Power Automate Approval Function

You're encountering a common issue with Power Automate approval emails, where users see "An error occurred. Please try again later" when trying to respond directly from the email. Here's a breakdown of the causes and solutions:

🔍 Why the Error Happens

1. Outlook Version or Configuration

• Older versions of Outlook Desktop may not support Actionable Messages, which are required for in-email approvals.
• This issue is resolved in Outlook Desktop build 16.0.11901.20167 and higher [1].
• If you're using Outlook Web (OWA), it usually works better for these messages.

2. Tenant-Level Settings

• Actionable messages must be enabled at the Microsoft 365 tenant level:

Get-OrganizationConfig | ft ConnectorsActionableMessagesEnabled,SmtpActionableMessagesEnabled

Both values should be $true [1].

3. Email Layout Variability

• Some users receive emails with blue buttons that redirect to make.powerautomate.com, while others get the older layout with direct approval buttons.
• This inconsistency can be caused by:
  • Licensing issues (e.g., users without Power Automate licenses).
    • Account mismatches (e.g., logged into a different Microsoft account).
      • Email redirection to external platforms [2].

4. HTTP Errors (403, 401)

• These errors often relate to:
  • Permission issues in Power Automate or SharePoint.
    • Guest accounts or users outside the environment.
      • Expired or misconfigured connections [3].

✅ Workarounds and Fixes

1. Use Outlook Web (OWA) or Teams for approvals.
2. Update Outlook Desktop to the latest version.
3. Enable Actionable Messages at the tenant level.
4. Use the Actionable Messages Debugger to diagnose issues in Outlook.
5. Recreate or reconfigure the flow using “Start and wait for an approval” to ensure consistent behavior.
6. Reconnect shared connections if you're a co-owner of the flow [3].

🔄 Reverting to Old Format

Unfortunately, you can't manually revert to the old approval email format. Microsoft controls the rendering based on:

• Outlook version
• Tenant settings
• User licensing
• Flow configuration

However, you can force redirection by using HTML emails with links to Power Automate or Teams, or guide users to respond via those platforms.

Would you like help checking your tenant settings or crafting a fallback approval email template that redirects users to Power Automate or Teams?

References

[1] Issues with flow approval emails in Outlook - Power Automate

[2] Approval email (with different layout) redirects to make.powerautomate ...

[3] Standard Approval Errors