Approval Process Requested By

[AMH08]

We have a centralized flow account to manage some business Flows. 

I find myself tinkering with an approval flow. The approval is working. However, the approval always says it is being requested by the account the flow lives on. Is there a way to configure that to be someone else without the flow living on that someone else's account? 

What I would like to do is have the requested by be whoever was entered in a person field within the sharepoint list item that was triggered by the flow. 

The only options I see for the approval is:

Title, Assigned To, Details, Item Link, Item Link Description. 

[v-xida-msft]

Hi @AMH08,

Do you want to change the requestor (Requested by) of the Approval email sent through "Start an approval" action dynamically?

The requestor (Requested by) of the approval email sent through "Start an approval" action is based on your current login account of Microsoft Flow. In other words, if you login in Microsoft Flow with the account of user A, the requestor (Requested by) of the approval email sent through "Start an approval" action is user A, if you login in Microsoft Flow with the account of user B, the requestor (Requested by) of the approval email sent through "Start an approval" action is user B.

There is no way to change the requestor (Requested by) of the Approval email sent through "Start an approval" action dynamically in Microsoft Flow currently, if you would like this feature to be added in Microsoft Flow, please submit an idea to Flow Ideas Forum:

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Flow-Ideas/idb-p/FlowIdeas

Best regards,

Kris

[mojoriesen]

Kris - I createrd a Flow idea per your instructions. This seems like a faulty design to hard code an approval request to show as coming from the person who created the flow. Approvers (managers or otherwise) do not need to know, nor would they care, who created the Approval Flow. This could often be an IT resource. Approvers would primarily be concerned with who created the item requiring approval.

I can think of a use case where this hard coding of the Flow creator makes sense for an approval. 

[Nigel1]

The Approval flow email needs to have an option to show who the Approval Request has orginated from rather than showing the default name of who created the flow.

[Gristy]

Hello,

The approval email comes from a microsoft.com address you cannot change that.

What you can do is insert your people value into the Requestor field in the approval like this, click show advanced options

[mojoriesen]

The problem isn't the ability to add a "Requestor" merge field into the body of the approval email, it's that the Flow Owner is featured prominently in the first line of the approval request email and is prefaced by "Requested by". In fact, the physical person requesting approval for an item is listed below that. 

Therefore, the problem is two-fold in my observation:

1. The inappropriate hard coding of the phrase "Requested by" to identify the Flow Owner but is not requesting approval for anything. 
2. The order of the email and inability to edit/move/hide the hard coded pieces. The request originator should be featured more prominently because they are the one actually requesting approval of a thing. They are the one who created the new list/library item, not the flow creator. Most times the flow creator is an IT staff member or the "tech person" on a team, who couldn't care less about the daily approvals occuring on the list itself. 

[ITCowboy]

I agree, this is not very well thought out. I am the IT person at or company, and also the only one with time and knowledge to create these flows. No-one cares that I created the flow. 

Example, I am using an approval list for vacation requests. The user puts in their information (dates, times, etc), managers name, and it kicks off the email to be approved or rejected. 

The manager receives an email, which shows all that information, but prominently at the top, the mail shows my picture, and "Requested by MY NAME", followed by my email address. 

That line is there because I created a flow for others to use, but I keep getting calls asking why I am requesting vacation from them (they are not my manager). It is confusing to the workflow process, and completely unnecessary to show any information about me in this instance, or most others I can think of.

The company wants to use sharepoint Online,  as we have been using with an inhouse version for years, but it seems the technology has moved backwards, and is not ready for prime time use yet. I cant do many things that I was able to do with SharePoint designer easily before.

If anyone hears or finds a fix for this, Please, let us know!

[Anonymous]

Also facing the same problem.

If the "Requested By: FLOW_OWNER" text simply didn't exist this wouldn't be an issue. If someone requests holiday time by updating a Sharepoint list then whoever gets the approval email does not care about who created the flow. The only info they need is the name of the person who created the list item.

This is a major flaw and surely a simple fix.

[Gristy]

There is already a field you can change who the requestor is in advanced settings.

[Anonymous]

How can you change who appears as the requestor? I don't see any field for it in Flow. Where are the advanced settings you're talking about?

[Anonymous]

This is what I see in flow

I see no option for advanced settings.

[Gristy]

Hi,

It is here and also in start and wait for an approval.

it looks like maybe you are using old/deprecated action.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your help and the fast reponse.

[ITCowboy]

OK, better, I did find the newer version that allows the requestor field.. Problem is, Microsoft should not be automatically fielding any of that information. the new version shows requested by: (requestor), and created by: (Myself) now, neither of which do I want to show. I can and do include that information in the body or subject line for the flow in a friendlier more readable format for any flow, if that information is needed, using Dynamic Content. 

I get that information is used in the flow itself to make it work, there is just absolutely no reason that information should be provided automatically, especially in this case where there are other means to show that information if wanted. If it must be there, at least it should be in small lettering at the bottom of the email, where my users will not read it, or misconstrue its meaning. My name has no need to be on any communication, post, or end result that user initiated in a flow, unless I am the one initiating that flow for its intended purpose. 

[Anonymous]

Hello, I stumbled upon this thread as I was sending same request for help. I thought it had to do with SharePoint Permission. I have spend weeks and Months learning Power automate and I need to demonstrate my effort to my department, only to realize that in our testing before the demonstration, my e-mail address is showing in the Requested By and not the actual actual item creators? This is not the kind of development that will be acceptable in my organization. For the time being is there no way i can eliminate my e-mail address from the creator? Yes i created the flow but nobody needs to see that every time, its defeats the purpose and I agree with everyone against this flaw Thank you

[AnilkumarGN]

I do have the same issue, is the issue fixed? can someone please help me on this

[jrauca]

Still no response from microsoft. Is there any reason why the creator of the flow needs to be tagged?

[RadhaSamak]

any update on this? Seems still there's no fix for this.

[JBennington]

I don't understand why, when you have no entry in the "advanced" Requester field, there's only the PA creator listed in the email. But as soon as you fill out the advanced field with an email address of the "list created by:" we suddenly need to add a new section, with different, complete unreasonable/confusing information that must be the creator of the workflow (and don't allow it to be removed.) Come on, man! Really?!?!

PS Even this post/topic was hard to find and it only half works. (*shaking-head-in-dismay*) 

THIS SHOULD BE LISTING IN THE KNOWN LIMITATIONS AT A MINIMUM!

[draxler669]

I have the same issue and I cannot find an advanced settings for the approval ive got. therefore I have not way to remove the requestor email (the flow creator)!