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In this “Configure Page Approval Flow or Content Approval Using Power Automate” article, we will learn how to configure page approval flow and create an approval workflow for SharePoint pages using the Power Automate flow. In my previous article, I explained how to create an approval workflow with out of the box SharePoint features.
Configure Page Approval Flow: Configure SharePoint Page Content Approval Using Power Automate
To configure page approval flow in the SharePoint Online site (team site or communication site), we need to follow the below steps:
Go to your site’s library.
Click on the “Configure page approval flow” link from the below navigation:
Click on Power Automate from the ribbon menu: Power Automate -> Configure page approval flow.
Then, from the “Configure page approval” panel, click on the “Create flow” button.
Once we click on the “Create flow” button, we will get to see the below screen, where all required connections will be created automatically.
Note:
- You may see that a few connections are not created automatically where you see the “Create” link next to the connection name. In my case, I have seen that for the approvals and notifications, connections were not created automatically; I have created them manually.
Click on the “Continue” button from this screen.
On the next screen, enter the flow name and approver name before entering them. Let’s have a look at the description of the flow and its purpose.
“When a new page is submitted for approval everyone on the approvers list will receive an email. Any one on the approvers list can approve the page. When approved, the page will be published for all readers and the approval status of the page will be Approved.”
Note:
- You can leave the flow name box with the default flow name, or you can rename the flow.
- You can enter one or more people in the approvers box.
- The flow will be an instant type of Power Automate flow.
Click on the “Create” button.
Now, if we go to my flow section from https://make.powerautomate.com, we can see my flow with suspended status as the DLP policy applied in my power platform Default environment.
The flow warning message we can see as below:
“Admin data policy ‘DLP Policy for Default Environment’ restricts the use of /providers/Microsoft.PowerApps/apis/shared_sharepointonline with /providers/Microsoft.PowerApps/apis/shared_flowpush.”
Now, let’s fix this DLP policy restriction issue. To fix this issue, I have to move the “Approvals” and “Notifications” connectors from the non-business category to the business category. That’s it. If you read my above DLP Policy article, you will understand what the non-business and business categories are in the DLP connector classification.
After fixing the DLP policy restriction issue, we can see the same flow looks fine and is in a healthy state.
SharePoint Page Content Approval using Power Automate Example: Configure Page Approval Flow Demo
I have just created a sample page in my site pages library and filled in the content on the page with the help of ChatGPT. We can see that the “Submit for approval” button is shown on that page. This button is automatically added once we configure the page approval flow.
Now, let’s click on the “Submit for approval” button.
Notes:
- Instead of a Publish/Republish button (generally users see this when page content approval is disabled), the user will see the “Submit for approval” button.
- The beauty of this page content approval flow mechanism is that the revised page will not be published or visible to anyone else until the Approver approves the changes.
Then, we can see the “Submit SharePoint page for approval” screen.
Click on the “Continue” button.
On the next screen, we need to enter the message (add a note) for approvers to take a brief note about why you are sending this page approval request.
Click on the “Submit” button.
User Experience Note:
- A user with the “Contribute” permission can submit the page request for approval.
Well, by now we have configured page approval flow and submitted page approval requests as users. Now, the question is: from where can approvers approve this page approval request?
Content Approval Using Power Automate: Task for Approver
There are three ways the approver can approve the page approval request from the user. When I say approve, the approver can approve, reject, or re-assign the approval task to someone else, and the approvers can provide their approval or rejection comments from all three places. Following are the three places from which approvers can approve the page approval request from the user:
- Approve from the page
- Approve from an email
- Approve from Power Automate (Approvals Menu)
Approve from the page
Approver can approve the page request from the page itself. If you are an approver, you can see the “Review approvals” button.
Note:
- As a page creator or submitter for page approval, the user can see the page approval status; as of now, it is showing as “Pending approval.“.
As an approver, click on the “Review approvals” button.
Then, the approver can approve, reject, or even reassign this approval task to someone else.
Approve from Power Automate (Approvals Menu)
As an approver, navigate to your https://make.powerautomate.com home page.
Select your Power Platform Default Environment. You can notice that I have renamed my Power Platform Default Environment to “Personal Productivity Environment.”. Refer to this article on how to rename your default environment in Power Platform.
Click on the “Approvals” menu from the left side panel, and then under the “Received” tab, you can see your pending approval requests.
Page Approval from Power Automate Flow Approvals menuClick on the pending approval request link, and then the approver can respond to the approval request. The approver can approve, reject, or even reassign this approval task to someone else along with the approval comment.
Approve from an email
Approver can also complete the approval request task from his or her Outlook email inbox; they can approve, reject, or even reassign this approval task to someone else along with the approval comment.
How to customize Power Automate Workflow Logic Once it has been created
Well, we can customise the above Power Automate workflow logic in the following ways:
Login to your https://make.powerautomate.com home page.
Click on the “My flows” link, then under the cloud flows tab, double-click on the submit approval flow link, or even directly open the flow in edit mode.
Here is the out-of-the Box Power Automate Approval flow we used in the above demo.
With this Power Automate Approval Flow, we can do whatever you want for your business needs; you just need to add required actions and connectors based on your requirements in this flow. One of the use cases we can mention is that if you want to send the above approval task to the approver in the Microsoft Teams channel as an adaptive card, we can customise this flow. Refer to this article on how to create an adaptive card and post it in the Microsoft Teams channel.
Configure Page Approval Flow missing from the menu
In many sites, I have seen that the “Configure Page Approval Flow” option is missing from the Pages library Power Automate menu. When I googled around, I found that many of the users are facing the same issue, but there are no creative reasons found anywhere. Some folks say we must enable SharePoint Content Approval from the Pages library versions setting page, but that seems not to be correct because in many sites I have seen content approval not enabled but I can see the “Configure Page Approval Flow” option.
I have spent a lot of time investigating this issue. From my analysis, I can say I didn’t see the “Configure Page Approval Flow” option in the enterprise wiki type site; then, I didn’t see this option in the team site with a public group; then, I thought this option would be available in the team site with a private group; then, I created two new team sites, one with a private group and another with a public group. In both sites, I could see the “Configure Page Approval Flow” option, then that assumption was not correct. Refer to this article to learn about private and public groups while creating a new site in SharePoint Online.
Note:
- All communication-type sites have this option: “Configure Page Approval Flow.“.
- Still, I couldn’t come to the conclusion that which type will have this “Configure Page Approval Flow” option and which will not. I will keep on investigating this and updating this article later. If you know the reasons, please write in the comment section. Your opinions are most welcome.
Configure Page Approval Flow is missing in Enterprise Wiki Site
The Configure Page Approval Flow is missing in the Enterprise Wiki site:
Configure Page approval flow option is available in Team Site With Public Group
The Configure Page Approval Flow option is available in Team Site With Public Group:
Configure Page approval flow option is available in Team Site With Private Group
The Configure Page Approval Flow option is available in Team Site With Private Group:
Configure Page approval flow option is available in Org News Site
The Configure Page Approval Flow option is available on the organisation’s news site. Learn how to create an organizational news site in the SharePoint Online tenant.
Summary: Configure Page Approval Flow in SharePoint Online
Thus, in this article, we have learned how to configure page approval flow in the SharePoint Online site. We also learned how to approve the approval request from the site page itself, Outlook email, and my flow gallery. In addition to this, we also learned how to customize the out-of-the box approval Power Automate workflow.
See Also: Power Platform Articles
You may also visit the Power Platform article hub, where you will see a bunch of articles focusing on Power Platform, like Power Automate, Power Apps, etc. All the articles are written with real-time project scenarios and troubleshooting techniques.
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