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Allowing for Edits to a Document During Approval Flow

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Posted on by lfreeland

My flow triggers when a file is created in a document library and moves sequentially through three approvers. The flow works perfectly if no edits are made to the document during the flow.

However, our business need is that any approver in the process can make edits to the document before they approve / pass it on to the next approver. We DO NOT want the approval flow to start over if edits are made, but to allow the current approver to edit and then when they are done and approve, send the updated version of the document on to the next approver.

Unfortunately, whenever edits are made inside the document, the approval flow is killed. Is there something I can add to the flow or document library settings that will allow an approver to edit a document before approving, and then have the flow move to the next approver?

I see @GoGorilla had this question in 2019, but I don't think it was ever resolved. @ing them in hopes that maybe they solved it at some point!

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Building flows

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Shuvam-rpa 897 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

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@lfreeland what is the document file type you upload??

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lfreeland 27 on at

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@Shuvam-rpa word documents!

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Shuvam-rpa 897 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

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@lfreeland I have same scenario in my organization and our employee edit the documents via link given on approval notification for the item. I would recommend you do the same and when edit the documents use open in desktop app.

check below screenshot for reference

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lfreeland 27 on at

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We know how to edit documents - our issue is that when you edit the document, it kills the approval flow. It's been suggested in an older thread I posted that I try turning off document versioning. Waiting for admin access to do that, but if that works I will update.

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DShar 7 on at

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@lfreelandI have a similar problem. During the approval flow through multiple approval step, the approvers need to be able to edit a controlled word document (a policy/procedure) that is being approved. When approvers use the link in the approval, it appears to bring up the current approved document which is locked for editing, since it's been approved. Did you figure out your fix your problem. I'm hoping that it might work on this problem as well.

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lfreeland 27 on at

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I unfortunately don't have an update yet -- I don't have the ability to turn off versioning and my ticket to our central IT is stuck in a long queue... just sent another reminder today.

I do think turning off versioning seems like it must be the solution here as then the document the approval request is tied to won't change as people make edits. However, I'm not sure if it would fix the locked for editing piece...

It does seem fairly easy to turn off versioning if you have permissions and want to try it:
https://www.sharepointdiary.com/2018/08/sharepoint-online-powershell-to-disable-versioning.html

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DShar 7 on at

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Hey, thanks for the response! Unfortunately, I'm working with controlled documents and the versioning and controls in Sharepoint are needed, I think, for me.
There are different links Sharepoint-Link to item and Approval-Item link. I'm also looking at the library Settings, Versioning Settings, Draft Item Security settings. I was also thinking about having the flow move the a draft copy to another list with, maybe, different security until final approval. But, this seems like it should not be necessary.
It seems like as long as the item is in draft approval (not pending) status, anyone with edit permissions should be able to edit it.
Maybe this activity will move this up on the forum.🙂

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DShar 7 on at

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Take a look at this post:
https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Using-Flows/Power-Automate-Approval-of-Modified-SharePoint-Item-With-Active/m-p/1903923#M35158

I was able to have the Approval link go to the draft, and site Members can now edit the drafts the Approval is referring to. To make this possible:
--Settings, Site Permissions, Advanced Permissions Settings, Permission Levels
--Then selected
--Then checked (previously not checked):
Before doing this, site Members (a security group which has Edit permission) could (and are still able to) approve a document though a flow. They did not have the option on the site library, but now do.
I had hoped to create a new permission group, as shown in the post was unable to do so.

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lfreeland 27 on at

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Thank you @CraigStewart for suggesting this solution in my other thread. For those struggling with a similar problem, turning off versioning worked.

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sheefer on at

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Hi,

Have you got any update on this..!

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