SharePoint Approval Timeline | Power Automate Approvals + Column Formatting + Approval History

In this video we will walk through an end-to-end solution tracking Power Automate Approvals with SharePoint Lists using an approval workflow & SharePoint column formatting.
Using column formatting, we will showcase an Approval timeline which will include a progress / status indicator for showcasing the current state of the approval process related to the SharePoint list item + Approval history which includes all details of the approval action (approver name, approval date, time taken to respond, comments), highlight the current approvers & calculate the time the approval action is in pending state.
This can be handy in identifying where the approval process is taking more time.
We will also define dynamic approvers based on metadata & log the approval history to SharePoint list item (best practice since flow approval history is only available for 28 days).
Scenario in video is a help desk application in SharePoint where users log information which triggers the approval process.
Topics covered:
✔️ SharePoint Column Formatting
✔️ Approval Workflow using Power Automate
✔️ Dynamic approvers
✔️ Approval history logging
✔️ Approval Timeline
🔗 Approval Timeline + Teams chat + Approval time calculation formatting samples - github.com/rdorrani/SharePoin...
🔗 PnP List Formatting Samples - github.com/pnp/List-Formattin...
🔗 My Approvals Playlist - • Flow Approvals Cookbook
🔗 My SharePoint Formatting Playlist - • SharePoint List Format...
🔗 Dynamic Approvers - • Dynamic Approvers & lo...
🔗 Flow calculate date difference - powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/P...
#SharePoint #PowerAutomate #Approvals #ListFormatting
Table of Contents:
00:00 - Introduction
00:41 - SharePoint List Column formatting + Approval flow walkthrough
04:30 - Build SharePoint List for help desk solution
05:39 - Build an approval flow using Power Automate + Track Approvals
11:44 - Add Column Formatting for Approval Timeline + Approval Pending time
13:33 - Dynamic Approval Workflow for SharePoint list
16:27 - Approval Timeline + History Column formatting
17:10 - Calculate Time Since Approval Pending
17:29 - Subscribe to Reza Dorrani channel

[@spen2431]

Where is the "Jaw Drop" emoticon 😲. Thanks for sharing Reza. 👍👍👍👍

[@RezaDorrani]

😁

[@ArohShukla]

Reza, the Approval timeline (this blew my mind), assigned to with deep link with Teams and time duration, Ticks ‘trick’ was a great tip, and usages of column formatting are exceptional. You covered an end-to-end solution here… You are amazing! 😊 ...as always!

[@RezaDorrani]

Thank You 🙏

[@TheKermit2110]

Watched the entire cookbook and going back through the salient ones. Honestly Reza, you are such an asset to the community. Thanks

[@RezaDorrani]

Thank You!!!

[@user-bk8db7ud6k]

Whenever I'm starting a new project at work I always check Reza's channel for things just like this. Even if you don't use this exact scenario you can apply the ideas to many other scenarios successfully.

[@RezaDorrani]

Thank you for your kind words & thank you for following my channel.

[@nicolasg1848]

What a new great video ! Everything seems to be easy with you ! Thank you so much. We find with you each time something more than in others channels and each time you are able to propose a global solution with everything that we need at office for our end users. Great jobs as always, I've done a lot of progress since I watch your video. Thank you so much from Paris and I'm sure that a lot of your subscribers have this same feeling

[@RezaDorrani]

Thank You so much for the wonderful feedback. It means a lot!

[@5394prashant]

This is awesome. in fact , i have utilized this in one of my approval workflows, making it more dynamic. i utilized Apply to Each to trigger approvals based on Transaction Value, which could be 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 level of approvers based on the transaction value. i captured the approval history at each stage and showed them using the Emoji Formatting Technique, you shared. Thanks a ton for creating this.

[@RezaDorrani]

Great! Happy to know these techniques are being used. Thanks for sharing.

[@cmarkbernal]

THIS IS SOOOOOO AWESOME!! you're reading my mind again Reza!!

[@RezaDorrani]

🧠 📖

[@william2053]

As always awesome tutorial, thank you Reza! You are a true MS MVP 👌👍

[@RezaDorrani]

Thank you 🙏

[@VANDIK01]

Amazing Reza, thanks for sharing this kind of videos, you're the best 👏👏👏👏

[@RezaDorrani]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@crisgath3512]

Give this man a MEDAL!!! Impressive Reza.

[@RezaDorrani]

Thank You 😊 The love of the audience is my biggest MEDAL.

[@Amr-Ibrahim-AI]

Thanks Reza for sharing this lovely tutorial. Much appreciated!

[@RezaDorrani]

You are most welcome

[@amiralira6943]

Perfect as always... Thank you for sharing these helpful videos and solutions.

[@RezaDorrani]

My pleasure!

[@jessykms]

Thank you Reza, all your videos helped me a lot!!

[@RezaDorrani]

Glad to hear that!

[@ahmedtareq5342]

This is great, you keep amaze me with your ideas

[@RezaDorrani]

Thank you very much!

[@ajaychoudhary5596]

Reza you are great...i am big fan of you and your awesome videos...👌👌👌👍👍👍

[@RezaDorrani]

Many many thanks

[@user-sy8wu7rp8q]

Reza first of all thank you for your work! It is realy helpful iven for people who do not know how to code.

[@RezaDorrani]

You’re most welcome and thanks for watching

[@cindybusiness]

Super helpful and thanks for posting Reza.

[@RezaDorrani]

Glad it was helpful!

[@robertmcghee6815]

This is really cool! I will definitely try to replicate this after work today! thank you so much for sharing.

[@RezaDorrani]

Great! I just released another version of formatting with multi-step approvals. Let me know what you think of this as well - kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZPCd4ibh8-anZY

[@tetsuyakawahara4150]

Amazing!! Thanks for this great video🤩😆😍

[@RezaDorrani]

My pleasure 😊

[@oluwatobiyusuf]

Thanks so much Reza. I gained a lot

[@RezaDorrani]

Great!

[@MadhanNC]

No words, simply awesome ❤️❤️❤️

[@RezaDorrani]

Wow, thank you

[@parwejp]

Loved the video. Awesome. 🙏🙏👌Did something similar using spfx listview command set and column formatter. No Power Automate and was dynamic. I too "Stealed" from pnp samples.

[@RezaDorrani]

Great 👍

[@Sunilprakashsabbithi]

Thanks Reza and it's Superb. Now i came to know how to use Emoji icons ( Windows + dot)

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks for watching

[@horamansarkhosh8615]

Thanks Dear Reza... Awesome...🙏

[@RezaDorrani]

Most welcome 😊

[@playchompoo]

For dynamic approval workflow, it’s very fast for me but i will try to learn.🤣 Thank you for this great video🥰

[@RezaDorrani]

You’re welcome 😊 Video description has a link to my full video on dynamic approvers. This video was more focused on the Approval Timeline.

[@pawanmishra6549]

Thanks for sharing Reza 👍👍

[@RezaDorrani]

👍

[@sundrapillay6668]

Excellent Thanks Reza

[@RezaDorrani]

Thank You

[@bankswalshie913]

Great work again Reza. Quick question, have you noticed Team action missing as of late. It looks like some Team actions have been merged together with additional options inside. Example of this is the action "Post your own adaptive card as the Flow bot to a user" no longer exists, you need to use "Post adaptive card in a chat or channel" and then choose as Flow bot > Post in Chat > then you can add recipients and an the adaptive card.

[@RezaDorrani]

The Teams based actions were always in preview. Preview meaning it can be changed prior to becoming Generally Available. I did notice the changes.

[@Milla_mayne]

Awesome video! Thanks so much. One question.... @15:20... What is the "Approval Decision" expression in the "Add to comments array" ??

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks! Video description has link to download entire flow. You can check all the code in it.

[@user-sr4od8xd1f]

Hi Reza, great content. Thanks for sharing the knowledge. Is there a video on adding a checkbox for the approvers when they go through the approval process to ensure they have read and understood the details of the approved items? I need to see how a check box and some text can be included in that workflow.

[@RezaDorrani]

I do not have a video reference on this scenario. I recommend checking or posting your query on forums in case someone has done something similar powerusers.microsoft.com

[@vivicakempisty8696]

Love this!!! Now that I have this complete. Do you have or can you suggest a video/demo for how to create a progress indicator dashboard in PowerApps for it.

[@RezaDorrani]

Awesome! Thanks. May be this helps kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZoaYm5SuYt-Af8U for the progress indicator in Power Apps

[@nununu8]

Hi Reza, Thank you again for your videos, they've helped me so much. Do you have a specific video which goes through the the population of the 'assigned to.' column? I've got my dynamic approvers working but can't seem to get my flow to correctly populate the assigned to column with all approvers from the person picker from the approvers list. Regards

[@RezaDorrani]

Your most welcome. Video description has link to download sample flow. May be that includes the dynamic approval logic. I also have a full playlist on my channel on approvals which has a wide variety of scenarios covered.

[@valdimirwallace8461]

One year later and this still feels like gold

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks

[@aysanhaghani5271]

Hi Reza, This is amazing thank you! I was wondering if there is a way to cancel the flow run from the list item that triggered it as well 🤔

[@RezaDorrani]

There is no direct (programmatic) way to cancel a flow run. You would need to query Dataverse for that and update System Tables which is not recommended.

[@himinthenorth9181]

Hi Reza, this is an awesome video and really really useful! One question, is there a way to add additional points on the slider in the approval timeline depending on the number of steps in the approval process? Thanks!

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks. Yes, you would need to update the JSON code to do that.

[@More-Betterness]

Excellent video! This is what I had in mind, I wasn’t sure if this was possible. Is it possible to add reminders as a parallel action?

[@RezaDorrani]

Possible. Check the approvals playlist on my channel.

[@BahriErtunc]

Reza, Your videos are very informative, thank you very much for your effort. I have a question about the Ticket Status field. Without using a Custom Form, maybe using JSON, can we restrict the possible values of the Ticket Status field based on its current value? For example, when Status='In Progress', the 'New' option is removed from the options, and when status='Resolved', the options are only 'Resolved' and 'Cancelled' etc.

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks. You cannot update dropdown options with JSON.

[@amandaamarante6857]

Thank you for this video!!!! Could you help me about the calculate difference between datas. I didn’t find the calculate.

[@RezaDorrani]

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

[@hectorfuentes6132]

Hello Reza, I appreciate the time and the level of detail that you provide on your videos. I want to use this format but I would like to trigger the flow with Form submission including a picture attachment from the form. How can I accomplish that?

[@RezaDorrani]

I don’t think there is any trigger that checks picture attachments. You can trigger flow on form submission and then get its attachments

[@yojie120]

This is an amazing e2e tutorial Reza! I am so glad i stumbled upon your channel. Thank you for sharing this to newbies like me :) I have a question though, what if i want to run a report to export the data from this list to an Excel, will i be able to get the whole Approval History log as one column in the same row, as how it is in the Sharepoint list?

[@RezaDorrani]

Yes it would export as whole approval in single row since the column stores entire approval history information.

[@yojie120]

@@RezaDorrani Thanks for the response Reza, would you happen to have a tutorial on how to use your own adaptive card on the Approvals for Outlook?

[@RezaDorrani]

@@yojie120 I do not have a video on adaptive cards in Outlook. I have it in my backlog.

[@yojie120]

@@RezaDorrani thanks for the reply.. hopefully there will be soon :)

[@user-wg2dw4qv7e]

Hello, thanks for this great video. I have a question. What if the approvers are different people. With dynamic content. For example the manager of the requestor is one of the approvers.

[@RezaDorrani]

In flow, you can dynamically define the approvers. I have done several videos on it. Check kzbin.info/aero/PLTyFh-qDKAiFUGTtwSwFT79Y7_jq_Aipe

[@riamaity9713]

Hi Reza, The video is just awesome, can you please post the Json for the Approval Timeline Column

[@RezaDorrani]

Video description has links to all the JSON code and the sample flow.

[@sajanaedwin]

Hi Reza, excellent video again. Is there a video on using custom responses in an approval workflow? Would love to see a video on that.

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks! Check approvals playlist on my channel. I have done a video on that topic.

[@sajanaedwin]

@@RezaDorrani thanks so much!

[@sajanaedwin]

Hello Reza, is this the video you meant? kzbin.info/www/bejne/mWXEZJKMiqmqoZI

[@salutj]

Hi Reza - Thank you for a great video. I have a question, is it possible to have power automate update the attached word document with the approver names and date of approval once the approval flow is complete?

[@RezaDorrani]

Possible by using word connector.

[@5394prashant]

Hi Reza, one thing which i saw in the Introduction but could not see it while you were explaining the steps was about "Chat with Approver". Do you mind explaining that piece also , as , i think , that would be a great feature to introduce.

[@RezaDorrani]

Video description has link to the sample JSON. The chat with approver is available as a PnP sample as well.

[@oliverlennartz8759]

Hi Reza, is somewhere the full flow including the dynamic approval shared/public? It would be great to search for in power automate not to start at zero. The result you build here is great! Best Regards, Oliver

[@RezaDorrani]

Video description includes links to download flow and formatting. Also includes link to my approvals playlist that has several step by step approval videos.

[@fikrinorsann]

Awesome video bro thank you really appreciate it. Just one question here, instead of "floor((Number(@now)-Number([$Created]))/(1000*60)) + ' min(s)'" how can i stop the time once the approval is done. I have a column named (Approved/Rejected Date) I tried to change the code but it not working.

[@RezaDorrani]

You would need to add like an if condition to checking if approval is not pending. I would have to try it to get exact expression hence giving hint.

[@andrewfitzaptrick8183]

hey @reza dorrani, first of all your videos are an unbelievable resource and thank you so much for sharing them with us. However my approval timeline formatting is showing anything with a "New" Approval Status as a green on the far left. Any idea what could be preventing it from turning blue in the code? If i use the code provided on your github site, all the approved and new status appear as blue where I would expect them to be on the timeline.

[@RezaDorrani]

Most welcome! I have not come across any issues with this so not sure. My only guess is you have probably not added all the columns needed for JSON formatting in the view

[@relaxingmusicsoundcorner9127]

Another awesome tips, by the way can we do this steps in document library? If yes are the steps the same as shown in this video?

[@RezaDorrani]

Yes you can! Steps would be similar. Check my playlist (it has some doc lib ones in there) - kzbin.info/aero/PLTyFh-qDKAiE7C_2lVNAPzgHXsBykG0Tf

[@yayacowboy6941]

Nice video Reza! I am having issues from the PNP. I can not find the column formatting that you used. Could you help me find when exactly you have it?

[@RezaDorrani]

PnP link must have moved. Check comments if someone did post updated link or try searching for it online. Im not aware of updated link.

[@RomelKapwa]

Hello Reza thanks for the super video. Question. How do i change the Pacific time Zone? Because it does not correspond to my time zone. Thanks

[@RezaDorrani]

Change it to any time zone of your choice. Here is the list: docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/default-time-zones

[@romerbi]

Hi Reza, thanks for the tips. Could I use this formating stuff on custom columns of a document library in sharepoint? or this only works on sharepoint lists?

[@RezaDorrani]

Works for both lists & libraries

[@alzaimoor79]

This is awesome, great job, can we use output of column “approval pending since(Mins)” ?, I mean can I use it in powerapps?

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks You. Approval pending since(Mins) column value is being calculated on the fly using column formatting. It will not be available in Power Apps. Power Apps has functions where you can do a Date Difference between the current date and time & the approval start time.

[@OluwafemiAdeyemi-uw5pt]

HI Reza, thanks for the amazing work. I followed the entire video to build mine. How can I set users to recieve email notification when they make request from share point.

[@RezaDorrani]

If user is making the request, why would they need a notification then :)

[@user-fy1lk1zx7j]

Hi Reza! I would really appreciate your help, at 15:20 I see that the "Responded at:" has an expression that I do not know. Currently my "Responded at:" has an dynamic content of the Responses Response Date but it shoots it out the sharepoint in a yucky format such as 2024-01-04T03:15:44Z. What did you write in the expression to concat the response response date to be in the easier format of M/dd/yyyy H:mm ? Thank you!

[@RezaDorrani]

Hi, This video was done a while ago and I do not remember the specifics. Please check video description and see if there is any link to download sample.

[@kamozzi1]

Great job Reza. 👍👍 Where can we find the column formatting code that you have used to create a timeline or time since the last update?

[@RezaDorrani]

Video description has all the links

[@kamozzi1]

@@RezaDorrani Thanks Reza

[@UlyssesHaq]

Reza this PHENOMENAL content and it arrives at just the right moment. I have a question please. Approvals and Document Library: when approvals are submitted, if the file in document library is open, the flow fails - error400 file is locked for shared use. It has become a nightmare. Can you help suggest how to overcome this??

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks, For documents being opened and file locked, I have not run into those scenarios. I will recommend you check on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com/

[@crullmar]

Reza love this and I have been trying to replicate . Can I ask what was the exact JSON you used for the column formats for Timeline and days approved For some reason mine isn't working.

[@RezaDorrani]

Link to JSON code is in video description.

[@bernadettepaterson6867]

Which one from the many headings. What is it named?

[@PercipienceH]

This approval is awesome. I do have one question - is there a way to format the email output form the approvers response array so that it matches they way it looks in the SharePoint list?

[@RezaDorrani]

Possible. It will require a lot more work to get to it. You would need to the the Rich Text feature of multi lines text column in SharePoint and then accordingly plug in the HTML for creating the user format.

[@PercipienceH]

@@RezaDorrani thanks for the quick response

[@Cartoonhotpot]

Reza, thank you so much for the videos, they have helped me so much. I do have a question though. I have the cost of a quote in a column and it is only valid for a certain number of days and then it expires, so I would like to have a RAG colour code providing me with a visual indication of how many days were left until it expired based on when it was added and changing colours at certain periods when it counted down to so many days left, how would I do it?

[@RezaDorrani]

Your question is related to json formatting. Check the documentation, it includes samples. I have not tried this scenario.

[@Cartoonhotpot]

@@RezaDorrani thanks for the quick response. Could I ask, what documentation, thanks ?

[@RezaDorrani]

@@Cartoonhotpot Search for Microsoft documentation on list formatting. Here are some samples on github github.com/pnp/List-Formatting/tree/master/column-samples

[@Cynikill]

Reza, I am trying to recreate your flow (cutting and pasting where possible), and for step 8 (updating the item) I am using a SharePoint update item, I select the site address, list name, and then for the ID, it gives me the option to select from the "Get Items Department Task" or "When an item is created" - when I select either one of those it nests it in a new "Apply to each" function and adds "Select an output from the previous steps" where it adds "(Sharepoint)value - Am I doing something incorrect here?

[@RezaDorrani]

May be :) I will have to look at your flow in action to provide any guidance. I would recommend to post your issue/query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com.

[@vitoriapagliaci6446]

Amazing!! However I am missing if the requestor canceled the approval. How can I use that to update the sharepoint column?

[@RezaDorrani]

Welcome! I have not explored that scenario, hence not sure of the steps.

[@jayendrakhadikar1291]

Very informative. Thanks for sharing. Pl make a flow to remove duplicate from list and update status of balance rows.

[@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.

[@jayendrakhadikar1291]

@@RezaDorrani You can consider this as lot more request.

[@jayendrakhadikar1291]

And thanks for responding.

[@RezaDorrani]

@@jayendrakhadikar1291 Hehe. Cannot. I have a lot of other items in my backlog which have a higher priority since many have requested it. Also, balance rows is a very specific request.

[@swethaa7376]

Hi Reza, Your videos are very helpful and excellent. I would like to learn dataverse in Traditional Power apps(not from Teams), could you please suggest any reference videos or materials. Requirement is need to create an app by using dataverse from traditional power apps. Waiting for ur reply.. Thank you in Advance

[@RezaDorrani]

Check aka.ms/powerappsresources

[@RyanSmith-mh1lj]

Hi Reza, nice video! I am having a little issue where my minutes (Approval Pending Since) are not coming in correct format after adding the json, thank you

[@RezaDorrani]

Video description has the code base link. I will have to look at your json, sharepoint setup and flow in action to know the cause of your issue. I will recommend posting your issue with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@RyanSmith-mh1lj]

@@RezaDorrani thank you for taking your time and answering my question, sure thing, I will post my screen shots and code at the above listed site, thank you👍

[@nohpetsrs]

This is awesome Reza, I have learned so much from your channel. I have a challenge; currently building a Powe App and there is a field with hundreds of vendor options. How can I either filter or click on a find option next to that field and select from the hundreds of options and then set the selected vendor as the value for that field. Any help of useful links would be appreciated. Thanks in advance 🙏🏾

[@RezaDorrani]

Galleries would be the answer. How - 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

[@nohpetsrs]

@@RezaDorrani hello Reza, thanks for the response. I will post the scenario with screenshots as you advised. I hope this is something you can do a tutorial for. I think many of your users will find it valuable. Also, I saw an option for Combo box as you can filter results as you type in the box. However you have to connect the lookup field to another list in Sharepoint Cheers Stephan

[@RezaDorrani]

@@nohpetsrs I will add this request to my backlog. But I will need a lot more folks requesting this to give it a higher priority.

[@laveenadewangan3196]

Hi Reza, Amazing video! If I have multiple approvers and I want all of their responses, but want to live track who has responded so that I can know whose approval is pending - how can I do that. Later I want to check if all approvers approved or anybody rejected as well. Thank you in advance!

[@RezaDorrani]

In case of everyone must approve or wait for all responses, the flow will not move ahead until the approval task is complete. To check who responded while the task is running, you would need to query Dataverse Tables for Approvals in a parallel branch. This will require premium licensing + admin access to the tables. I did a video on reminders wherein I query Dataverse to check to see which users have not yet responded - kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKbTgmN3l6mfZqs

[@fleurwilliamson5920]

@@RezaDorrani Do you think we could avoid the premium licensing if we did parallel branches for several single approvals, somehow collect a count of approvals and if all approved update item as approved? Each separate approval could just update the timeline. Would that work?

[@RezaDorrani]

@@fleurwilliamson5920 Yes you could do that. But then your approvers would need to be more or less static since you have those many parallel branches pre-created.

[@user-xr6js1qq4u]

Great video Reza. 2 Things: 1) The JSON Approval History popup shows HTML tags. How do I fix that? If I change the column to plain text I lose the line-item carriage returns. 2) The JSON Approval History popup loses the background color when scrolling. Thanks.

[@RezaDorrani]

1 - use multi lines of text column without html option 2 - I have not experienced that so not sure

[@sweetygupta7240]

Awesome tutorial 😊 Hi Reza, I need to send customize approval email using power automate like where I can add html content, could you please help

[@RezaDorrani]

You would need to look into markdown language. Check flow.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/rich-approvals-text-and-multiselect/#:~:text=In%20your%20flow%2C%20annotate%20approval%20details%20with%20the,above%20shows%20what%20it%20looks%20like%20on%20web.

[@sadelina2763]

Thanks, amazing like always, reza I have a question, is it possible to change the column of the title column? I know that it can be renamed, but if it is a list that now I want the title to be another field of the list, is it possible? do you have any video about it? thanks :D

[@RezaDorrani]

You can rename it. You can always have another field that you add to the form. Not sure I understood your question.

[@sadelina2763]

@@RezaDorrani when I made the list I decided that the name of the person should be the title, but now I want another column that has the last names to be the title, the list already has several records, I just want to do that so that the last name column shows the options share and the other options that the title column puts when you hover over the record, but I don't know if that's possible, Gracias Reza

[@RezaDorrani]

@@sadelina2763 You can always create another column and name it title or last name. You can use column formatting to create that link experience.

[@sadelina2763]

@@RezaDorrani Ooh okay thanks 🤩

[@muhammednaseefmuttoon2905]

Hi Reza, Hope you are doing well. I have a question, we have a document library with folders for each request and now it's more than 2000. and giving delegation warning while filtering the items and the attachments are not showing for each request. how to filter this without delegation warning from the document library. thank you.

[@RezaDorrani]

Check kzbin.info/www/bejne/ip61d3SGbN2Hrc0

[@hannahmay3078]

Hi Reza, thank you very much for your videos and tutorials. They have been very useful in my project work. I have created the approval timeline in a document library and a SharePoint List using the JSON that you provided. Everything works fine in the list. However, I am unable to see the approval history when I click on the timeline in the document library. I cannot figure out what the problem is in the library. I have already modified the column names to match those in the JSON.

[@RezaDorrani]

I will have to look at your JSON formatting in action to provide guidance. I would recommend posting your issue/query with screenshots on the forums at techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/sharepoint/ct-p/SharePoint

[@hannahmay3078]

Thanks Reza, I have solved the problem. I have another question - Is it possible to attach supporting documents to a file in a document library?

[@RezaDorrani]

@@hannahmay3078 Look into document sets

[@hannahmay3078]

@@RezaDorrani Thanks for this suggestion Reza, it has worked perfectly :)

[@hafizsham1942]

Hi Hannah, I'm having the exact same problem as you, my approval timeline does not show when I hover over it. Could you share the solution?

[@reecedunn5837]

Hi Reza, amazing video really easy to follow. I need help though. I've managed to get the Approval timeline to appear correctly, however when I click on the timeline it shows the grey box with "=if(Approvalstatus]!='New',[$Approvalcomments],'No History Available'. The choices and Approval status column match the ones in the video. The only thing I cannot find in your video is [$Approvalcomments] which I did not create due to it not being in the steps. Where can I link approval comments into the list?

[@reecedunn5837]

I've manage to show No History available - Now it is not showing the audit trail when 'Pending' or 'Approved'

[@RezaDorrani]

Video description has link to download sample App + the link includes the schema of the list to be created. Give that a try.

[@RezaDorrani]

Video description has link to download sample App + the link includes the schema of the list to be created. Give that a try.

[@stevecamacho6182]

Great video. Can you let us know where the ticks expression is?

[@RezaDorrani]

Video description has link to my GitHub repo. It includes the flow zip file which you can import. I have also included the link to my blog post on ticks function.

[@rebeccalooi275]

@@RezaDorrani I cant find the ticks expression you used in the video either.. could you please copy and paste it here?

[@RezaDorrani]

@@rebeccalooi275 All the expressions are inside the flow. Once you import the flow, you will get the expression. I do not have the flow anymore and hence do not have the expression handy.

[@florianboncay]

Rezza, what if the approver comes from a column, each document/item has its own approver. Could you create a tutorial on that? Thanks in advance.

[@RezaDorrani]

I make videos when I receive multiple requests on a topic. Every quarter I ask subscribers for topic suggestions on Community Tab of my channel. Most voted topic ideas get added to my backlog. Make sure to suggest this idea whenever the next topic suggestion post is out.

[@vishaltan3804]

@Reza, Could you please tell us if we have more than 3 status then how we can decide pointer position. Like New, In progress, Pending, Rejected, Approved, On hold etc.? Here we are using center, left alignment but ho we can achive this withou alignment.

[@RezaDorrani]

In that case you would have to use some relative positioning. Check width of element, divide by number of status and accordingly apply margin. I have not tried this scenario though.

[@ChandraChandra-wx9em]

Thank you so much Reza. How do we do the chat with Approvers on the column formatting

[@RezaDorrani]

Video description has link to download the JSON samples from my GitHub repo.

[@ChandraChandra-wx9em]

@@RezaDorrani thank you!

[@ladybates9976]

I've used your video to perfect our approval flow. It worked great! Unfortunately, I've been tasked with changing the approvers list. I need the flow to be assigned to one user, and upon approval, it's sent to another user. I can't figure out how to change it without breaking the rest of the flow. Please help

[@RezaDorrani]

I have done many approval videos (check approval playlist). You can mix and match logic from multiple videos.

[@paulinak1452]

Hi Reza, from your video "Power Automate Multi Level Approval Workflow | Serial Approval | Multiple Approvers" where in this flow would I input the Add to comments array, join? I tried to place it after the condition if length is equal to VarCounter under the If yes branch but this seems to not work

[@RezaDorrani]

Add to comments array must be right after the approval decision is taken . Join will be after the approvers loop is done.

[@sarahjordan8746]

Hello Reza, thank you for these videos. I am having an issue where my card is showing "

[@RezaDorrani]

You are probably using a rich text multi line column. Video showcases multi line text column without rich text enabled.

[@wallersdelight]

Hi Reza, is it possible to add a CC Email in the Approval workflow?

[@RezaDorrani]

Great question. You have me stumped :) I would say No.

[@MastokGame]

Hey, how's it going? A question in Power Automate, if I want to make an example condition less than 500 dollars Financial approves the purchase then more than 500 dollars the manager approves the purchase, how would I do it?

[@RezaDorrani]

Add a condition in flow to check dollar amount and accordingly add approval for manager.

[@jakepribble338]

Thank you Reza! - I have a question please - I cannot find the expression formula you are referring to - to copy from your link - that will show the "Time Taken" by using that tick command. I looked at the link but it does not seem to have hte specific string to copy for this specific video. Can you help point me to that line? Thanks

[@RezaDorrani]

Video description has link to download the flow. Flow includes all the expressions.

[@troybrown5138]

@@RezaDorrani Thank you for the reply! I did try that but for some reason when try to import the package, the button to actually import is greyed out - not sure why. I will give that another try. Thanks again! :)

[@RezaDorrani]

@@troybrown5138 Button will become active once you have all the connectors related to flow configured. It will be at bottom of flow import page once you upload zip file.

[@AngelaFisher-ux5np]

Hi, with the JSON for the approval timeline, i can get the colours and positions correct but the details of the timeline are not showing when you click on the dot. Only when 'New' are showing as 'No History Available'. I cannot see any other column names I need to update in the JSON - any ideas?

[@RezaDorrani]

I have not come across this issue hence not sure what the reason is. Video description has link to download sample flow and json code. Important for all columns leveraged in json to be a part of the view.

[@sathyashiva1373]

Hi Reza, Is it possible to update the list instantly after getting the response. For ex : 1 approver may approve on day 1 and the 2nd approver may approver on day 2. whenever the flow receives response, the response will be append to the list. on day 1,the user can see the 1 response and on day 2 , the user can see both response like that.

[@RezaDorrani]

For that you would need to query Dataverse in a parallel action branch in flow. This would make the flow premium licensed.

[@wildmanneu]

Hi Reza, I'd have some issues need your help: 1. Can you share me the if expression in "Append array to Approver comment". I used the expression to get the decision from each approver. 2. Approver comment when click the button in Approval timelines only seen for current ticket, the previous show blank window. Thanks.

[@RezaDorrani]

Video description has link to my GitHub repo which includes the flow + the column formatting JSON. Give it a try and see if it helps.

[@FabianoSchimidt]

Reza, in the "Add to comments array" step (15:15), I'm getting an error when running the flow: The variable 'varApprovalComments' of type 'Array' cannot be initialized or updated with value of type 'String'. The variable 'varApprovalComments' only supports values of types 'Array'. What did I miss?

[@RezaDorrani]

I don’t know what you missed as I have not come across this issue. Video description has link to download the flow. You can give that a try.

[@FabianoSchimidt]

Nevermind, I've found the answer. I replaced the "set variable" action with an "append to array variable" and it worked! Thanks a lot!!

[@luistorresg.3228]

hi, great channel . can u help me. how convert time zone for this output " Responses Response date" ..thx u

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks! I have not done a video on that so not sure. I will recommend checking or posting your query on forums in case someone has experienced something similar powerusers.microsoft.com

[@asheerhasan5680]

having an issue with the time, every time approvers approve the request, it captures the same time for all the approvers.

[@RezaDorrani]

My most recent video shows an easier way thanks to a new function. Check kzbin.info/www/bejne/qpqvqnyCa7Zljc0

[@amir_aslam07]

Hi Raza, Exactly at 9:53 time in this video when you select responses approver and it's applied once, what we should choose when we have multiple approvers, in my case I have VarApprover. 2nd Thing what will be the expression for Time Taken, the one you mentioned its doest work Please reply it's urgent, Thank you!

[@RezaDorrani]

Video description has link to download sample flow. You can check all the code in it. I have not come across the issue you are mentioning, hence I am not sure on what the fix is. Best to post your issue with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@NP-yc1tw]

I know this is a year too late, but hopefully someone will be able to answer this question. So in the example here, Reza is using a list where each item is one document it seems. In my scenario, my team submits packages for review. There may be 3 word docs and 2 pdf files in a package. Would this approval workflow work for folders that have multiple documents in them? In this case, I would want to treat a folder as an individual "item" so that team members can go into a folder, review, revise and send onwards to the next person in the chain.

[@RezaDorrani]

I do not have a video reference on this scenario. Forums is the best place to post issues/queries. I will recommend checking on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com/ in case someone has done something similar.

[@NP-yc1tw]

@@RezaDorrani Thank you so much for your response Reza! I realized than an item can have links appended to it as attachments. I will see if this works instead of using folders. Thank you again for your dedication to providing high-class instruction to your viewers!!

[@paladinli4732]

Hello Reza, very amazing video 👏👏👏. I failed at fill "Assigned To" column in "update the item of SharePoint" action. Could you please give me some hints ! I have initialized Array Variable named "varApproversPersonArray" same as your demo, then append the Approver Person Name(from Get Departments action) into this array via apply to each. When I put this array variable(varApproversPersonArray) into column "Assigned To" of update item of SharePoint, the action " update item of SharePoint" keeps running and can't stop during test. I have check the structure of "Assigned To" column from SharePoint, it is defined as person or group type with multi-selection. I don't know where is the trouble of my flow or SharePoint list? If possible, could you share your "Approvers", "Approvers Array", "Approvers Person Array" initialization and assignment operation with me. TKS

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks for liking the video. I have provided a lot of reference links in video description. As for your issue, I will have to look at your flow in action to provide guidance. I will recommend posting your issue with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@paladinli4732]

​@@RezaDorrani Hello Reze, many thanks for your reply, the trouble has been resolved. I need to give name property "Claim" for the varApproversArray, then it will be allowed add into SharePoint list. Now, I have suffered a new trouble. I have not got the adaptive card same as your demo from my teams connector. The OperationId is "PostUserAdaptiveCard", what is the user的name in teams connector?

[@RezaDorrani]

@@paladinli4732 Not sure about ur adaptive card issue. I will recommend posting your issue with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com

[@raghukalyan7126]

Hi Reza it is a great video, do you have a video on "Dynamic Approval Workflow for SharePoint list" in this video topic starting from 13:33 hh:mm. I would need a detail video to implement in one of my projects. If you have one could you please share it in channel.

[@RezaDorrani]

Thanks. Please check the playlist on approvals on my channel. It has around 17 videos. I have covered this in one of them.

[@muhammaddzakysyahputra6714]

mr.Reza wanna ask something, in this case ( start and wait approval everyone must approved ) if the approver one rejected it. how to make it automatically change the status to reject ? ( not waiting for approvars 2 for respon )

[@RezaDorrani]

Change the approval type to “first to respond”

[@muhammaddzakysyahputra6714]

@@RezaDorrani how about in this condition mr.reza 1. if approval 1 rejected, so the item will go to reject 2.if approval 1 approve, and then we need for approval 2 for approve. if approval 2 approve so the item will be approved otherwise if approval 2 rejected so the item will go to rejected

[@RezaDorrani]

@@muhammaddzakysyahputra6714 For that you need to create a serial approval pattern. Check multi step approval workflow video on my channel

[@daxteoh27]

Never think of such format can be done! What if we have more than 3 choices of Status, how do we justify the content, Reza?

[@RezaDorrani]

Possible. We would have to define some logic to position the circle at specific intervals. (may be use margin property). I will have to recreate your scenario to provide the exact code.

[@daxteoh27]

@@RezaDorrani Can't wait to see it Reza! I was struggling to find it online as majority of them used number to gauge the progress.

[@RezaDorrani]

@@daxteoh27 I would have to try it out myself. I have moved on to other videos now. So this will not be anytime soon. I do have a video on multi-step approval coming tomorrow with more formatting tricks.

[@albertocastro365]

A M A Z I N G

[@RezaDorrani]

T H A N K Y O U

[@albertocastro365]

​@@RezaDorrani It's incredible the things that are possible make with this tools. I already implement some examples of you videos in my organization and this is the next, no doubt! Greetings from Spain, A Coruña.

[@RezaDorrani]

@@albertocastro365 Thank you 🙏

[@lilsotong1990]

While doing the timeline. Am unable to view the text when clicking on the timeline. Tax is stored in approval history column. Any idea how I can get the text to show on the timeline

[@RezaDorrani]

Video description has link to download JSON and flow. Give that a try. Important to ensure the view in SharePoint has the columns which are being used in JSON formatting m.

[@cassiosnoop]

hello Reza you can make a video teaching how to make a pop up ? example: when someone access the page comes a welcome pop up

[@RezaDorrani]

This one is already it my backlog. I will give it a higher priority.

[@cassiosnoop]

Cool Thank you

[@FactFusionDaily1]

HI Reza, the approvalpendingtime.json file did not work for me i see a static blue dot and unable to see the popup that displays all the information, can you please help ?

[@RezaDorrani]

You need to ensure all columns being referenced in json are part of video. Video description has link to all artifacts showcased in video. I have not run into this issue, so not sure what the exact reason would be.

[@justinramya1796]

In the demo, there is a column for Ticket due date. Can you please help me how to configure on the same?

[@RezaDorrani]

Video description has link to my GitHub repo which walks you through the steps.