Document Approval Flows - Link to Document fails in Outlook Desktop

[Anonymous]

Hello!

We are creating our first document approval Flow and have run into a problem we can't figure out. We instantiate the flow and an email gets sent. The email has a link to the document in question with approve or reject options. In Outlook on a PC the link to the document is not clickable. It is clickable on Outlook on the web, Outlook on a phone and in the Flow app on a phone. If we click forward or on the link marked “Show original message” the link is clickable.

So very odd.

Anyone seen this? Any ideas? Help?

Thanks.

~k

[Oliandril]

Same issue for my flows.

If the flow should work "smooth", its not the way to use the suggested workaround with the "old" message or Semi Update Channel.

Looking forward to a usefull bugfix!

As long as no fix will be available I told my colleagues to use only outlook online. On this the links are working.

Thomas

Update from Microsoft support:

"Warning: The US region of Flow had intermittent issues with connectivity starting from 7:45 AM PST and was mitigated at 11:00 AM PST. O365-related connectors had a partial outage starting from 1:20 AM PST and was mitigated at 1:40 PM PST. Actionable Approval emails on the Outlook Desktop Client are currently broken; The issue has been identified and the Outlook engineering team is working on releasing a fix."

[Anonymous]

I've had a ticket open with Microsoft regarding this since the 06/12/2018 and other than the initial troubleshooting, they haven't come back with anything. Not even an acknowledgement that this is an actual Microsoft issue that needs to be fixed. It's a bit frustrating.

Update: I just got a call back from Microsoft. The support person said this is now a known issue and they are working on a fix for a future version of Outlook client. No ETA. 😞

The workaround is still changing the update channel or clicking the "Show original message" in the Email.

[Anonymous]

Brenden, do you have a case #? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

My First Case Number was: 118120519417688

My Second Case Number is: 12345810

The first case was with PowerApps support. They closed it and and raised the second case with Microsoft Cloud Support for O365. The second case is still open.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Brendan. 

[Anonymous]

So it looks like this issue is fixed in Outlook version 1812 (testing it on the insider update channel). Presumably this update will roll out to monthly channel soon and everyone will be happily clicking approval links again.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Brendan, that's great news!

[Oliandril]

Great news! Thank you

[Anonymous]

Mine have also failed.  The Outlook link is not clickable.  Approvers can click the Approve & Reject boxes, but the Comments box sometimes also fails.  We really need a solution asap.  We have found that if the email is forwarded to another mailbox, even the same one it came from, the links work.  We've spent quite a bit of time debugging Outlook, antivirus, etc. but now it appears this is a Flow Approval issue.  Has anyone found a solution?  Thanks.  Mike

[deddyandy]

@Anonymous. When we want to be sure that the field Comments is filled with value, do not add item from "Quick edit", but use "+ New". When we use "Quick edit", after filing some columns, the flow will immediately run before we "exit quick edit", so the flow will not bring the Comments value that we have filled in.

Regards,

Deddy.

[BlueCar]

Hi @Anonymous,

The issue is within Outlook, but only if you're Office 365 is on the monthly (targeted) update channel. If you read the messages in this forum thread, you will see, that a fix has come to the Office 365 Insider version 1812.

Your options are now:

• Use Outlook Online.
• Click the "Show Origional Message" link in the buttom of the Approval e-mail and use the link there.
• Downgrade your Office installation to an older build.
• Wait until the fix gets pushed out to you.

[Anonymous]

Thank you BlueCar @BlueCar.  I am now running Outlook v 1812 and the problem is resolved.  I generated a new approval email and it works fine.  I also opened an approval created yesterday, which failed, but it now also works.  I'll send an email to all approvers throughout the organization and provide the workaround, and tell them that the problem will be corrected in the next Outlook update.  Is there a way I can get this pushed out company wide? 

Thanks again for your quick help.

MikeH

[Anonymous]

I also had this problem (link doesn't work in Outlook).  I just received Outlook v 1812 and it works.  In Outlook v 1811 the workaround is to click on the "Show original message" at the bottom: then link shown there works.

[Abhay]

This is fixed in Outlook version 1903. I have tested it 

[MSTill]

Hi there,

it seems that it is broken again in 1906 (Build 11727.20230).

I find this annoying.

[Techyswaglord]

Hi, I've been using the possibly new inbuilt SharePoint approval system. I've found it a lot more user-friendly than my created flows and folders for set up for approval.

Select an item within your SharePoint. Sometimes you need to click the three little dots. Other times flow will be visible. Flow > request sign off. It will then open on a sidebar. Click create flow (Don't worry this doesn't make you create a flow). Then a second side window will open. Enter the email of who needs to approve. Click send. After testing this it seems a lot smoother and is visually better than my made flows and the email requests it sends (its also a lot quicker I found).

You can also view the "sign off status" column that will change depending on the outcome of the document. (You have to manually add this to your SharePoint view) I've found this a lot better as well as I don't have to copy files into other folders all the work stays within the relevant folders. 

[Techyswaglord]

Yes broken for me aswell

[SysAdmin2]

Still Broken.  Outlook Version 1808 (Build 10357.20081)