Action to cancel approval

[ScottShearer]

There are many scenarios where it would be helpful to cancel an approval via a Flow action.  For example, in a parallel approval scenario where you want a specified number or %  of approvers to approve, it would be great to be able to cancel the outstanding approvals.

While I understand that an approver can cancel an approval in some circumstances, I would like the ability to cancel an approval from within a Flow.

Scott

[cscheuer]

Our users request time off through a Power App which triggers a flow to start the approval process for them. Presently they can not cancel a PTO request until the approval process is complete. I would like to be able to give them the option of cancelling a request that is still pending approval. My 2 choices are 1) send them to Power Automate to cancel the approval process so that the approver knows when the request has already been cancelled. 2) Change the approval status in the record to "cancelled" and let the approver go through the motions of approving the request even though it has already been cancelled.

Neither choice works well. Sending users to Power Automate is not an option. Most are not familiar with it at all, and the Power App was made to simplify the process. The 2nd option is simple, but could cause confusion. The sequence of events would not be correct. 

Solution: an flow action that cancels an approval. Thanks!

[JakePrice]

I've just started working on a QMS in Sharepoint and I'm using MS Flow to create document approval workflows, the ability to allow normal users to cancel the workflow (through an additional flow which they could run) would be invaluable.

[fbn10040]

This is a must in my organization that is looking to expand on workflows. Currently we are using K2 for complex workflows but it is by user license. We have seen MS Flow (Power Automate) grow and having the email approval helps a lot but when we have parallel approvals, it can be confusing after a user has already rejected. The users who still having pending approval task will still see this email to take action which is HUGE confusion and makes the Flow implementer perform more actions to prevent the Reject to do additional actions. 

[unislacker]

I'm looking to cancel a travel approval flow from a power app should the user want to update the approval request. Agreed this is needed!

[baylo]

It would be great to have this as an OOB action, it would save duplicate and out-of-date approvals sitting in people's received approvals.

We have utilised Daniel Laskewitz's custom connector for now, it allows us to cancel approvals in Flow, others may find this useful https://github.com/Laskewitz/Approvals/ 

[BrianHarmon]

I have this use case to terminate a Microsoft Approval.

SharePoint list containing data that needs to be approved/rejected. I want users to have multiple ways to approve/reject the request. PowerApp or email Microsoft Approval. 

1. Power App which has its own approval/rejected button
2. Microsoft Approvals to send email to those who don’t wish to use the Power App to approve/reject items.

• Issue if one Approves the request in the Power App I need to terminate the ability to Approve in the Microsoft Approvals. It would be nice it I can via Flow update the Microsoft Flow to let the user know its already been approved/rejected. This needs to be automated and not manual like some online users have posted.

If I can get he Approval ID why can’t I place that in the SharePoint Column and if its approved by the Power App use a Flow to terminate the Microsoft Approval.

[atmcclintock]

Our use case involves a workflow triggered by the creation of an item in a SharePoint list. We trigger the approval activity then branch the workflow to await a response or send reminders on a designated interval. The reminder loop is also checking the SharePoint list items in case the list item data is invalidated during the approval process (there's separate process performing re-verification regularly).

If the maximum number of reminders is sent or the line item is no longer valid we are able to cancel the flow but the approval activity will remain active until it times out naturally (30 days by default).

If the flow is put into a cancelled state due to actions in the reminder loop then the other actions in the "Wait for approval" branch will never trigger so we should never encounter a scenario where the positive approval action moves forward after cancellation. There would be ample reminder emails and a final email notifying the approver the request is cancelled. However, from a user experience perspective, it could be confusing if they happen upon that approval activity after the fact and click approve expecting a positive outcome.

An out of the box action to cancel an approval would be ideal. There is a means to do this with CDS but it requires elevated access which is not an option in our environment.