# Approvals stuck when the approver is out

> For the full documentation index, see https://250highstreet.com/llms.txt

> What happens to a Power Automate approval when the person who must decide is away, and a simple backup plan with a list, a due date and a reminder.

Short answer: Power Automate does not move an approval when the approver is out of office. The approver can reassign it from the Approvals page, or you can cancel it and resend it to a backup. Build a decide-by date, a reminder and a backup into the flow, and remember that a flow run times out after 30 days.

## Why the approval stalls

When a flow uses the "Start and wait for an approval" action, Microsoft says the flow starts and then waits for the approvers' response before it completes the run. The request goes to the people in the "Assigned to" field. If that person is on leave, sick or has left, the request sits in their inbox and their approvals list. The flow keeps waiting. Nothing tells the requester.

Four things make this worse:

- The request names one person. If that person is out, nobody else can answer it.
- There is no due date, so the request is never late.
- The requester cannot see where it is stuck, so they send email chasers.
- Nobody owns the flow. When it stalls, nobody looks.

## What Microsoft documents

Here is what the Microsoft pages say. Menu and action names change, so exact names may differ on your screen.

- Approval types. "Approve/Reject - First to respond" completes the request when any one assigned approver answers. "Everyone must approve" needs a response from each approver. There is also a sequential type that asks one approver at a time.
- Who can be assigned. You can assign approvals to users, including guest users and Microsoft 365 groups, in your environment or your Microsoft Entra tenant.
- Where people answer. Approvers can respond from their email inbox, the approvals center in Power Automate, or the Power Automate app.
- Cancel a request. The person who sent a request can cancel it: select Approvals, open the Sent tab, select the request, then select Cancel. This is supported on the "Create an approval (v2)" action. In the Teams Approvals app, you can cancel only approvals that are in progress.
- Reassign. Microsoft documents a Reassign option for the approver. In Power Automate, select Approvals, hover over the request, select the three dots, then Reassign, and enter the new person. The person who sent the request cannot reassign it. They can cancel it and change the approver. The pages cited here do not describe an automatic out-of-office hand-off. Do not count on one. Build your own backup, as below.
- Flow run limit. Microsoft says a single run lasts up to 30 days, and that this includes flows with pending steps like approvals. After 30 days, pending steps time out.
- Long waits. If a flow might run for more than 30 days, Microsoft says to store approvals in Microsoft Dataverse and use two flows: one to send the request and one to act on the response, based on the "Create an approval (v2)" action.

## Turn on reassignment in the flow

Microsoft's page on the Approvals connector lists an option named "Enable reassignment" with the description "Enable reassignment of approval requests." It also lists "Enable notifications" with the description "Enable email, push, and Teams notifications." Microsoft's page shows both on the "Start and wait for an approval of text" action. Microsoft's page does not show them on the other approval actions or say what the default is, so look for the option on your own action. If it is there, turn it on, and tell approvers to reassign before they go on leave.

Flow outline for a backup path (our advice, not a Microsoft rule):

1.  Create an approval, sent to the approver. Microsoft says cancel is supported on the "Create an approval (v2)" action.
2.  In parallel, one branch waits for the approval and one branch has a Delay until the decide-by date.
3.  If the Delay ends first, the owner cancels the old request from the Sent tab.
4.  Start a new approval addressed to the backup.

## Step 1. Put the approver and a backup in the request list

Keep every request in one SharePoint list. For how to set one up, see "[Approvals lost in email: how to stop chasing sign-offs](/guides/approvals-lost-in-email/)". Add these columns:

- Title: the request name in one line
- Approver (Person)
- Backup approver (Person)
- Decide by (Date)
- Status (Choice): 1 Waiting, 2 Reminded, 3 Moved to backup, 4 Approved, 5 Rejected
- Reassigned on (Date)

Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: keep the number prefixes so the choices read in the order of the process.

## Step 2. Name a backup before the request starts

A backup approver is a second person who is allowed to decide. Pick them when the request is created, not after it stalls. Write down who covers whom, for example in a short list of approver and backup pairs. Check that the backup has the right to approve. Who may approve what is a business rule, not a technical one. Ask the owner of the process. Ask each approver to reassign open requests to their backup before they leave.

## Step 3. Set a "decide by" date

Give every request a date by which it should be decided. Choose a number that fits your work, such as two working days for small items. One way to start is to set the date when the item is created and let the approver see it in the request.

## Step 4. Add a reminder before the date

A reminder is one message sent to the approver before the date. You can build it with a scheduled flow that looks for items with Status "1 Waiting" and a Decide by date within the next day. For the full steps, see "[Send a reminder before a due date in a SharePoint list](/guides/send-reminder-before-due-date/)". Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: send one message per person per day, because repeated messages get muted.

Microsoft says filters with \[Today\] or \[Me\] need the classic view editor (Edit current view, then Filters). Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: use the classic view editor for blank and "is not equal to" filters too.

## Step 5. Move the request to the backup when the date passes

When the Decide by date has passed and the Status is still "1 Waiting" or "2 Reminded", one way to start is:

1.  Cancel the old request from the Sent tab. Microsoft says cancel is supported on the "Create an approval (v2)" action, so build with that action if you plan to cancel.
2.  Start a new request addressed to the backup approver.
3.  Set Status to "3 Moved to backup" and fill in Reassigned on.
4.  Tell the original approver and the requester by message, so nobody answers twice.

You can do this by hand the first few times. Later, a flow can do it. Microsoft says Run after settings can send a flow down another path when an action times out. Exact settings may differ. Keep a person in charge of the exception. A flow cannot know if the original approver is only slow or truly away.

## Step 6. See the stuck items every week

Make a view called "Waiting too long". In the classic view editor, filter Status is not equal to "4 Approved" and Status is not equal to "5 Rejected", and sort by Decide by with the oldest first. Open it at the start of each week. A request that sits here two weeks in a row needs a person, not another reminder.

## What to avoid

- Do not rely on one approver for anything that must move. Name a backup.
- Do not let a request wait with no date. A request with no date is never late.
- Do not send the same reminder every hour. People mute it.
- Do not approve for someone else by sharing a login. Use a backup who has their own right to approve.
- Do not forget the 30 day limit. If a request may wait that long, a flow run that is still waiting will time out. Design for it before you build.
- Do not leave the flow with no owner. Name a person who looks after it.
- Do not move a request to the backup without telling the first approver. Two answers cause confusion.

## Honest limits

A backup plan does not decide for you. If the backup does not know the context, they may ask the first approver anyway. If you have too many requests per approver, the queue will still be slow. Which license covers approval flows in your company is a question for your admin. Start with one process and one pair of approver and backup. See how it works for a month. Then add more. For a related case, see "[Purchase requests stuck waiting for approval: how to see them and move them](/guides/purchase-requests-stuck-waiting-for-approval/)".

Other guides that help with the same problem: "[Invoice approval with Power Automate: a tracker and a flow that record every decision](/guides/invoice-approval-power-automate/)" and "[Teams approvals vs email approvals: which one should your team use?](/guides/teams-approvals-vs-email-approvals/)".

## When to get help

You can build all of this yourself in Microsoft 365. If you would rather have it built and tested for your team, I do that. A tracker like this is a fixed price: \$5,000 for one, built in 2 weeks. See "[What a SharePoint tracker costs to build](/guides/what-a-sharepoint-tracker-costs/)". Bring one example of the problem to a free call.

I am Al Davies. I run 250 High Street LLC and build SharePoint trackers and Power Automate flows for operations teams. I work remotely. The first call is free, and I will not try to sell you anything.

See trackers I built: [Tools I built](/portfolio/)

## FAQ

### Does Power Automate move an approval to someone else when the approver is out of office?

Not on its own. The approver can reassign a request from the Approvals page before they leave. The sender cannot reassign, but can cancel and send a new request. Keep a backup approver in your list so you know who gets it.

### How long can an approval wait?

A single flow run can last up to 30 days, and Microsoft says that includes steps that wait on an approval. After 30 days, pending steps time out. For longer waits, Microsoft says to store approvals in Dataverse and use two flows.

### What does Enable reassignment do in the Approvals connector?

Microsoft's connector page describes it as "Enable reassignment of approval requests." Microsoft's page lists it on the "Start and wait for an approval of text" action and does not state a default.

### Can the person who sent a request take it back?

Yes. Microsoft says the sender can cancel a request from the Sent tab of the Approvals page. Exact names may differ on your screen. Then send a new request to the backup.

### Does the backup approver need access to the list?

Yes, if they will open it. Set list permissions for the backup. A view does not hide anything from a person who has access to the list.

## Sources

- [Microsoft Learn, Create and test an approval workflow with Power Automate](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/modern-approvals)
- [Microsoft Learn, Get started with Power Automate approvals](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/get-started-approvals)
- [Microsoft Learn, Limits of automated, scheduled, and instant flows](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/limits-and-config)
- [Microsoft Learn, Manage your approvals in Microsoft Teams](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/teams/manage-approvals-app)
- [Microsoft Learn, Manage the Approvals app in Microsoft Teams](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/approval-admin)
- [Microsoft Learn, Standard approvals connector reference](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/approvals/)
- [Microsoft Learn, How to: top scenarios with approval flows](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/approvals-howto)
- [Microsoft Learn, Employ robust error handling](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/guidance/coding-guidelines/error-handling)
- [Microsoft Support, Use filtering to modify a SharePoint view](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/use-filtering-to-modify-a-sharepoint-view-3d8efc52-0808-4731-8f9b-3dfaeacea3d4)

## Related guides

- [Approver never gets the Power Automate approval email](/guides/power-automate-approval-email-not-received/)
- [Require every approver to approve in Power Automate](/guides/power-automate-approval-everyone-must-approve/)
- [Purchase requests stuck waiting for approval: how to see them and move them](/guides/purchase-requests-stuck-waiting-for-approval/)

Source: https://250highstreet.com/guides/approval-stuck-approver-out/