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Power Platform Community / Forums / Power Automate / Issue with Power Autom...
Power Automate
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Issue with Power Automate Approval and extracting data from the approval

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Posted on by CW-18021830-0 4
Hi,
 
I am creating a word doc to store in Sharepoint of a completed electronic approval. However when I try and extract the approvers ID from the approval, putting the data into a data operation, it takes the approval date but errors when I add the Approvers Name.
 
The error seems to make no sense to me.
 
Categories:
Building flows
Using flows
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  • Verified answer
    MParikh Profile Picture
    MParikh 521 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

    Hi @CW-18021830-0
    You’re hitting a type mismatch.

    Approval date is a single value. Approver name is not. In Approvals, the “Approvers name” comes back inside the Responses array, and each response is an object. When you drop that straight into a Data Operation or a Word field, the designer tries to treat an array or object as text, and you get the 400 save/runtime error.
    Do this instead.
    1. Inspect what you really get
    • Add a Compose right after Start and wait for an approval
    • Expression:body('Start_and_wait_for_an_approval')
    • Run once, open the run history, expand outputs, find:body → responses (array)Each item has responder info (displayName, email, id)
    1. If you have one approver and want the single name
    • Compose “Approver Name”
    • Expression (adjust the action name if yours differs):first(body('Start_and_wait_for_an_approval')?['responses'])?['responder']?['displayName']
    1. If you have multiple approvers and want all namesOption A (cleanest, no loops):
    • Add Data Operation: Select
      • From:body('Start_and_wait_for_an_approval')?['responses']
      • Map:Name = item()?['responder']?['displayName']
    • Add Compose “Approver Names (text)”
      • Expression:join(body('Select'), '; ')
    Option B (loop):
    • Initialize variable (String) ApproverNames = empty
    • Apply to each:body('Start_and_wait_for_an_approval')?['responses']
    • Append to string variable:concat(items('Apply_to_each')?['responder']?['displayName'], '; ')
    1. Use the Compose output everywhereUse the output of your “Approver Name(s)” compose when:
    • populating the Word template field
    • updating a SharePoint text column
    • building your HTML
    Thank you! 
    Proud to be a Super User!
    📩 Need more help?
    ✔️ Don’t forget to Accept as Solution if this guidance worked for you.
    💛 Your Like motivates me to keep helping
  • CW-18021830-0 Profile Picture
    CW-18021830-0 4 on at
    Thank you so much, thats sorted it!

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