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Approval workflow - approval reminder

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Posted on by scm8nwr

Is there a way to alert an approver in a Flow approval workflow if a document hasn't been approved after a certain period of time? I can't find a suitable way to do this.

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ScottShearer 25,290 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Try this...
Add a choice column to the document library with the following choices and title the column Approval Status:
Pending (make this the default)
Approved
Rejected

Build out you approval flow as you normally would.
After the document has been approved or rejected, update the approval status column in the library to approved or rejected.

Add a parallel branch next to the approval action.
In the parallel branch, add a delay action. Set the delay to the period of time when you want the reminder email to be sent.
After the delay, add a condition: If the document library approval status column = pending, send a reminder email. If the document has been approved or rejected, the email will not be sent.

The downside of this solution is that, while the approval will be complete, the Flow will still be running until the delay period has expired. That shouldn't be an issue in most cases.

Here is a link to a screenshot of a Flow that I built to test this concept

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v-xida-msft Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi @scm8nwr,

Do you want to alert the approver if a document hasn't been approved after a certain period of time?

I assume that you want to alert the approver if a document hasn't been approved after 7 days, I have made a test on my side and please take a try with the following workaround:

Add a "When a file is created (properties only)" trigger.

Add a "Start an approval" action, specify Assigned to field value.

Add a Parallel branch-> "Add a action"-> Add a "Delay action", Count set to 7 and Unit set to Day (On my side, set Count to 2 and Unit to Minute for testing). Then add a "Send an email" action.

Image reference:

The flow works successfully as below:

More details about adding parallel branches in flows, please check the following article:

https://flow.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/parallel-actions/

Please check and see if the following article would also help in your scenario:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/PowerApps-Flow/Automating-Reminders-for-Approval-Flows/td-p/84258

Best regards,

Kris

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ScottShearer 25,290 Most Valuable Professional on at

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One suggestion to make the solution I proposed a little better: add a "Control - Terminate" action after the approval. You can configure the terminate action to terminate with "Success". Doing so will stop the workflow without having to wait for the delay action to fire.

The "Control - Terminate" action is similar to the "Stop Workflow" action in SharePoint Designer workflows.

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Timmay313 41 on at

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I am interested in finding a solution to this as well. I have a document review (setup as email with options that then updates a sharepoint list) and document approval (using the approvals applet with responses updated to sharepoint list) flow where I need to send out a "reminder" to approve or review the document.

Both suggestions so far will work as a work around but they are sending an email not the approval email or review email. The issue we are finding is that persons assigned to review or Approve are either deleting or unable to find the email to respond. The bet option I have found so far is to build the flow to repeat the approval/review and condition.

In this example the flow is triggered when the list item is created. I then have switch that applies to all selected reviewers (column in the list). Case in the list is configured the same way. Starts and aproval that times out in 3 days with a condition. and a Reminder approval that times out in 2 days with a condition that is set to run after the reminder approval is successful. Once all reviewers have completed I have an update list item and send an email to the "created by" letting them know the document has completed review or been approved/rejected.

I cant take credit for this as it is Jon Levesque who posted this video on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4iuVi1Vtgg&t=1s

Would be great if MS would add a reminder functionality in the settings or advanced options of the approvel and email options.

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robertcaretta 81 on at

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I agree. I feel like the reminder piece should be built into the approval action.

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Dorul 340 on at

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Hi @scm8nwr
Another example - I managed to do that with Do until, and keeps sending reminders every 7 days or so - flow from printscreen is set to 1 min, for testing.

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RTW 180 on at

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@ScottShearer I know this is an older topic but its something that I'm working on.

Would it not also work to have a second flow that runs on a schedule? Lets say it ran daily, M-F at a specified time. I would pull pull all entries where Approval Status is Pending and the Created date is far enough in the past.

This way you're not having flows hanging after the approval is created.

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ScottShearer 25,290 Most Valuable Professional on at

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@RTW :

Your concept would work as well. However, you probably don't want to pull all entries and loop through them. Rather, use an OData filter in the Get items or Get Files (properties Only action. The OData filter will make it so that the only items returned are those that meet your criteria.

Also, if you have a simple situation with a single approval and are using my suggestion, you could use a Control Terminate action (with success) after the approval has been completed and any additional action after the approval has been taken. That way, the Flow will end and not stay active.

Scott

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archanaNagraj 6 on at

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Hi,

I have implemented the same as you described. But, if the approver takes action within the delay timings(minutes). Still its waiting for the delay branch to complete the specified time/minutes.

ARchana

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Deltodeus 80 on at

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Halo @Dorul , so currently i am doing what you shared here and a little bit struggle with the expression here ( i guess this is the problem why my flow is not working properly), could you please explain/break it down for me ?

Regards,
William

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