Send email with options. Need to get the email address of who approved the Options. user email id output comes out blank when queried.

[shalaj]

While using Send email with options/Outlook365.

I Need to get the email address of who approved the Options.

user email id output comes out blank when queried after send email with options

[v-peijunz-msft]

Hi @shalaj 

Could you please let us know if the person who should receive the email have responded the email?
Could you please try to add a Compose action and choose the dynamic content of UserEmailAddress to see if it has the value?

Based on your description, I have made a simple test for your reference.

1. Here is the flow:

2. Result

The user has approved the option:

The flow caught the user email:

Best regards,

Sylvia

[shalaj]

I did the same thing as suggested .. still fails

Compose Output is NULL. Also tried setting it to a string Variable, still NULL.

[VictorIvanidze]

Do you have only one recipient in "Send email with options"?

[shalaj]

tried my team DL now. same result.

could it be any licensing/permissions issue at my end, which blocks the outputs, in send email with options?

My end goal is to deliver an HTML email (must have) using send email with options and know, who approved the request first.
 
I tried looking at approvals too as an option, but is does not support HTML.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks

[v-peijunz-msft]

Hi @shalaj 

Based on the screenshot you provided, it seems some outputs are missing from your "Send email with options" action:

My run output is like this, which has UserEmailAddress, UserTenantId and UserId

Best regards,

Sylvia

[shalaj]

out of 5 outputs for send an email with options, these 3 are empty for me
UserEmailAddress, UserTenantId and UserId

rest 2 I see as:

{

    "headers": {

        "Host": "prod-151.blah.blah.blahcom",

        "x-ms-request-id": "9dacbaac-da87-blah-blah-02db61b24784",

        "Content-Length": "82",

        "Content-Type": "application/json"

    },

    "body": {

        "SelectedOption": "Yes"

    }

}

Weird no?

[VictorIvanidze]

Hi @shalaj, you can try an alternative way: https://ivasoft.com/sendemailwithnativeapproverejectbuttonsflow.shtml

[landonjochim]

I am having the same issue. I am trying to do this in a GCC tenant but I have tested it in a normal tenant and having the issue there too. Did you ever find a solution, @shalaj ? Thanks

[kat_rock]

Hi everyone,
Like so many people on this forum, I tried to emulate the Approvals process but use html formatting so end users would not ignore it because it looks suspicious.

My issue was that if the user clicked on the buttons in the html version of 'send an email with options' I would only get the user's response but not the user's details. But if user clicked the buttons in the message card/preivew I was able to get the user response and the user details.

I raised a ticket with Microsoft and they advised this is 'by design'. I've asked them if there is a workaround but I don't have high hopes.

So it is still not possible to emulate the Power Automate approvals process and use html formatting. Seems your only options are sending your users a very suspicious-looking (but secure) Approvals email or a nicely formatted (but unsecure) html email with options.

[Greg_Reed]

UPDATE: Simple solution in my use case - since my Choice email follows a previous Form submission, I was able to set a variable with the respondent's email and use that in my condition confirming the user.

------------------------

This is unsatisfactory for me, as what I'm sending in the "Email with Options" step is an HTM table for the recipient to review. The message card version is a bunch of code.

[ricpower00]

Hey kat_rock

I was wondering if you got a response from MS support regarding the workaround. I faced the same issue that my email has a html table and I could not record the approver email address further down my flow. The workaround I see online is basically to use apply to each to send an email to each approver and then capture the approver details. This does not suit my case because this makes it difficult to follow up the approval if required.

Thanks

[ricpower00]

@shalaj 

I was wondering if you got a solution or the workaround. I faced the same issue that my email has a html table and I could not record the approver email address further down my flow. The workaround I see online is basically to use apply to each to send an email to each approver and then capture the approver details. This does not suit my case because this makes it difficult to follow up the approval if required.

[kat_rock]

Hi @ricpower00 
Unfortunately there was no workaround from Microsoft support.
For our business requirements, we needed to include company branding on the emails so our staff would know the emails were legit, which ruled out the OOTB approvals process.
We also needed to track who had completed the approval process to ensure they were users with the appropriate authority. Unfortunately there was no way of preventing users from forwarding the emails to others so we had to rule out action buttons within the emails.
In the end, I set up a canvas app to handle the approvals and a button inside the emails that directs users to the canvas app. It's very disappointing because the PP offering is so close to being a very good solution.

[ricpower00]

Thanks @kat_rock for your reply.

It sounds a decent process if security is a priority - so you still use send email with option action to display all the info in HTML format and designed the button to be a link to your canvas app page where the approval is registered?

[kat_rock]

Hi @ricpower00 
I used the standard 'Send an email' action, not the 'Send email with options' because I needed to add custom company branding, including a logo.

I think the standard 'Send an email' action is the better way to go as long as you know enough html to do this yourself or you have the time and willingness to learn. It give you total control over the email output including custom formatting.