Start an approval from a selected file from a document library

[Anonymous]

I am new to Flow, I see a lot of tutorial of approval using Lists.

My question is, how can I start a approval workflow from a sharepoint document library from a selected file?

In my sharepoint document library, i have a lot of folders, each folder has a pdf named “<employeename>_Summary.pdf”

If i upload that certain file in a folder, it should start an approval. How can I do that in a document library?

[Pstork1]

There is a trigger in Flow for "When a file is created in a folder".  Use that as your trigger and you can then add an approval action to the flow.  This will start an approval flow every time a file is uploaded to that folder. There are other triggers that you can use if you want to have the approval start whenever a file is uploaded to the library in general also.

[Anonymous]

Thanks I found it!

So how can I add to the flow, if the file name contains “Summary”? Whenever I upload a file with file name <employeename>_Summary.pdf it should start the approval.

[yashag2255]

Hey!

Using that connector, you should initialise a variable to point to the filename and if that meets te requirement, then start an approval. Please have a look at the screenshot below. 

Thanks, 

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[Anonymous]

@yashag2255 

I'm getting this error:

The variable action 'Initialize_variable' of type 'InitializeVariable' cannot be nested in an action of type 'Apply_to_each'

here's the full screenshot of my flow.

[yashag2255]

Hi, 

You cannot initialise a variable inside a loop. So you initialise the variable outside with null value. Inside the loop, create an action Set variable/ Append to Array variable and then set the value over there. 

Hope this Helps 

Thanks. 

[Anonymous]

@yashag2255 I'm sorry I did not get your advise. I'm new to Flow and this is my first Flow project. Apologies.

[yashag2255 · Accepted solution]

@Anonymous , 

You could also just skip the variable part (I put the variable to check the file names coming through)

Please refer to the screenshot below:

Thanks, 

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[Anonymous]

Hi @yashag2255 finally solved! Thanks for being patient.

I have another concern with the same flow but different issue - its on the approval flow. Will try to look for answers on the forum or will post a new thread. Thanks!

[yashag2255]

Hi @Anonymous , Glad that it worked for you. Please feel free to post any concerns/ help you need in flows on the forum. 

Thanks,