how to remove flow owner in approval email

[ichbinbunny]

I am trying to set up flow (submit request form - flow - email-sharepoint list), when the approver received approval request, my email address and alisa are always showing in the email. How can I hide my information from the email? I have tried to change my log in account, but not working

[ScottShearer]

@ichbinbunny :

Unfortunately, the account used with the Flow approval action will always shows as the "created by" in the approval email.  You can add someone else as the "Requested For" name = to do so, click on Advanced Properties in the Approval action and provide an email address for the Requestor.

You may want to consider using some type of "service account" rather than your own account for the approval action connection if you don't want your name to appear.

[ichbinbunny]

requestor's name was added at title  for approval and we created a new domain, even if I logged in with this new domain, it still shows my alias.

[Brad_Groux]

---

@ScottShearer wrote:

@ichbinbunny:

You may want to consider using some type of "service account" rather than your own account for the approval action connection if you don't want your name to appear.

---

You do have a few options:

1. Setup an Office 365 email alias for your account so that alias is what is displayed in the emails, you could then create a simple Outlook rule to move all emails to that alias to a folder, or deleted
2. Or, you could utilize the SMTP Connector, rather than the Office 365 Email Connector so you're sending the emails from an account not associated with the account in the Flow settings

Spoiler

NOTE: SMTP access for Office 365 requires additional configuration

It isn't Microsoft best practice to utilize service accounts for Flow, they recommend running Flow's access to connectors directly from your personal account. The two methods above are the methods I use within my flows so that my account doesn't show up as the sender email. 

[ScottShearer]

@ichbinbunny 

You need to change the connection used by the Approval action.  I believe that, for approvals, you'll first need to make the service account an owner of the Flow(make it a Team Flow).  Then, logon as the service account and edit the Flow.  Click on the Flow action and then on "add connection".  That should substitute the Approval connection for the service account.  If that doesn't work, delete and re-add the approval action while logged on as the service account.

[ichbinbunny]

Yes, I did try the steps you mentioned, but when I logged in with this service account, my domain was still showing at right corner. so adding a new connection still led to mydomain@

[ScottShearer]

@Brad_Groux and @ichbinbunny  :

While I haven't yet tested the approach of using an alias, I don't believe that it will be effective with an approval (which is the issue described here).  Have you tested this technique with an approval?

In addition, you don't have the option of using the SMTP connector with an approval.

I agree, it is not preferable to use a service account.  That said, I don't believe that there is any other way to accomplish the requirement. 

[ScottShearer]

@ichbinbunny and @Brad_Groux :

One final point - while this does not apply to approval emails, a simple way of sending an email and not having the Flow authors email be used as the "from" address is to use the "Send an Email Notification" action - it will be sent from "PowerApps or Flow".  The action has a green envelope as it's icon.  No additional configuration is required.

[Brad_Groux]

---

@ScottShearer wrote:

@Brad_Grouxand @ichbinbunny  :

While I haven't yet tested the approach of using an alias, I don't believe that it will be effective with an approval (which is the issue described here).  Have you tested this technique with an approval?

In addition, you don't have the option of using the SMTP connector with an approval.

I agree, it is not preferable to use a service account.  That said, I don't believe that there is any other way to accomplish the requirement. 

---

You don't have to use the built-in approval process as it is presented to you, you can create your own approval process with flow and a SharePoint list in just a few steps. This is what we do, if and when we find the built-in Flow approval tools to be too limiting, we just build our own and/or a hybrid using a SharePoint Workflow Approval in conjunction with Flow.

To me, the built-in Flow approval is just like the built-in and available connectors, meant for cookie-cutter solutions. The tools are there to make an approval as complex or as simple as you want.

The approval steps can be highly customized too, and you don't have to use just the Office 365 Mail actions, you can use Mail, Gmail, SMS, etc. and pipe the approval URL into it. 

We even have one of our really complex approvals, that requires a manual approval process nearly 10 steps long created using a SharePoint list, and column toggles. 

The options are pretty limitless for approvals with Flow and SharePoint. The power is in the logical expressions.

[Brad_Groux]

---

@ScottShearer wrote:

@ichbinbunnyand @Brad_Groux :

One final point - while this does not apply to approval emails, a simple way of sending an email and not having the Flow authors email be used as the "from" address is to use the "Send an Email Notification" action - it will be sent from "PowerApps or Flow".  The action has a green envelope as it's icon.  No additional configuration is required.

---

Great point, Scott! This is likely the best and easiest option for the OP.

Make sure your SPAM filter(s) allow for emails from @onmicrosoft.com. We had to whitelist the various domains on several of our security systems (took some testing to grab them all).

[sdavidson1]

in the flows that are part of a team the created is shown no matter what I try, I don't want my email showing as the flow is for leave of absence and staff might get nervous if the see my name show in the details for the approval if they ask to see the original, if there any way yet for me to create the flow and have the created by field rather change to another user or hide completely

[SnehajitDas]

Hello Brad,

Good day!

When you have such lengthy approvals how do you limit the view of each member?

I have a editable form where users create certain requests to be approved by 3 levels, however I see a challenge that some one who knows about SharePoint can create their own views and find other users data.

[wkoo]

I have tried your suggestion using the "Send an Email Notification" action with the 'Teams Adaptive Card' output from the "Create an approval" action. However, it seems like the adaptive card is not able to work this way. Probably the sender is not allowed as I got an error - "Sender microsoft@powerapps.com not in the allowed 1 senders for PowerAutomateApprovals". Do you have any thoughts on this?

[ScottShearer]

@wkoo 

I am not surprised as there are numerous issues with the Send an email notification action.  As a general rule, you don't want to use it and need to find another way.

[wkoo]

Thanks. I am just looking for a way to remove the 'Created by' in the approval email. So far, I only found two ways that are not that easy - create my own approval using adaptive card, and create the approval using a service account. Both ways need a lot of changes and effort. The use of service account is easier relatively but would need to set up new account with extra licence; this does not make sense just to hide the 'Created by' in the approval emails.

[ScottShearer]

@wkoo 

To the best of my knowledge, you can't hide Created by in the approval emails.