Skip to main content

Notifications

Community site session details

Community site session details

Session Id : fwPla+OKeDij5/kB2I6NdY
Power Automate - Using Flows
Unanswered

Approval email (with different layout) redirects to make.powerautomate.com - which is a problem for approvers who don't have a license

Like (2) ShareShare
ReportReport
Posted on 24 Jan 2024 09:09:58 by 345

Hi everyone,

 

Hope someone knows a solution for this problem: I've built a flow that is asking approvals to people in our tenant. Some of them don't have a license for the Power Platform.

 

There are 2 types of layouts in which the email appears (in exactly the same conditions). Sometimes everything looks 'normal' in the layout and people can approve or reject directly from the email. But once in a while, the same people receive an email that looks different (the buttons are 'Power-Automate-blue' instead of 'white with a blue border'). The situation is exactly the same (same inbox, same email platform, same computer, same flow, etc). If the email has the blue buttons, they are redirected to make.powerautomate.com for approvals. Then they get an error, because they don't have a license (or the email was redirected and people are not logged in with the right account for example).

 

So sometimes it is caused by the fact that they are logged in on a different (Microsoft) account, or they are redirecting our email to another (private) email platform, etc. That's causing some trouble. Logging in to the Outlook on the web in an InPrivate or Incognito browser, sometimes helps, sometimes it won't. The last escape that I use is to ask them to log in to Teams and give the approval/reject response there. Sometimes it seems like these above situations are not the case and I can't discover the cause of these problems. Until now, the solutions I suggest are working (InPrivate/Incognito browser, webmail or Teams).

 

But what I'm looking for, is a solid solution: why does this happen and what can I do to prevent it? Why does it sometimes work and seconds later it doesn't with the exact same conditions? My ideal situation would be that everybody can approve/reject directly from the email without any problems.

 

BTW: I'm using the 'Start and wait for an approval' action.

 

Thanks in advance, help is much appreciated 🙏

 

Femke

  • CU08100028-0 Profile Picture
    2 on 08 Oct 2024 at 00:34:56
    Approval email (with different layout) redirects to make.powerautomate.com - which is a problem for approvers who don't have a license
    Just wondering if there was any possible solution. 
     
    We are experiencing the exact same problem
     
    Users all have full E5 liscences - can associate to a liscence. 
     
    Happens randomly.   
     
    We have attachements on our approvals to review.   With the latter notification the attachments only appears in the Teams notification, and not in the email which is causing some confusion with the end users. 
     
    Also Use "Start and wait from an approval"
     
     
     
  • Femke1 Profile Picture
    345 on 30 Jan 2024 at 07:21:21
    Re: Approval email (with different layout) redirects to make.powerautomate.com - which is a problem for approvers who don't have a license

    Hi @VictorIvanidze ,

     

    Thanks for your suggestion, but that is also not an option, since a lot of our users are approving from their mobile phones and/or a Mac device 🙂

  • VictorIvanidze Profile Picture
    12,212 on 28 Jan 2024 at 11:44:35
    Re: Approval email (with different layout) redirects to make.powerautomate.com - which is a problem for approvers who don't have a license

    Hi @Femke1,

    if each your approvers has Office 365 license, you can try to use this approach:

    https://ivasoft.com/sendemailwithnativeapproverejectbuttonsflow.shtml

  • Femke1 Profile Picture
    345 on 28 Jan 2024 at 10:30:24
    Re: Approval email (with different layout) redirects to make.powerautomate.com - which is a problem for approvers who don't have a license

    Thanks for your effort @smorph, I don't think it's a general issue with the flow - I also see others describing this problem (but I don't see an explanation or a solution anywhere).

     

    Still hoping for an explanation/solution at one point 🙏

  • smorph Profile Picture
    211 on 26 Jan 2024 at 16:07:34
    Re: Approval email (with different layout) redirects to make.powerautomate.com - which is a problem for approvers who don't have a license

    Hey @Femke1 ,

     

    if it's randomly and not any like my described situation, then it could be a general issue with the flow.
    That would mean to fully recreate it.

    If that doesn't help, I have to be honest and I'm having no other idea what it could be.

    Hopefully any other in forum may find a solution.

    Best

  • Femke1 Profile Picture
    345 on 25 Jan 2024 at 13:53:11
    Re: Approval email (with different layout) redirects to make.powerautomate.com - which is a problem for approvers who don't have a license

    Hi @smorph ,

     

    Thank you for your time and effort 🙏. But, that is not the case and my question is not about that. The other receiver who's not the approval requestor gets the good layout most of the time too ;-).

     

    I can run THE SAME test twice with just a second in between. So, the details are exactly the same. I sent the approval to another account than my own account. The first approval mail will arrive to the other receiver in the 'good' layout. A second later the approval mail will arrive to the other receiver in the 'wrong' layout. If I have to guess, the wrong layout will appear every, like 50?, approval emails.

     

    Still hoping to solve this 😇

     

    Femke

  • smorph Profile Picture
    211 on 25 Jan 2024 at 13:06:52
    Re: Approval email (with different layout) redirects to make.powerautomate.com - which is a problem for approvers who don't have a license

    Hey @Femke1 ,

    checked now the mails which are received.
    I can confirm that the layout will be different.

    My testing:

    I created a flow which is triggered manually and after that there will be "Start and wait for an Approval" action.
    The connection was setup with my credentials. That means the approval is created on my behalf.
    As receiver I added myself and someone else within my tenant.

    The other receiver forwarded me the mail he got.


    After comparing the mail I got and the receivers mail they defintly be different. The receiver got the "wrong" layout and myself the "right" layout.

    By looking more closely the layout deepents on who gets the mail.
    Me as a requestor and approver of that approval just getting an information mail (right layout), because you should know what you created as an approval request (even it's created automatically). Therefore you only get, in my case the "submit" button with a comment section.

    The other receiver who's not the approval requestor gets the other layout (wrong) to be informed who request the approval. And therefore he can, in yur case "approve" or "reject" your request.

     

    That means, if you are the creator of that approval you get the "right" layout and anyone else the "wrong" one.
    If you're getting anytime the "wrong" layout, than you are not the approval requestor, it will be anyone else.


    That others will be forwarded to make.powerautomate.com depends on the license they got, if there is no teams license available they can still approve via their power automate login, which seems to be activated within your O365 license.

  • smorph Profile Picture
    211 on 25 Jan 2024 at 09:30:28
    Re: Approval email (with different layout) redirects to make.powerautomate.com - which is a problem for approvers who don't have a license

    Hey @Femke1 ,

    thanks for double checking.

    Let me check that with my approval flow, which only is needed one or two times a year.

  • Femke1 Profile Picture
    345 on 25 Jan 2024 at 07:39:38
    Re: Approval email (with different layout) redirects to make.powerautomate.com - which is a problem for approvers who don't have a license

    Found it (in my test archive) 🥳

     

    Same flow, same address, exact same conditions (just 1 day apart). One email arrives with a 'good' layout - I can handle the approval directly from the email. The other one arrives with the 'wrong' layout - I cannot handle the approval from within the email - I'm redirected to make.powerautomate.com...

     

    Good layout:

     

    Good layoutGood layout

     

     

    Wrong layout:

     

    Wrong layoutWrong layout

     

    Femke

  • Femke1 Profile Picture
    345 on 24 Jan 2024 at 16:29:37
    Re: Approval email (with different layout) redirects to make.powerautomate.com - which is a problem for approvers who don't have a license

    Hi @smorph,

     

    I will make a screenshot as soon as I see the 'wrong' layout appear 🙂

     

    Yes, in my own case (but this happens with our users in our tenant as well) the receiver email is within our tenant and is the same every time. I have a test email account that I have added to my Outlook Desktop via Account Settings. So I have a second 'inbox' and I open the approval mails from there. If it happens in this setting, I have to switch users on my computer, go & log in with this test account, go to Teams and approve (or open Outlook in the browser and go from there).

     

    Yeah, I already know that when it happens to these people, they don't have a license. They do have a license for Teams. But the thing is: why does someone sometimes receives the 'wrong' layout email which redirects them to make.powerautomate.com, while in other times, they can handle the approval request from within their email? It isn't consistent and I want to find out why and what can I do to prevent it?

     

    Thanks again!

Under review

Thank you for your reply! To ensure a great experience for everyone, your content is awaiting approval by our Community Managers. Please check back later.

Helpful resources

Quick Links

🌸 Community Spring Festival 2025 Challenge 🌸

WIN Power Platform Community Conference 2025 tickets!

Markus Franz – Community Spotlight

We are honored to recognize Markus Franz as our April 2025 Community…

Kudos to the March Top 10 Community Stars!

Thanks for all your good work in the Community!

Leaderboard

#1
WarrenBelz Profile Picture

WarrenBelz 146,660 Most Valuable Professional

#2
RandyHayes Profile Picture

RandyHayes 76,287 Super User 2024 Season 1

#3
Pstork1 Profile Picture

Pstork1 66,004 Most Valuable Professional

Leaderboard

Featured topics

Restore a deleted flow