Approvals in Teams and Power Automate

Power Automate
intermediate
Published

2025-07-07

Previous attendees have said…

  • 18 previous attendees have left feedback
  • 100% would recommend this session to a colleague
  • 94% said that this session was pitched correctly

Three random comments from previous attendees
  • Perfect introduction to a topic that I’ve been meaning to explore for some time. Just enough time to open the door and peep in!
  • The session was adequate for beginner level to show you a basic function such as approvals.
  • Really enjoyed this session. Had never heard of or used approvals before. Will definitely help in day to day work.

Prerequisites for this session

  • good general digital skills
  • prior experience of writing your own Flows in Power Automate
  • appropriate M365 access and permissions for Forms, Power Automate, and Teams

Introduction

  • Teams Approvals = the right answer for digital processes that need human decision-making
  • “when a user submits a form, send the response to me for approval”
  • if an anyone is sending you a Word/Excel form, and you’re making a decision based on that form, this process could save you time and pain

Set-up

  • make.powerautomate.com
  • create a new instant flow using Manually trigger a flow
  • add a Start and wait for an approval
  • approval options
    • Approve/Reject
    • Assigned to yourself
    • title and details as you like
  • save and test - keep an eye out for permissions Overall flow

Result!

  • Teams approval should appear Teams approval
  • and an email… Email approval
  • in Teams, add a comment, and click Approve

Several things happen

  • Teams approvals keeps a neat log of events for you Teams approval log
  • The user will receive a notification of the approval in Teams
  • Power Automate gets a lot of information back about the approval

Back to Power Automate

  • edit your flow and add an email notification
  • note that you get a lot of options for taking parts of the referral Dynamic approval parts
  • build yourself an email with the approval comment and the date-time Example email setup
  • then re-test your approval

Control flow

  • you can add a condition - just note that you need to use the work Approve in the condition Control flow on approvals
  • add different emails to each side of the control, then test both cases