Approval Flow opening Web Browser (email body only approval)

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

Back again after 24 hours searching and watching youtube videos of it working erfectly. I cannot get mine to work.

Hi Guys,

I am using the flow "Start approval when a new item is added" in a sharepoint list. The flow works perfect on a mobile device in your outlook email when you can click "approve / Reject within the email it will update sharepoint.

But if you are accessing the approval email on a Desktop or laptop  when you click "Approve /  Reject" it will re-direct you to Microsoft flows page to review and approve/reject there.

Can this step be elinimted, as I am looking to reduce down this extra step.  Looking to have the task complete in the email instead of opening flow on a web tab.

Thanks for the help or advice.

[ChristianAbata · Accepted solution]

hi @Anonymous  this is normal just somethimes your explorer like Chrome or firefox can't send the response then MSflow sends you to the approvals page to enshure you are able to Approve o reject the flow. You can't change that but you can test in some explorers or navigators to see the best for your org.

[Pstork1 · Accepted solution]

This Approval flow is based on a template that is still using an older Approval Action.  Please update the flow to use the Create and Wait for an Approval action instead of the Start an Approval action.  This may also require updating some other fields in the flow, but unless you are using a non-standard email client it should solve your problem.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Thanks @Pstork1 but i tried the other flow and got the same problems of opening a web browser to apporve the flow,  i used "Start and wait for an approval" flow as per image. I will try some more but feel i will get the same result.

There seems to be only 3 types of approvals in flow,

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Thanks @ChristianAbata I tried the option by @Pstork1 but still in the same problem.

I can approve in Mobile email app, Approve in Office.otlook.com web email, but on the desktop email outlook I still get re-directed to the new web page of flow to approve there.  A very silly function by Microsoft and hard now to explain to a large organisation the advantage of using PowerAutomate for approvals and how it is better than SahrePoint 2010 workflows...

[Pstork1 · Accepted solution]

Let me clarify the actions you are seeing.  Start and Wait for an Approval is a synchronous process.  It creates an approval and then waits for the response(s) to come back before proceeding.  The other two actions you see are the same process, but in an asynchronous fashion. Create an Approval creates the Approval and sends it out.  But the response isn't processed until you issue the Wait for an Approval action.  Its just like the Start and Wait for an Approval except you can do other things between the time you create the approval and finish it by processing the response.

As I said, I have seen situations where the email will open a web browser to collect responses.  This usually happens if you are using an older version of Outlook or an off brand mail client.  That's normal, but the error about reassignment isn't. Are you still getting that error? Or is it just that you are being redirected to the flow console to finish the approval?

[Anonymous]

@Pstork1 Its - sending me to the flow console in a web page to approve the flow for all the different approval options I have tried. It will not accept the approved in the mail on my Desktop "Outlook" Office 2016 Version App.

As mentioned it apporved fine on a mobile device outlook app and the Web version of office.outlook.com

Not sure what else to try here as it possibly is down to my organisation and the version of Outlook installed on everyones PC.

[Pstork1]

If you have access I would try upgrading to Office Pro Plus or Office 2019 Outlook.  As I said, I think its happening because you are on an older version client.  Unless you move to the current version of Outlook you may not be able to complete the Approval in the Outlook client.

Is the error message still happening when you redirect?

[v-alzhan-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous ,

The issue could be confirmed and I think it is the expected behavior now, I don't see any solution currently and I suggest that you could contact Microsoft flow for any special explanation and solution if you don't want the approval would be re-direct to the Microsoft flow approval center when you make the response on the desktop.

Best Regards,

Alice

Community Support Team _ Alice Zhang
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