Approval sending duplicate emails

[Breanna]

Hello,

I built a flow using Approval, however, it is sending duplicate MS Teams Approval requests to the manager. I've tried to recreated the flow to see if it was a glitch, but it is still sending double requests. I did not have this issue 3-4 months ago. Is this a bug? How do I fix this?

[Anonymous]

Hi @Breanna,

I would check FIRST to make sure you don't have a duplicate flow running.  I had this exact issue last week and realized that I was still running one of my "test" flows in my Test environment.

Based on your screenshot, I don't see anything that would indicate a duplicate approval would be created so see if the duplicate flow is there and then, if not, maybe you could share more screenshots of your complete flow.

Also, I would consider doing 2 different approval flows since I believe the "start and wait for an approval" is going to be deprecated soon. Like this:

***EDIT***

If you add the responder's email to the "Requestor" field, it'll create the approval under their name instead of the name of the person who created the flow.

Also, here is a complete flow that I created for Schedule Requests of all types for all employees

I'll just post one side of the Condition since both are the same.

[Breanna]

Oh, thank you for the heads up! I'll see if I can recreate your flow. 

I did double check and I have no other flows created currently... aside from this one. So I'm still not sure where the duplicate email is coming from!

[Anonymous]

I would also check Sharepoint alerts to see if it's sending an email with updates.

If you're able to share more of your flow, it could help to diagnose the issue 🙂

[Breanna]

I think I'm getting somewhere... kind of. 

I changed the "assigned to" email to the manager's email. The manager is getting an approval notification, but I'm still getting one of the time off request Approval notifications in MS Teams as well. So somewhere in my Approval flow, it's asking for the request to be sent to me and the manager as well (?)...  Everything else is doing fine except I cannot find where it has a request being sent to me as well!

**I did change the "assigned to" back to me for trial and error purposes

Peek Code: 

{

    "inputs": {

        "host": {

            "connectionName": "shared_approvals",

            "operationId": "StartAndWaitForAnApproval",

            "apiId": "/providers/Microsoft.PowerApps/apis/shared_approvals"

        },

        "parameters": {

            "approvalType": "Basic",

            "WebhookApprovalCreationInput/title": "Leave Request by @{triggerOutputs()?['body/Author/DisplayName']}",

            "WebhookApprovalCreationInput/assignedTo": "managers email;",

            "WebhookApprovalCreationInput/details": "Start date: @{triggerOutputs()?['body/DateStarted']}\nEnd date: @{triggerOutputs()?['body/DateEnded']}\nType: @{triggerOutputs()?['body/TypeofLeave/Value']}\n\nNotes: @{triggerOutputs()?['body/Notes']}",

            "WebhookApprovalCreationInput/requestor": "@{triggerOutputs()?['body/Author/Email']};",

            "WebhookApprovalCreationInput/enableNotifications": true,

            "WebhookApprovalCreationInput/enableReassignment": true

        },

        "authentication": "@parameters('$authentication')"

    },

    "metadata": {

        "operationMetadataId": "883ec83b-fb86-4e2a-91a5-82eeab3d763b"

    }

}

 

[Anonymous]

Is the Approval Request showing in your "Sent" tab or "Received" tab?

I think it could possibly be the "Created by Email" in the requestor field. You should probably put the requestor email from the original Form response vs the Sharepoint. (if you're using a Form).  If you're using a Form to create the Sharepoint list, the Sharepoint list will use the Power Automate Flow creator as the "Created by Email" in sharepoint. Not the user who responded to the form.

Better to use the FORM responder like this:

[Breanna]

They are requests. It's like it's asking me to approve two Approvals.

And I am not using a form unfortunately. We have a list in SharePoint that is then pulled into Approvals. 

[Anonymous]

Ok. When you run a "Test" in the flow using an automatic trigger of last submission, does it still do 2 approvals?

Also, can you share your full flow screenshot? Might help to find what's going on

[Anonymous]

Also, when you look at the Sharepoint list, is the Created By Email the correct email of the original requestor?

[Breanna]

I did a manual test flow that atomically covered all steps. Which worked, but had the double notifications in Teams. Should I run the test a different way?

 Here is my full flow. 

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply. I'll have to think about this a little more as I don't have the solution in mind.

One more check just to be 100% sure... Can you check the "Environments" in the top right to make sure that you don't have another Flow of any kind running on approvals? Reason is that looking at your flow, I don't see anything indicating a duplicate approval should be generated

[Breanna]

I truly appreciate your quick responses. I know this issue isn't easy and it's driving me nuts!

I did check the environment and I have no other flows created.

[Breanna]

I'm going to try this a different way and use Forms like you have.

Create Event does not show the shared calendar in Outlook that I have created and shared with another employee. It is asking for a Calendar ID. Do you know how I can find this?

EDIT: I think I may have figured it out! I had to move it into the shared calendars category. I am going to keep testing this out!

[Anonymous]

Hi @Breanna,

I think forms is a good idea since it's one single point of communication. I hope it works better for you.

In regards to the shared calendar, make sure they've "Accepted" the calendar share in their email. Then, delete the calendar event in the Flow and add again. See if they come up. That's another thing I'm not 100% sure about why it wouldn't come up as all calendars show in my flow.  Maybe that will fix it. If not, I'll keep my thinking cap on 🙂

[Breanna]

Shoot. Everything is working prefect now, except we want the approved time off to go directly onto our shared calendar which is not working! Any ideas?

Here were the test details:

Here is the test flow:

[Anonymous]

I think you're close. 

Take the "Create Event" out of the Apply to Each loop. Make that the very last step and I think that should get it.

[Breanna]

Ugh. I tried taking it out of the Apply to Each loop and it won't let me save with it like this. What could I be doing wrong?

[Anonymous]

I'm not an expert so I do alot of trial and error but I think this error is indicating that the Apply to Each is still looking for the Create Event within it. Almost like it should recognize it's no longer there but it just doesn't for some reason.

My recommendation in times like this (and what I've done alot lately) is delete the Create Event altogether and reenter fresh using the "Add new Action" outside of the apply to each loop. Then, if you still have that problem, I would delete the Create Emails and re-enter those fresh as well. 

[Anonymous]

Curious to know if you tried deleting and re-entering?

[Breanna]

I was just sending you a message back! I have a new problem. Surprise! Haha. 

It is going to the calendar, but I went them to show as full days so it's at the top of every day. 

Currently, when I say "yes" as an all day event, the flow will not work and nothing shows on the calendar as it states it needs to be at least 24 hours. When I DON'T select anything under "is this an all day event," it shows up only at 1am and we have to scroll up to see them!