Manage approval requests in Power Automate

Power Automate makes it easy to automate approval workflow processes. In this walkthrough, you learn how to view, approve, and reject approval requests sent from Power Automate.

View pending approval requests

View all pending approval requests by following these steps:

  1. Sign in to Power Automate.

  2. On the left-side navigation pane, select Action items > Approvals.

    Your pending approval requests appear on the Received tab.

Approve a request

If you're an approver in an approval flow, you receive an email whenever someone creates a request. The approval request is also sent to the approvals center. You can then approve or reject requests from the email, the approvals center, or the Power Automate app.

To approve a request:

From email

  1. Select Approve from the email you receive when an item is added to the SharePoint Online list.

    Note: If you're using a mobile device with the Power Automate app installed, the Power Automate app launches, otherwise, the approvals center opens in your browser.

  2. Enter a comment, and then select the Confirm button.

From the approvals center

  1. Sign in to Power Automate.

  2. Select Approvals in the left-side navigation pane.

  3. Select Approve on the request you want to approve.

  4. Add any comments, and then select Confirm at the bottom of the screen.

From the Power Automate app

  1. On your mobile phone with the Power Automate app installed, select Approve from the request approval email.

  2. Select Confirm in the upper right corner of the screen.

  3. The success page shows, indicating that your approval has been recorded.

Note

The screens on Android, iOS and Windows Phone may differ slightly, however, the functionality is the same on all devices.

Reject a request

You can reject a request via email, the approvals center, or the Power Automate app. To reject a request, follow the steps for approving a request, but select Reject, instead of Approve.

After you confirm your decision (rejection of the request), the flow runs the following steps:

  1. Sends an email to the person who requested vacation.
  2. Updates the SharePoint Online list with the decision, and the comments from the approver.