Keep approvals alive beyond 30 days
Quiz question
Why does the first action set TriggerFlow to No right away?
Solution
- A) So the approval is deleted when it expiresWrong. TriggerFlow only controls when the flow starts. The column has nothing to do with the approval itself.
- B) So changes during the run don't trigger a new startCorrect. Only the path after the timeout sets TriggerFlow back to Yes. That gives exactly one restart per cycle.
- C) So the approver doesn't receive an emailWrong. Whether a new email is sent depends on the chosen method, not on TriggerFlow.
What it is about
A flow run ends after 30 days. If an approval waits longer, it runs into nothing and nobody notices. The fix: the flow restarts itself. A SharePoint list gets a Yes/No column TriggerFlow. Thanks to a trigger condition, the trigger "When an item is created or modified" only fires when it is Yes, and the first action immediately sets it to No. The approval gets a timeout just below the limit, for example P29D. When it expires, an action that runs after "has timed out" sets TriggerFlow back to Yes, and a new run starts. If you don't want a new email, you split "Create an approval" and "Wait for an approval" and store the approval ID.
The expression from the tip
@equals(triggerOutputs()?['body/TriggerFlow'], true)When to use it, when not
Use it
For contracts, budgets, legal reviews and other decisions that can take longer than a month.
Better not
When the decision is sure to be made within 30 days. Then a timeout with a path for "has timed out" is enough.
Most common mistake
Leaving out the trigger condition. Every change to the item then starts a new run, and the flow keeps calling itself.
License
Standard Runs without a premium connector, so the license from Microsoft 365 is enough. Source on Microsoft Learn: Standard approvals, Connector-Referenz, SharePoint, Connector-Referenz. For your whole flow: License check.
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Short link: powerautomate.ninja/en/144
Source: PowerPlatformTip #144, Microsoft Learn: Wait for approval in a cloud flow.