Types of approval actions
There are four types of approval actions you can use in Power Automate.
The Create an approval action starts an automated approval process but doesn't wait for the approval to complete. You can cancel the approval.
If you want to wait for a response, the Create an approval action can be paired with the Wait for an approval action.
Wait for an approval is the only step not creating an approval. For the actions that actually create an approval, there are four types of approval actions available in the Create an approval action, and they can be summarized into two categories: Approve/Reject and Custom Responses.
The following screenshot shows the two Approve/Reject categories side by side. The categories appear similar; however, they have one key difference, which is the number of approvals that are required to complete the action. As their names suggest, the Everyone must approve type waits for everyone to approve, and the First to respond type requires only one approval.
In the Assigned to field, you can add the email addresses of the approvers, which you can separate with a semicolon (;).
The following image provides a closer look at the advanced settings. The settings include the ability to link to the item, an item link description, add attachments, and even add notifications to the requestor sending this approval request.
Approve and Reject are the out-of-the-box response options that are available. With Custom Responses, you can add your own options in the Response options Item field. You can add multiple options.
If you choose the Wait for all responses type, the approval waits for all responses of the persons in the Assigned To field before proceeding, and the Wait for one response type requires only one response to proceed.
The metadata available downstream of your flow once you use an approval step with your flow includes:
Approvers Approver name
Approvers Approver email
Respond link
Teams Adaptive Card
Approval ID
Title
Details
Item link
Item link description
Request date
Approvers Approver ID
Approvers Approver tenant ID
Approvers Approver user principal name
Approvers item
Body
Approvers
Use the Wait for an approval action
As the name suggests, the Wait for an approval action waits for a specified approval to complete. It requires the Approval ID of the previous approval.
Power Automate provides the following metadata once you invoke the Wait for an approval action:
Response summary
Completion date
Outcome
Approval ID
Title
Details
Item link
Item link description
Request date
Responses Approver ID
Responses Approver name
Responses Approver email
Responses Approver tenant ID
Responses Approver user principal name
Responses Request date
Response Approver response
Response comments
Body
Responses responder
Responses item
Responses
Use the Start and wait for an approval action
The Start and wait for an approval action is the most commonly used approval action. It doesn't require a Wait for an approval step. There are two options for the Approval Type with one key difference: the number of approvals that are required to complete the action. As the names suggest, the Everyone must approve type waits for everyone to approve, and the First to respond type requires only one approval.
In the Assigned to field, you can add the email addresses of the approvers, which can be separated with a semicolon (;).
Similar to the Start an approval step, the advanced settings in this type of approval include the ability to add a link, a description, attachments, and requestor functionality.
Approve and Reject are the out-of-the-box response options that are available. With Custom Responses, you can add your own options. In the Response options Item field, you can add your options.
The metadata available with the Start and wait for an approval action is more extensive than the Start an approval step:
Response summary
Completion date
Outcome
Approval ID
Title
Details
Item link
Item link description
Request date
Responses Approver ID
Responses Approver name
Responses Approver email
Responses Approver tenant ID
Responses Approver user principal name
Responses Request date
Response Approver response
Response comments
Body
Responses responder
Responses item
Responses
Use the Start and wait for an approval of text action
The remaining approval step available to us is the Start and wait for an approval of text action, which is the same as the Start and Wait for an approval action with one exception: the addition of the Suggested Text field.
When the approver receives a request for review, they must review the suggested text and can modify it, if needed. For example, an approval is triggered whenever an item is added to SharePoint. The request contains an Approval Amount that the approver needs to verify or modify before approving. Using the Suggested Text option, the maker can insert the Approval Amount into the Suggested Text field. When the approver receives the request, they have the ability to verify or update the Approval Amount field before Power Automate saves the data back to SharePoint with the Approved Amount.