestor received. Thank you again.

[@RezaDorrani]

Sorry I did not understand the question. Can you point to times in video when this was shown.

[@Rolly_De_Castro]

@@RezaDorrani time is 26:53. The date and time in your email does not match the one approved by the approver. Is that a UTC time or your country time?

[@RezaDorrani]

@@Rolly_De_Castro Where is my system time shown in video? 26:53 simply shows date and time based on the time zone I calculated it for (if I remember)

[@Rolly_De_Castro]

@@RezaDorrani If you can see the date & time that you received the email is Saturday May 8, 2021 2:14PM. But in the body of the email it show that request date is Saturday May 8, 2021 9:12PM and response date is Saturday May 8, 2021 9:14PM.

[@RezaDorrani]

@@Rolly_De_Castro Email shows UTC + many times I may record video in parts and join.

[@leedunning97]

Hi Reza, im trying to set up a sharepoint approval. My flow works up until the set content approval status and fails with bad gateway 502. Any ideas where im going wrong.

[@RezaDorrani]

I have not faced this issue hence not sure what the reason for the issue would be. I recommend posting your issue with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@tornadomanhuman]

Hi Reza, I learnt a lot from this video, just have one question, I created a new document library, On the first step of the worklflow, the Library I have created is not show up. Did I miss anything? Thanks in Advance!

[@RezaDorrani]

Sometimes it does not show up immediately. You can go to custom value option at end and enter your Library Name as well.

[@tornadomanhuman]

@@RezaDorrani Thank you so much, It shows up. One more question, instead of sending email after approval, I would like to add approver's name and also check out the file, however, it goes back to draft. Do you have any idea for this? Thanks in advance!

[@RezaDorrani]

@@tornadomanhuman Not sure what you mean by adding approvers name? If you check out file, it will go to draft mode for that user (it is by design). Users will still be able to access the previous published version.

[@tornadomanhuman]

I mean the appover who approved the document, the name automatically displayed on the column.

[@RezaDorrani]

@@tornadomanhuman You can do that as well by updating column of type person. For single person type column format would be {“Claims”: “approver claims token”}

[@MrDecarte]

Awesome Reza! Thanks a million for those great tutorials. I am a big fan -Thumbs up!!

[@RezaDorrani]

Thank Anthony. Appreciate the support and thanks for watching and liking the videos.

[@RezaDorrani]

@@MrDecarte I will have to look at your flow in action to provide guidance. I would recommend posting your issue/query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com