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Start and wait for an approval, email notification not updating after first response – 403 error

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Posted on by CG-16061003-0

Hi everyone,

I've been running a Power Automate flow that includes the "Start and wait for an approval" action (approval type: First to respond) with 5 assigned approvers. It had been working perfectly for months.

Previously, as soon as one person approved, the approval email would update automatically and the action buttons would disappear, and it would show who had responded. That way, the remaining approvers could see that a decision had already been made.

However, for the past 2–3 weeks, this behavior has changed:

The approval email no longer updates after someone approves.
All other recipients still see the Approve/Reject buttons.
If someone else tries to approve after the first response, they get a 403 error (probably because the approval is already completed).

What I've already checked:

No changes have been made to the flow configuration.
It doesnt directly is realated to new and old outlook, or any specific outlook options. None of those 5 approvers, changed anything.

Has anyone else experienced this issue recently?

Is there a known bug or change in how the approval connector behaves?

Any insights or workarounds would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
Carolin Gleisberg

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David_MA 12,982 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Please show your flow and specifically this "approval email" you refer to. I have a lot of approval flows, and unless you build it into your workflow to send an e-mail notification after the approval has been completed, nothing gets sent. And what do you mean by the "email would update automatically?" Do you mean that it would be sent automatically? If not, please show how you are then updating this e-mail.

It would also be helpful if you can share a screen shot of the e-mails you are referring to with any sensitive data redacted.

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CG-16061003-0 4 on at

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Hi David @David_MA, Thanks a lot for your response!

I’m using the standard “Start and wait for an approval” action in my flow (approval type: Custom responses – Wait for one response), and I haven’t implemented any custom email notifications. So when I mention the “approval email,” I’m referring to the automatically generated approval notification email sent by Power Automate.

By “the email would update automatically,” I mean:

In the past, once the first person responded, the approval email would automatically refresh for the remaining recipients:

The Approve/Reject buttons disappeared (or in our case: "bearbeitet" / "nicht bearbeitet").

The email showed a status like: “Approved by John Doe on [Date]”, indicating the request was already handled.

But now:

This behavior stopped about 2–3 weeks ago. The email stays unchanged for the rest of the recipients – the action buttons are still visible.
If anyone else tries to respond, they receive a 403 error: “The remote endpoint returned an error (HTTP '403'). Please try again later.”

Attached are 3 screenshots:

Overall flow: For a better understanding of the structure.

Approval step in the flow: With configuration details, including "Turn on notifications: Yes".

Email view: Showing the error message when trying to approve after a response.

If anyone has experienced something similar, or if there’s been a change in how the approval connector works, I’d be really grateful for any advice or workaround!

Best regards,

Carolin Gleisberg

Overall flow: For a better understanding of the structure.

Approval step in the flow: With configuration details, including "Turn on notifications: Yes".

Email view: Showing the error message when trying to approve after a response.

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David_MA 12,982 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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I understand now; when you were referring to the e-mail notification, you were referring to the approval e-mail. I probably should have figured that out, but the screen shot certainly helps. I don't see any issues with the configuration of the approval.

It appears you are trying to complete the approval through Outlook for the Web. Do you have the Outlook desktop app installed? If so, do you get the same error? You also may want to review this support article from Microsoft, which outlines some issues with approvals: Issues with flow approval emails in Outlook - Power Automate | Microsoft Learn (German version: Probleme mit Ablaufgenehmigungs-E-Mails in Outlook - Power Automate | Microsoft Learn).

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