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Reminder for "email with options"

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Posted on by mgotao

Hello!

I am working on a project that involves Forms and Flow for an outside organization. I have created a form to be used by hiring managers in order to submit a new hire form for approval. As the point person who will approve the form is outside of my organization, I am using "Email with options" as a means of getting the approval. Is it however possible, in the event that the person I'm sending these options doesn't provide a response after a certain amount of time, to send them an email reminder with the email options?

Thank you in advance!

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ScottShearer 25,331 Most Valuable Professional on at

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@mgotao

You can use the same technique used to send reminder emails for approvals.

See my example below.

In my example, I declare a variable and set it to an initial value of 0. Immediately after a response is received from the email, I set the value to 1.

In a parallel action, I have a loop that waits a specified period of time - any period of time you want. Then I check to see if the value of the variable is still 0. If so, I send an email. If not, I loop and wait again. The loop will continue until the variable is equal to 1.

If this addresses your issue, please mark your post as Solved.

If you like my response, please give it a Thumbs Up.

Scott
mgotao 7 on at

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Thank you for your reply! Is it possible to add another "Send email with options" at the end of the Do Until path that, if the user answers this time, will follow the path laid out on the other branch? I want to eliminate the possibility that, if the original email with options is lost, then the flow will just fail.
ScottShearer 25,331 Most Valuable Professional on at

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@mgotao :

Probably the best way to hanlde the "lost email" scenario is by using timeout options. You can set a timeout on the approval. If it times out, start another approval.

Here is a link to a video that I did that explains the concept.

This video may help as well.

Scott

Scott
MAlgoul2000 36 on at

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Hi, it only sends one reminder email not every for example 5 minutes, why?
I have tried the solution provided with no luck.
tianaranjo 497 on at

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@ScottShearer - I am looking to do similar - send reminder emails. I, however, would like to provide the user the approve options (same used for the original request), in the reminder email.

Can you direct me on how that might be done?
Thank you!
ScottShearer 25,331 Most Valuable Professional on at

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@tianaranjo :

You would use exactly the same technique as outlined above. In the reminder email, simply provide a hyperlink to https://flow.microsoft.com

When you go to the Flow home page, any outsatnding approvals assigned to you will show up at the top part of the page.

Be sure to set HTML to yes if you embed a hyperlink in the email.

Alsom I should have mentioned that you need to change the defaults in the "change limits" section of the do until loop. If you don't, it will only run for an hour. The syantax for one day would be P1D.
tianaranjo 497 on at

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@ScottShearer - Thank you for the immediate reply. I will apply your solution. I cannot mark 'Accept Solution' because it is not an option. I did, however, give you the thumbs up!
tianaranjo 497 on at

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@ScottShearer - Hmmm, I tried your recommendation:
Added item
Email from options --> Successful
Did not approve from email
Visited flow.Microsoft.com
The approval request is not there. (Could this be because it is generated from the Flow as Email with Options and as an Approval flow?
email content:
Flow.Microsoft.com - View in Approvals