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Flow Approval Link in Outlook Fails with Error 404

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I have a number of flows that have worked fine until yesterday. In the Outlook email I click on the link to the file and I get "404 Not Found." It seems the link to a particular file is broken. I can send an approval for a new file (same site & library) and the link works fine. I'm using Outlook v 1901. I go back in history and different flows had no problem approving this same file, although if I copy the link from the Approval...Body...ItemLink and paste it in a browser page the link fails. This approval must have worked a couple of weeks ago. Is this a broken file link? I can open the file, make changes, etc., in SharePoint online so I don't understand what has gone wrong. Our flows have worked for nearly a year, but with the recent link issue under Outlook v 17 and now this I'm losing credibility with the user community. Can someone point me in the right direction? Thanks!

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abm abm 32,865 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hi @Anonymous,

Compare the working and non-working links. Check every character of the URL. It might suggest something. It's difficult to know without looking in detail.

Thanks

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I compared the link text with others and it seems fine. Never seen this before. The link appears to match the library/file name perfectly, yet it fails to find the file, giving a 404 error. Nothing has changed in any of the flows for a long time. I also suspect that the approve/reject functionality still works, just the link is bad. I would say it looks like the Outlook v 17 issue from a month or so back except that I can add a new document to the library and have the approval work. Really stumped.

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I think I found the problem. The two problem files used a pound (#) in the file name. SharePoint online accepted this and behaved properly, other than the link failing in the approval email. Given that we've not had any other problems that seems like the most likely explaination.

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abm abm 32,865 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hi @Anonymous,

Thanks for your reply. Try encoding # with %23

Let me know if this works.

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Community Power Pla... on at

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I had our user just remove the hash tag # (rename the file) and everything worked fine. It seems that different versions of SharePoint allow for different characters. We use SP Online, and using the # wasn't by itsself a problem, but the link in approvals/Outlook failed. Interestingly, one approver with an iPad said the link worked fine on her device. With different components & browsers in use it's best to avoid such issues. It seems obvious now, but this took me the better part of a day to figure out.

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abm abm 32,865 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hi @Anonymous,

Thanks for your reply.

If you have special characters in url use encoding rules.

Glad that you sorted your issue.

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