Stop receiving notifications in Outlook and Teams

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Posted on by susan_cqc

I have two approval flows, one for modification, another for new item.

The modification approval flow screen capture:

The new item creation flow screen capture:

4 months ago when I created the approval for modification, it's been saving the notification emails in my Outlook Sent Items, as I am the "From" person in the email. To make it clear, I was never the one who did the modification or creation nor approval. I happened to be the one who created the flows. I can ignore the notifications but it would be nice not having them get in the way of my other sent items. At the mean time, the new item approval flow did not send me any notification, until January 21, 2021. This time, they show up on Teams. My Teams activity got flooded.

What happened, why did the notifications showing up in two different applications? How do I change or opt out of receiving the notifications, esp. the ones on Teams? I don't know how many employees are seeing them, or just me. And in the future, how do I change to someone else or another email?

Thanks!

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v-yiwenxie-msft Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi @susan_cqc

In my understanding, you have two needs.
The first need is to make ‘sent items’ box of email stop retaining the notification emails that is automatically generated by the modification approval flow.
The second need is to make Teams stop receiving notifications from the new item creation flow.

If I’ve misunderstood your need, please feel free to let me know.

For the first need, you can just put nothing in ‘From’ in ‘send an email’ action. Or you can use shared mailbox or distribution list instead of your own email address.
For more info about shared mailbox or distribution list, please go to the link: Shared Mailbox vs Distribution List: What's the Best Choice for Your Business? (helpwise.io)

For the second need, I couldn’t figure out the step that will send Teams notification to you.
Could you provide a screenshot of an instance of Teams notification you received? And could you provide more detailed screenshots of your flow steps because I can’t figure out what those steps meant to do.

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ Kira Xie
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

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susan_cqc 8 on at

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@v-yiwenxie-msft

Thank you for looking into this. Yes, you are right. There is no "From" field in the flow. See my screen capture:

Sure, I can upload part of Teams screen to show the notification, is this what you are looking for?

Thanks!

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v-yiwenxie-msft Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi @susan_cqc

For your first need, if the ‘From’ field is empty, then the flow will send the email using your email address as the sender’s email address.
So, you need to fill another person’s email address or a distribution list or a shared mailbox in the ‘From’ field. But please make sure you have the permission to use those email addresses. Otherwise, your mailbox of sent items will keep being flooded with those emails.

For your second need,
Flow is set at the prerequisite that approval creator, requestor and approver will receive automatic notification in Teams, so I’m afraid that you will keep getting those Teams notifications.
But there is a workaround of simply changing a connection of the step.

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ Kira Xie
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

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susan_cqc 8 on at

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@v-yiwenxie-msft Thanks! I see what you mean by the first need. The "From" field should be at the top, by the way. I used Nintex workflow before, the notification does not have "From" field and thus ended up in nobody's email. I see no need to achieve the send notification anywhere, as long as the flow runs successfully.

For the second need, it does not make sense. Why have I never seen notification on Teams before January 21? Why does only one flow send notification to Teams, not the other flow?

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v-yiwenxie-msft Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi @susan_cqc

Sorry for my mistake about your second need.
The reason why you receive the Teams notification about approval is that you're the approval requestor.
If you don't want to receive the approval notification, which means you are not the approver or requestor, then you can only fill another person's email address in the 'Requestor' and 'Assigned to'.

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ Kira Xie
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

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susan_cqc 8 on at

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@v-yiwenxie-msft Thanks for the help! I accepted your solution, but some of my questions remain --

It is still a mystery to me that two flows behave differently, one sends notification to Outlook, another sends to Teams. I looked at my flows again. In the flow when a new item is created, I used "Start an approval" followed by "Send email" (renamed to "Inform item creator of approval", and "Inform item creator of rejection"). I circled them in red below. I didn't use "Start and wait for an approval" as shown in your screen capture, because I don't have a fixed requestor, it always changes. But it's never me.

Have "Inform item creator of approval" and "Inform item creator of rejection been DEPRECATED by Microsoft as of January 21, 2021? The flow could not send Outlook email notification anymore, thus throw in Teams? Let me know if it is true. I have to change that action to "Send an email (v2)".

If the "From" field in both flows is left blank, the flow creator will automatically be assumed as the "From" person, as you indicated, correct me if I am wrong, what will happen if I leave the company? Both flows will stop working if I do not add someone else in the "From" field? Please look at the screen capture above. On the far right, "Get my profile (V2)" is always bypassed. However the flow stops working if I delete it. Will the same thing happen if I am gone because my profile can't be got? I have two other people as the flow owners, they do not have the same problem as I have about notification.

Thanks! I hope we can talk using Teams, faster and easier to communicate.

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