Power Platform Community Forum Thread Details

I would like to be able to create a flow for the automatic approval of sharepoint access requests for external users. The requests are sent by email from a handful of internal colleagues and their line manager clicks a link in the email that takes him/her to the invite manager website where he/she clicks another button to approve the request which then automatically sends an invite email to the external user who then clicks a button in the email to accept the invite that then takes them to the sharepoint site. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Then the line manager sends an email to the internal requesters to tell them whether it has been approved or if there has been a problem.

Unfortunately, the site is not owned by me so I am limited on what I can do in sharepoint in terms of settings!

Please can you help? Thank you in advance!!

Categories:

Building flows

@JC-10030953-0

You're trying to automate a SharePoint external access approval workflow, but you're limited by not owning the site and relying on manual steps via the Invite Manager website. Here's how you can approach this with Power Automate, even with limited SharePoint permissions:

✅ Goal Recap

You want to:

Automatically detect access request emails.
Trigger an approval flow for the line manager.
If approved, send an invite to the external user.
Notify internal requesters of the result.

🛠️ Suggested Power Automate Flow Structure

Step 1: Trigger on Incoming Email

Use the “When a new email arrives” trigger.
Filter by:
- Sender (internal colleagues)
- Subject or body content (e.g., contains “SharePoint access request”)

Step 2: Extract Request Details

Use HTML or text parsing to extract:
- External user’s email
- Requester’s name
- SharePoint site name or link

Step 3: Start Approval Process

Use “Start and wait for an approval” action.
Send to the line manager with request details and a link to the Invite Manager (if needed).
Include Approve / Reject buttons.

Step 4: Conditional Logic

If Approved:
- Use HTTP request to call Microsoft Graph API or SharePoint API to send an invite (if permissions allow).
- Or send a manual invite email to the external user with a link to accept.
If Rejected:
- Skip invite step.

Step 5: Notify Internal Requesters

Send an email to the original requester with the result:
- Approved → “Invite sent”
- Rejected → “Request denied”

⚠️ Limitations & Workarounds

Since you don’t own the site:

You may not be able to send invites directly via API.
You can still automate the email and approval process, and notify the site owner or use a shared mailbox to forward the invite request.