Power Automate Multi Level Approval Workflow | Serial Approval | Multiple Approvers
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- Опубликовано: 14 май 2024
- In this tutorial video, I will show how to build Multi-Step Approvals in Power Automate.
We will build a multi-level / serial approval workflow using the Approvals action & add approvers dynamically based on various use cases (type of data, value greater than, etc.).
We will leverage SharePoint Lists & an approval workflow along with SharePoint 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 serial list of approvers, show status of each approver & calculate the time taken for the approval.
We will define our approvers dynamically 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 an Expense Report application in SharePoint where users log expense details & we have a multi stage / level approval process.
Topics covered:
✔️ Multi Level Approval Workflow using Power Automate
✔️ Dynamic approvers selection for serial approvals
✔️ SharePoint Column Formatting
✔️ Approval Status Indicator
🔗 Expense Report Approval Flow + JSON Column Formatting - github.com/rdorrani/SharePoin...
🔗 My Approvals Playlist - • Flow Approvals Cookbook
🔗 My SharePoint Formatting Playlist - • SharePoint List Format...
#SharePoint #PowerAutomate #Approvals #ListFormatting
Table of Contents:
00:00 - Introduction
00:30 - SharePoint List Walkthrough
00:58 - Standard Pattern for Multi-Step Approvals
02:47 - Dynamic Multi-Step Approval flow pattern
09:03 - Update multiple approvers and test
10:27 - Add Manager Approval if Expense Amount is greater than $500
13:16- Expense Reporting Dynamic Multi Stage Approval Workflow
17:42 - Subscribe to Reza Dorrani channel
Thanks for the inspiration Reza. Leveraging the Apply to each control and and applying the counter variable to dynamically determine the final approval responsible is quite brilliant :)
This is absolutely brilliant. I never thought of the approval workflow in this way.
Thanks, Reza for your great efforts.
You are most welcome
This is brilliant, Reza. I'd never think to use an "Apply to each" on an array variable and start and wait for approvals within each.
As always, man, this is so good! This is such a helpful way to improve a clunky and hard to maintain flow.
Glad it was helpful! Thank You Chad.
Great video Reza! Last week I was working on exactly same requirement. I used a Switch to control flow sequence based on the status of the approval. Your approach is much more elegant. Thanks for sharing your talents!
Thank you for sharing your scenario.
There are always multiple ways to achieve a desired outcome.
Hi Reza, very useful in many scenarios, thanks for sharing. Something that can be challenging in Lists is validation between columns. For example, depending on the "Expense Type" the "Amount Value" allowed may vary and making a "Comments" column required. If Expense Type = Travel the Max Amount Allowed = 5.000 and you must fill de comments column.
There is a validation settings option in SharePoint.
Check ruclips.net/video/fb0ePBrifP0/видео.html
Thanks Reza, something that I forgot to include in my previous message was that if the validation works for Lookup columns?
@@FranciscoCamacho_fjcamachoj It does not.
Great video! Very clear and easy to follow. Do you have any tutorials on how you customised the list view to show as cards such as what you had in this tutorial
Thanks.
Check ruclips.net/p/PLTyFh-qDKAiE7C_2lVNAPzgHXsBykG0Tf
Well presented and really like the building of the complexity for the use cases and solutions. Very professional.
Thank You Steven
Thank you, Reza! Amazing content as always!
Most welcome
Thank you, Reza! Amazing content as always!
I am wondering if this can be applied to a more complicated approval process, where we have approval stages based on Expense Amount (ex.: Amount < 1K -> 1 level Approval, if >1k -> 2nd level, if >3K 3rd Level etc.), combined with dynamic approvers based on Expense Type. I also need to record the approval history on item level: I have columns for all approval stages: Approval L1 Responce, Approval L2 responce, etc. where I capture Response Summary from the Approval action.
Basically I need to capture Approvers first, based on Expense type, then based on Amount to start approvals for each level, until Final Approval or the condition for the amount is no longer met.
Is this possible with this method, or becomes too complex?
Thank you!
It is possible but the code would be complex.
Any chance this request was implemented from your end? I have same requirement to be deployed
Hello Lin,
Were you able to realize this? I want to do the same
@@RezaDorrani Is it possible that you give us an example: each approver has his ceiling amount and the approvers also depend on the type of expense?
@@abdouramaneyoussoufou8789 An example would have to be through a video. I have 10-20 video ideas lined up and I would need a lot more folks requesting this scenario for me to give it a higher priority.
Sharing for beginners, when creating approvals, if you don't hit the "show advanced options" all approvals will come from you the creator of the flow. You'll end up getting alot of emails/questions of why they are coming from you vs the person who created the approval. Question for Reza, since power automate doesn't provide a great audit trail, I know in a previous video you created a separate list for that, if we took those steps and put it in here, would the outcome be the same? Also could you show a dynamic approval flow leveraging users in AD groups and distribution gorups vs names stored in a sharepoint list?
Thanks for sharing the tip on setting the requestor option in approvals.
Audit trail - Outcome would be the same. In fact in the last part of the video where I showcase the complete flow, I have reused the logic from my previous video.
Group Approvals is supported in approval action. Names stored in SharePoint list can be replaced by AD Mail enabled Security Group Names.
@@RezaDorrani- would you be willing to create a tutorial on how to accomplish this? This flow is great and would love to see this built into it.
@@matthewryan5505 I do not have plans to work on an updated video on this topic. I have 10-12 video ideas planned that Im working on.
Extremely helpful and as usual thanks for sharing a very practical use case. LOVE IT❤❤
Thank You
Amazing presentation, clear and straight to the point ..Thank you !
Thanks so much!
You have simplified the complex flow, just Wow. Keep sharing.
Thanks a ton
So amazing!!! I love this formatting!
Thank you Testuya.
I made the extra effort here since this would be my presentation on the PnP Call :)
amazing content, specially the dynamic approvers from the sharepoint list and then approving it.
Awesome! Thanks so much
You are genius Reza as your knowledge around these power platform tools are commendable, God bless you and give more knowledge and wisdom to share such useful video with us. I am learning a lot of new things through your amazing videos.
Thank you so much 🙏
You're very good Reza. Thanks a lot for sharing.
Thanks Daniel
I was the 500th person to like this, thank you Reza
Thank You so much. Wow! This video has done well. I did not expect this response :)
I am actually using this for project management and technical approvals, this will work, I'll have to build a little more but this is exactly what I needed! Thank you so much
Glad to hear that! Thanks for watching
Thanks for sharing this.
I have built something very similar for my Organization too, which takes care of multiple Business Processes for Approval as i tried to create as generic as possible.
There are two more rules i added…. Configuration can decide weather the Approval behaviour would be “First to Respond” or “Everyone must Approve”.
it can also decide that weather the Approvers would be predefined in a List or it can dynamically pick the Approver based on the transaction.
I am currently working on something similar for Document Library Approval.
I really loved the Card Presentation of Approval status. I would definitely try this JSON Format.
Thanks for sharing your scenario as well.
I was planning to add the approval behavior but wanted to keep the video simple.
Your vedio is amazing and helpful for our knowledge and career.
thank you ❤️😊
My pleasure 😊
Thank you so much Reza for sharing your ideas and knowledge! By the way, one can refresh your knowledge about arrays at the same time!
How about extending this workflow template to include reminders, escalations and a time-out, for example? ;-)
I have a full playlist on approvals that includes reminders, escalations, time-out & more.
Check it out here - ruclips.net/p/PLTyFh-qDKAiFUGTtwSwFT79Y7_jq_Aipe
Reza... You are just amazing.
I remember Daniel used to say he is your big Fan. He is wrong I am your big Fan and as always you are my superhero..🦸
Thank You 🙏
it's really helpful, to look for a flow solution for 2 SharePoint lists (request & approvers) request needs to be approved by multiple departments and each department has multiple approvers.
If this video does not meet your scenario and if you need assistance with a specific use case, then I will recommend posting your query on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com/
Amazing! Thank you very much.
Thanks for watching.
Thanks Reza excellent as always
My pleasure!
Thank you so much Reza!! This was very helpful. I tried to recreate this flow but I couldn't figure out how you got it to show what the status of each approver was. Thanks in advance.
Video description has link to download sample flow. You can give that a try.
Alternatively, I would recommend posting your issue/query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com
Superb explanation on all your videos
Thank you so much 🙂
Thanks for the detailed video - this is just what I was looking for to help a friend out. They work in an office and deal with cover requests which are multi level. So some people only have 1 approver and there are a few that have as many as 5! I've duplicated your power automate and followed the guide and although there are no errors it doesn't email or show the progress in the approvals section. I really can't see what I've done wrong but am sure it will be something minor. The first part of the flow works as the status changes from new to pending - but that is all that seems to happen. I'll see about getting this on a forum later on. Hopefully once I can get your original one working correctly I can adjust it suit my friends setup.
Most welcome!
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
@@RezaDorrani Thanks for the quick response. I'll do that on the forum shortly. I've managed to get a bit further with it so that the approvers are now getting the emails as well as seeing the approval status update. In the flow on step 4 called 'get approvers' there is custom filter:
Title eq' @{triggerOutputs()?['body/Expense_x0020_Type/Value']}'
With this as above - the flow will run and complete with no errors - but then none of the emails / approval works. If I delete this then I am getting the first part to work - but then get errors on the very last part of the 'Yes' flow.
For the moment I have set this up exactly as per your guide so I'm stumped at what I've done wrong.
Thanks again for such great resources.
@@ExeterTrees Hey, same response as before. I have not come across any issues hence not sure. Best to try on the forums.
@@RezaDorrani Hopefully I will get some feedback on the forum shortly. One thing I was curious about was the filter you put in the 'get approvers' part of the flow:
Title eq' @{triggerOutputs()?['body/Expense_x0020_Type/Value']}'
How does the above filter the users selection of the type of approvers? I can't see the reference to the _x0020_
Sorry - my knowlege of Power Automate as you can see is not great - just so close to getting this work and I am confident it is related to this custom filter
Thanks again creating these guides and resources.
@@ExeterTrees Video description has link to all details. List, flows etc. I would recommend checking that.
Awesome video. Learned something new this morning. Why I could not stop the video in middle once started? 😊
Glad to hear the video is helpful. Keep watching:)
Reza! This is amazing and such a great video. I have one question, I have 3 approvers and everything works beautifully but it's changing the status to approved after the 2nd approver. Do I need to change the increment variable/varcounter after start/wait for approval to "2" instead of 1?
It should work as demonstrated in the video. Video description has link to download the sample flow.
This is so good! Thank you for sharing this one! I noticed that there was a capability in your approval notification to enter a comment, however, when I tried mine, I do not have that.
Most welcome!
At what time in video do I show adding comment?
Awesome video! I’m new to using SharePoint and writing flows. Do you have videos that show how to create the form that you were using for the expense report and how to set up the tiles with report details and timeline?!
Playlist on SharePoint list and form formatting - ruclips.net/p/PLTyFh-qDKAiE7C_2lVNAPzgHXsBykG0Tf
Video description contains links to my GitHub repo where you can download the JSON schema for the List form.
Reza - You are my go-to source for learning about Power Automate! Thank you for all of the time and effort you put in to your video tutorials. They are very helpful.
I do have one question. I have multiple approvers in a document library, but the approvers are different for each document and vary in number from one to four, depending on the document and department. I need the documents approved serially, as this video shows. Because I don't have a static group of approvers, I'm wondering if it is possible to use the flow described and use input fields in the 'For a selected file" trigger in place of the varApprovers? Right now I have different flows for 1 approver, 2 approvers, 3 approvers, and 4 approvers and enter the names in when I start the approval flow. Would be great to have just one flow to select from.
Thanks so much for watching and learning from the videos!
For a selected item trigger is limited to certain features. You cannot dynamically define approvers with this trigger. You may want to start your flow automatically on item created and assign your approvers based on metadata.
I have done 18 approval-based videos covering various scenario. They are all on the Approvals playlist on my channel.
Exceptional Solution! I would like to know more about how you did the list card formatting to display real time status. Appreciate the sharing of your knowledge.
Video description has link to download the full solution
Wow this is so information thank you Reza
Your most welcome!
Great content!
Thanks so much
Absolutely Brilliant, you've made it look so simple. Wonder how one can embed this into a broader solution where approval workflows are part of the larger solution (in a nutshell, how one can avoid reinventing the wheel)
SharePoint lists and flows can be templatized.
Reza your tutorial is the best!!!
I have been working on a power app that requires multi level approval, I don't know how to connect an array of approvers to power app startscreen, I have watched the other video you have about text input approver, but as soon as I change the column type to choice column I will get an incompatibility in the logic test. I am quit new to the power app, It will be great if you could give me some hint on this.
Also, I will need to figure out how to make them into a parallel approval process...
I dont know if I have that specific use case. Best thing would be to post your issue with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com since here on chat it is not easy to debug or resolve issues.
Hi Reza, I couldn't find the 'Claims' token for mapping in the Select operation. Your help is much needed!! Great video anyway!
Try expression item()?[‘Claims’]
Single quote around claims
@@RezaDorrani Noted and thanks. How about the 'join"? Can you explain what is in it? :)
@@miaknbl I don’t remember every step. Video description may have link to download sample flow.
Many thanks for the tutorial! Great as always! :)
May I ask, if it is possible to use the organization details (visible within outlook, teams, sharepoint) and automatically add the person one reports to as approver (line manager)? Alternatively, (and maybe the option with less errors) I could also think of a form where the line manager needs to be added by the applicant and the request is automatically sent to the person added.
Possible. You could provide a person type column where user can select the approver.
@@RezaDorrani Many thanks Reza - gonna try that out! :)
Hey Reza, love your content! If you wanted each approver to see the previous approvers comments in the approval notification they receive, how would you go about implementing that? Thanks again for all of your awesome videos, it has given me so much!
Maintain an approval history variable (I have shown this in some of my approval videos).
Whenever an approval task is assigned, you can add the approval history info to the approval task description.
Thank you , its very useful.
Welcome
@@RezaDorrani Hi Raza, I am currently creating a flow, but stuck on some points, i need your help with that, how it's possible to reach out to you and have a conversion.
@@amir_aslam07 I recommend posting issues/queries on forums. I go to forums to assist as well but only in my free time
powerusers.microsoft.com
Your video series is brilliant and helpful for anyone new to Poet Automate and also to experienced people to sharpen their skills.
I loved your json gallery view template and adopted it but when there is more than 2 approves it shows 2 person profile image and then +2 if there is 4 people, for example.
In your demo I see 3rd person profile image, not not in my case. I haven't made any change to template.
Most welcome!
Thank you for all of your wonderful videos Reza! I do have one question, is it possible to update a column (Completion Status) after each approver approves their task and to have their name displayed in an assigned to field if it is pending their approval? Any help is much appreciated!
Possible. I have a playlist on approvals covering a lot of scenarios. Not sure if I have covered this scenario though.
Hi Reza, Thank you for the perfect tutorial. Perfect as always.
I have one question though, Is it possible to have the option to restart the flow once it is rejected? I am trying this option and my initial step is "When an item is created or modified", but it will cause an infinite loop. (That makes sense because in each step we modify the list item). Thank you.
Better option would be to switch flow to "for a selected item". You can use column formatting to start a flow directly from SharePoint. Once item is rejected, you can show the start flow option again.
Favorite channel
Thanks Sania
Thank you so much for this awesome tutorial Reza. Is it possible to change the approvers mid flow (if someone didn't respond in a timely manner ) without having to cancel/resubmit and also keep the previous approvers outcome?
Assume at the time of submission, only one person is identified as an approver. Is it possible to grab the newly delegated person from the updated SP list and apply it to the running flow?
Currently there is no cancel approval action. So not sure if there is a way in which this can be achieved. May be check on forums in case someone has a workaround
powerusers.microsoft.com
@@RezaDorrani Will do. Thank you Reza!
Thanks for all your videos! It has helped me a lot with my work. You have amazing tutorials!
I've been trying to explore ways to skip approvers if fields are left blank.
For example on my multilevel approval I have Approver 1, Approver 2, and Approver 3.
But when only Approver 1 and Approver 3 are assigned, the flow does not continue because Approver 2 is missing. I tried the "null" function but it doesn't seem to work for me.
Do you have any suggestions for this?
Thanks!
Jeanette
Null approver?
Assigned to needs to be email addresses semicolon separated.
I would also recommend posting your query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com
Thank you !
Welcome
Helo Reza, Thanks for the very handy and useful videos you provide. A little side question: in this video you show "card like" badges (see around minute 16'39", with the "Sponsorship for event" item). Is that a special lay out or does this require specific settings in the view of the screen. I like this lay out because is visuales information in a quick and easy fashion.
The card like format uses JSON View Formatting in SharePoint.
Video description includes links to download sample flow and JSON schema for card like formatting.
@@RezaDorrani In the meantime I've found your other great video's on the JSON-stuff for alternative lay outs and screen presentations! Thanks Thanks Thanks, again !
Mr Reza, Thank you very much for your tutorials, I loved them.
please I need to know how we can calculate the total number of days taken/left ?
can you help me
Thanks for watching.
Calculating total number of days left depends upon where your days left info is stored.
You can use Power Automate to connect to any system of record.
To provide guidance, I would need to look at your scenario in action.
I would recommend to post your query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com
This is awesome @Reza
Question: My group wants a history of approvals. Do I need a separate list of Approvals per request? I see towards the end of the video that 17:35 that there is some history. Is that designed in your list? If I have say 6 approvers and they want to see the history, how do i design my list?
Most welcome.
Check approvals playlist on my channel. I have done multiple videos where I have shown saving approval history + video description has links to download the sample flow wherein you can see all the logic.
Thanks Reza for amazing video, love the format card and timeline so easy for anyone to understand, I love how to store approver in an array and amazing expression. But I don’t understand why you use Select action and use claims?
I used the Select action with claims token since I needed to update the expense request item with the approver information.
In order to update person type columns, we need just the Claims token.
@@RezaDorrani Sorry I cannot follow you, where is the list with the column Claims to update?
I am using the last part of the video to include the procedure to a Purchase Order approval, where I have different approvals depending on which department is requesting the purchasing.
@@MarianoHLX Video description has link to download sample flow and setup lists.
@@MarianoHLX please check Video description. It has link to my GitHub repo.
This is great! Thank you for providing this solution. I have added dynamic emails (3) into the approver array. When there are only two approvers so one of the dynamic approvers is listed as "null" How would I make the flow set to approve if the last approver is null?
I will have to look at your flow in action to provide any guidance. I would recommend you post your issue/query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com
Thank you, Reza! Very helpful! I do have one question - My approvals are different with each submission - How would I capture this using "initialize variable". I tried dynamically adding in the email address categories from the list but that is not working. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you!
I will have to look at your flow and scenario in action to provide any guidance. I would recommend you post your issue/query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com
I have an approvals playlist that has quite a few scenarios. May be it helps - ruclips.net/video/4ZnI0_atYUo/видео.html
Hi Reza, great video and thank you for taking the time to upload. How can be this be done when the approvers are not always the same people?
Approvers in this video are being dynamically fetched from SP. They are not always the same people as the config list can be updated.
I have done many approval-based videos covering a wide variety of scenarios which may help. Check ruclips.net/p/PLTyFh-qDKAiFUGTtwSwFT79Y7_jq_Aipe
@@RezaDorrani ok thanks but the users must still be updated somewhere.
What I am trying to set up is an approval flow for when a document is created or modified in a SharePoint library. Within the library the person who creates/modifies that file can select that file and choosing the "Automate" option in the library can send the file for approval to different approvers by entering their email addresses (I have set up an option (send document for approval).
The problem I have is that I want to set the sequence of approvals. One of the email users approves the file first and then an email is sent to the second approver to approve the file.
At the moment when I enter the email addresses it sends to both for approvers for approval at the same time.
I have pretty much followed the video below and added in email notifications in the flow:
SharePoint Online - Document Library Dynamic Approval Workflow With Power Automate - RUclips
@@jamesodonnell5034 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
Hola, apenas descubro tu canal, hice algo similar pero usando switch case, no sé si hice lo correcto porque si bien los casos tenían que cumplir con ciertas condiciones, el código que llevan en el cuerpo cada cada caso era el mismo y no siento que sea práctico repetir código entonces ahora estoy pensando implementar algo como lo de tu ejemplo, voy a realizar la práctica y evaluar la mejor opción. Gracias por compartir. Saludos y éxitos.
Better late than never 😊
Welcome to the channel
Consider me a new subscriber Reza. I’m just starting out in these flows and approvals. I’m loving it so far. Two questions if I may and I hope you will answer them for me.
1. You have approval history time being converted to Pacific Standard Time, what expression do I need to have my own time (UK)?
2. I also noticed that if approved don’t have pictures on their profiles, the order changes to those with pictures first then those without. I’ve changed the column settings accordingly but in the formatting json it still shows the pictures in Gallery view. Can you help?
Thanks.
1 - Check expressions documentation for that expression. It has all time zones listed. I also did a dedicated video on flow expressions which may help.
2 - Has nothing to do with profile pictures. I have seen a few sites where it does not respect the order. Not sure why. I have not experienced that issue.
Perfect video again!!!
well I am confused how the lists are working like that more better in UI... can you please tell me how did you made that list work like that and the slider option where you can see the approval history..
Video description has links to download sample flow and JSON code to update list UI.
@@RezaDorrani Thank you very much!!
Fantastic as usual Reza!! I've seen a lot of your videos about approvals. But I have one problem when I tried to apply. I'm constructing a document library with approval circle and I used as a base 2 of your videos, paralel approval and serial approval but in both I have infinite loop problem. I think this is normal because I use "when a file is created or modified (properties only)" and in last step I modify properties. The problem starts when I want to avoid infinite looping. I used most of ideas I've seen in internet. Like using flag column or multiline column with null value (I can't use service email) and partially works. It works when I upload a new file, but when I overwrite a file, I can't get flow to start. Reason is that columns used as flag are not returning to default value when I overwrite a file. I've created a column called MultiLineFlag and the library doesn't allow to select "APPEND CHANGES TO EXISTING TEXT", so I've created at Site and the adquire it on library. The column was defined as "Hidden", but anyway it doesn't reset value to NULL when I overwrite a file. I have same problem using other kind of columns like YES/NO. Could you help me to arrive to a solution?
Thanks a lot for your videos, they are inspirating!
Thanks for watching and liking the videos.
Your scenario is not something I have tried with files. Overwriting files I believe creates a new file and then you can set its properties. This might be how doc libs work.
I would recommend checking on forums or posting your scenario on forums to see if anyone has a workaround for this
powerusers.microsoft.com
@@RezaDorrani Thanks!! I'll try!
Thank you for useful materials :)
Everything is clearly explained, but even though I watched the videos several times and downloaded your flow, I have a problem with downloading from the list of two approvers?
Do you have any more explanations for that or do you use this variable in other videos?
I have a full playlist on approvals which covers a wide range of scenarios: ruclips.net/p/PLTyFh-qDKAiFUGTtwSwFT79Y7_jq_Aipe
As for your issue, 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 Thank You very much :) I found answer in your movie ruclips.net/video/5Mypn4oCJdw/видео.html
Thanks for the great video Reza! I have had a bit of trouble importing the example flow however. It doesn't import so I try to save as new but that throws an error that there are some invalid characters. I have tried a few things but without success. If you have any suggestions that would be great 👍🏼
I have not come across an issues hence not sure. I recommend posting your issue on forums at powerusers.microsoft.com
Reza, thank you for what you do - I've been following your videos for the past several months and you are an inspiration. I love this flow, but I have a question. I'd like to try to apply this to a vacation travel request for my organization. When I follow the standard pattern that you outline at 0:58, I have 4 pre-approvers before reaching the final approver. If I follow the 'yes' branch with that many levels, by the end I cannot create the last condition control to complete the approval (not sure if this is a Power Automate limitation). My question is this: is it possible allow the flow continue to the final approver if any of the pre-approvers reject the request?
That would require re-design of the logic. I do not have a video reference on this scenario and would have to try it out to provide guidance. I would recommend posting your issue/query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com
Ok, I will try that. Thank you very much for the reply!
Excellent
Thanks
Thanks a lot for the in detail video Reza, helps a lot.
I have a scenario and I would require your suggestions on it, upon approval of the document I would like the approver to attach a document to it eg a pdf file. Is that possible?
You cannot attach docs in approval flow. You would need to give link to here the approver can upload doc.
Hi Reza. Thanks very much for the informative video! Using this at my current work and your videos have been a lifesaver for me.
Am wondering what will happen if at any level of the multi level approval workflow if someone clicks reassign to someone else? Will the flow still work?
Glad to hear that!
Yes it will work with reassign. Easiest way to check it out is by testing it.
Many thanks for sharing this video.
In my dept ..we need to put the comparison of offers and get approvals from different head function...so evrytime i have to print and sign againt L1.Can you please make one video on this excel . It would solve problem of all buyers globally. 😀
I will need a lot more folks requesting this scenario in order to plan a video on it. This is the first request on this topic. I have topics with over 25 requests that I am yet to get to.
Thank you for this. I'm pretty new to power automate and I can't find the email item from the approvers' array on the "Assigned to field "
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
Hi Reza, thank you for great video! Question if I may. Each item from my SharePoint list has various approvers. What expression I need to use instead of manually typing the approver's e-mail address in first Initialize variable? Look forward to your reposonse!
I do not have a video reference on this scenario and would have to try it out to provide guidance. I would recommend posting your issue/query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com
Hi Reza, great videos and very informative. I am really stuck with a flow that I am trying to create where I have created a sharepoint access request form and I have an Approvers Matrix List. I need to create a flow that is based on the responses of the form as to which library the requester requires access too as each library has a different approver. I have tried following your other tutorial for dynamic approvals etc but it does not quite get me to sort this out. I am new to automations but I wondered if you could help at all and advise the best and quickest way of achieving the get form responses to look up the list of approvers and based on the department requested it sends an approval request to that approver by email. many thanks Amanda
It would be best to post your issue with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com
It is not possible to provide detailed support on chat.
Thanks for the good work as always. One little flaw that bugs me in many of these cases is that the approval is requested by Sarah, in the e-mail the requestor is given as "Reza Dorrani". Is there any way to change that? Obviously the system takes the flow creator as a default. I couldn't find a solution other than building the approval process in Power Apps. Thx
Approval action has a property called requested by. You can put in the email of the person making the approval request in there.
Customizing approval form emails is coming soon.
Thank you so much for another great lesson. Can you please guide me when I unselect the approval comments column from the view then why do approval comments not show on the timelines? It's showing properly on the timelines in your video even though the comments column is not part of the view.
The JSON code needs the column in the view. This is by design.
Comments is part of my view (it is just moved to corner)
Thank you excellent tutorial.I have one question. I am trying to capture the approval comments and names but it only captures the last approver. any insights on that?
Video description has link to download sample flow. You can check the logic in it.
I have not faced the issue of only last approver comments being captured hence not sure.
Hi Reza, as usual a very insightful and easy to follow tutorial. I have a question - I've built a similar flow for 3 static approvers and I record action of each approver in a sharepoint list item with attributes like approver name, time, comments and decision. For each document, I also create a approvral-id which is a running number that is applied to each approver action. What I'm looking for is to create a PDF document of the approval items under a approval-id and store in a sharepoint directory. Is there a easy way to create PDF from sharepoint? Whatever I've researched so far is telling me to create Word templates with fields and then use to first create a MS word doc and then convert it to PDF.
I have a video on exporting to PDF.
ruclips.net/video/Da4do2DxmJE/видео.html
Technique can be applied to any use case.
Hi Reza, thanks for the great video! I have one more question. If I want to put approved/rejected date on each approvers in multi-approver system, is there ways to get those? Thanks !
Possible by maintaining a variable. You can append the responses and comments as they come in to it.
Hi Reza! This is a huge help for the project I'm working on. I am new to creating workflows, but I think I can do this. I'm still a little confused about the tiles. Can they be built without SharePoint designer? Or is SharePoint designer where the code is added? Are new tiles automatically generated every time a new expense report is generated? Do you have a video for building a page with the tiles? Sorry for all the questions.
Thanks.
The tiles look is built using JSON formatting. Video description has link to the JSON code.
I have a playlist on Sharepoint list formatting using JSON on my channel. Check that one.
SharePoint designer is not required.
@@RezaDorrani thank you!
Thanks Reza for your amazing content.
I cannot lookup the Approvers as a Person or Group column type the way you have done here. I just do not get the option. I can only pull the ApproversText column. I googled it and found that you can't look up person types. Has that changed recently?
Video description has links to download flow. This works with person type columns and nothing has changed.
@@RezaDorrani yes it's working now. I was doing something wrong. Thanks Reza!
Thanks for the video, it's a great idea! Do you have a video or some way to, for example, have 3 users to approve 1 document and if the first 2 approve it is approved immediately
I do not have a video on that scenario.
My approvals playlist has a lot of use cases though. You would need to mix and match.
ruclips.net/p/PLTyFh-qDKAiFUGTtwSwFT79Y7_jq_Aipe
thank you for the great help on multiple approval. I want to ask, the approver need to be static which mean insert the email? or it can be dynamic content?
as my flow need to check first whether second or third approver exist
Approver can be dynamic. I have done multiple approval videos showcasing dynamic approvals.
Check this playlist - ruclips.net/p/PLTyFh-qDKAiFUGTtwSwFT79Y7_jq_Aipe
Thank you so much Reza. This tutorial video was really insightful.
My question is, can we display different details or information for each approver using this flow?
Can you please elaborate more on different details or information for each approver?
Video showcases complete tracking of status for each approver + an approval history timeline.
@@RezaDorrani I think he's referring to the approval message/detals/summary each approver receives. Is there a scenario where they each get a different detailed approval message ?
@@kingsleyudeagha Possible but it would involved more complexity in the flow.
One could use expressions and accordingly display approval message per approver.
@@RezaDorrani my thoughts also. Nice work Reza! Thank you really, it's inspiring.
Great video Reza, I've a question, is it possible to get the comments from the approval in the Sharepoint Item comments?
I guess you mean the new comments feature in SharePoint. I believe Yes using APIs but I have not tried it.
Thanks!
Thank You
Thank you for this! If I have a multi level approval that is dynamic where the requester selects the first level approver and so on, would it be ok to create multiple flows where each flow takes care of each approval level?
I am not a fan of multiple flows but it could/should be ok depending on how many levels deep your scenario can go to.
Thank you for sharing Reza. Will it be possible to set a reminder duration for each level dynamically? Example: one the first loop for the 1st approval, if the user did not make a decision within 2 days -> send 1st reminder. After 3 days if also no decision has been taken it should go to the second approval. The number (2 days) will be dynamic as the user can change it from an SP list anytime when needed.
Possible! I did a video on reminders which may help - ruclips.net/video/ZupQ0AbDl0I/видео.html
The flow you created is beautiful and very useful, I would need something similar but I would also need to send the attachment for approval.
Unfortunately I have never "programmed" in Power Automate and therefore some steps are not very understandable, is there any documentation that you can study to learn how to create flows?
is it possible to receive your stream and do a "copy and paste" and then edit it?
Thank you
Thanks.
Video description has link to download sample App & has the JSON formatting provided.
Flow approval attachments - ruclips.net/video/ShNhn-jSBC0/видео.html
I am a power automate rookie and this is a great help. thank you! If I could ask a question - I have a Shipping Request form issue. PHASE 1: The user fills out the request for items to be shipped by the warehouse. The user receives a confirmation email that it was sent to the warehouse. PHASE 2: The warehouse completes the shipping and another confirmation email should go to the user when the form is set to "SHIPPED" I can't get the second phase email to work.
I will have to look at your flow in action to know the reason why your flow is not working. I would recommend posting your issue/query with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com
@@RezaDorrani I got it finally. Not like I expected, though. when the infopath form (sadly they want to use infopath for now)is created, one email goes out, when it is changed, the other goes...after I placed the change condition in the NO branch!
Thank you Reza,finally i solved that problem, do u have any tuturial about this kind of flow or any help-----> I have a column “Department“, which 7 department, any department has a responsibile to approve the file, how can i create a flow in the first level and send approval email to who is responsible of the department, i mean assigned to group dynamiclly who is responsibile that has been selected for that file.
I have done 18 videos on approvals. All are in a playlist on my channel. Look through those. I may not have an exact scenario but something close
Hi Reza, Again a great video. Can you pls do more videos on using office scripts with power Automate for some complex tasks?.Eagerly waiting for your reply:)
Once I learn more about Office Scripts, I will make videos on it,
For now, I have a lineup of videos I am working on.
@@RezaDorrani Great Thank you for sharing your knowledge to us!
Superb!
Thank you! Cheers!
Thank you so much Reza.
At the level of the "SELECT" data operation I do not see the dynamic content "CLAIMS"
You will need to use an expression.
Something like item()?['Claims']
@@RezaDorrani Thank you
Thank you, Reza! Very helpful. On adding the list of approvers as arrays.. Is there a way link this to MS Forms directly rather than maintain this each time there is a change in the response submitted via MS forms?
Sorry, but I did not understand your question
@@RezaDorrani Sorry for the confusion. I am trying to create a process workflow linking Forms and Power Automate. One person will fill out the form and then it should trigger an approval workflow process via Power automate.
@@ameensajid9857 I do not have a video on this use case. I do have loads of videos on approvals and independent videos on forms.
You can combine those concepts and get it to work.
Alternatively, I would also recommend to check on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com
Hi Reza. Thank you for your informative videos. :) I just have a question, what if my values in the approvers are not solely array-type data instead one of the approvers is based on the sharepoint list?
I have done many approval videos where approvers are set from array, sharepoint list etc. I would recommend checking approvals playlist on my channel.
@@RezaDorrani Thank you. Yup, I'm running through all other videos. However, I always get this error: BadRequest. The variable 'varArrApprover1st' of type 'Array' cannot be initialized or updated with value of type 'String'. The variable 'varArrApprover1st' only supports values of types 'Array'.
@@anjlopez4147 I would recommend posting your issue with screenshots on the forums
powerusers.microsoft.com
thank you very much Reza. I was wondering how i can create an email reminder if request has not been actioned "approve or reject".
ruclips.net/video/ZupQ0AbDl0I/видео.html may help.
Have you seen the behavior in a Persons Type column where it changes the order of your assignees based on an 'internal id'? My set order of approvers is displayed incorrectly in the field when it gets populated from my flow. (The flow still runs in the correct order). Any changes to my approver order has to be done in the Sharepoint Classic View to take effect.
Some folks have experienced this issue. It probably has to be a bug in SharePoint sites. Some sites have it some dont.
Thanks for the video Reza. I have a question, what is the use of Map in select (15:10). Why is claims used, is it a field? Can we use anything else as key? is it like a primary key? I am unable to run my workflow. Thanks once again for the informative videos.
Video description has link to download sample flow. You can check all code in it.
Claims is used because we are working with a Person type column in SharePoint.
@@RezaDorrani thanks a lot for the prompt response. The error was due to incorrect parameters. The workflow ran successfully!
Hi Reza, Thank you so much for this. Though, when I reach the last section of the demo where there is the Select Data Operation, I'm not getting the 'Claims' option for sharepoint content as you are. Instead I only get 'Created by Claims' and 'Modified by Claims'. Could you kindly elaborate on that for me. Thank you!
Video description has link to download sample fllow. Give that a try.
Reza you are savior to me:) Just short question, I would like to save and notify the comments from each approvers to requester. Could you please advise?
Thanks!
I have done several approval videos on tracking all comments received and logging them. They can easily be sent back in an email to approver.
Check my Approvals playlist - ruclips.net/p/PLTyFh-qDKAiFUGTtwSwFT79Y7_jq_Aipe
HI Reza, thanks for the amazing video, just a quick one. What if there is an invoice which needs to be attached in the email how do you do it? thanks again for the amazing videos
Most welcome!
Check my playlist on approvals. I have shown how to attach files to approval action.
Hi Reza, great video and ive learned alot from you. I copied this approval flow exactly and it keeps sending approval emails to the approver after it was approved. Is there a way to fix that
I have not experienced this issue hence not sure what the reason for your issue is.
You can try downloading sample flow from video description to check the logic.
Alternatively, try posting your issue with screenshots on the forums at powerusers.microsoft.com