Remind an approver who has not answered after two days

Power Automate has no built-in approval reminder: the approvals connector page lists no reminder setting. To send one after two days, use "Create an approval", then run "Wait for an approval" in one parallel branch while a "Do until" loop in the other branch waits two days, sends the reminder, and stops when a true or false flag says the approver answered.

Why the reminder is not built in

Two kinds of approvals exist, and neither sends a repeating reminder on its own.

Approvals in Teams. A Microsoft Q&A answer says the Approvals app does not send automatic, repeating reminders. The person who sent the request can send one by hand with "Follow up". Microsoft's Support page says Follow up sends a reminder to people who have not answered yet.
Power Automate approvals. The approvals connector page lists these current actions: "Create an approval", "Start and wait for an approval", "Start and wait for an approval of text" and "Wait for an approval". It does not list a reminder setting. The page also marks older "Start and wait for an approval" and "Start and wait for an Approve or Reject - First to respond approval" variants as deprecated, so pick the current version of each action. Exact names may differ on your screen.

So for an automatic reminder, you add the waiting and the reminder yourself. That is what this guide shows.

Why "Start and wait for an approval" is the wrong starting point

"Start and wait for an approval" starts the request and then waits for the answer. The flow does nothing else until the answer arrives. A reminder placed after it would only run after the approver has already answered.

A Microsoft Power Platform Community thread describes the same problem. The person put a Delay after the approval and the reminder email still went out even though the approval was done. The suggested fix in that thread is the one used below: use "Create an approval" plus "Wait for an approval", put the Delay in a parallel branch, and use a loop with a true or false variable.

What you need before you start

A cloud flow that already creates an approval. If you do not have one, start from "Approvals lost in email: how to stop chasing sign-offs".
The approver's email address in the flow.
A decision on how many reminders you want. One way to start: one reminder after two days, then one more every two days.
A license that lets you build flows. Microsoft's approvals page says the approvals connector is a standard connector. Check with your admin for what your account includes.

Step 1. Start the approval without waiting

Open your flow in the Power Automate editor.
Find the action "Start and wait for an approval". If it is there, replace it with "Create an approval". Pick the same approval type, for example Approve/Reject - First to respond.
Fill in the title, the approver and the details, as before.
Right after it, add "Wait for an approval". In its Approval ID field, choose the ID that "Create an approval" gives back.

Microsoft's connector page describes "Create an approval" as an action that starts the approval but does not wait for it to finish, and "Wait for an approval" as an action that waits for a specified approval to complete.

Step 2. Add a flag that says "still waiting"

Above "Create an approval", add "Initialize variable".
Name it StillWaiting. Set the type to Boolean. Set the value to true.

This flag is what lets the reminder know when to stop.

Step 3. Add a parallel branch for the reminder

Hover over the arrow right after "Create an approval".
Choose the plus sign, then "Add a parallel branch". The wording may differ on your screen.
You now have two lanes side by side. "Wait for an approval" is in one. The reminder goes in the other.

Microsoft's pages do not describe this click path for this pattern. The Power Platform Community thread uses the same approach.

Step 4. Build the reminder lane

In the new lane:

Add "Do until".
Set the condition so the loop ends when StillWaiting is equal to false.
Inside the loop, add "Delay". Set Count to 2 and Unit to Day.
Under the Delay, add a Condition that checks StillWaiting is equal to true. If yes, send the reminder. If no, do nothing. This catches the case where the approver answers while the Delay is running.
In the yes branch, add "Send an email (V2)" to the approver. Keep it short: the request title and a link to the approval.

Why the extra Condition matters: a Delay cannot be cut short. If the approver answers on day one, the Delay still runs to day two, and then the loop would send one last reminder. The Condition stops that.

Step 5. Stop the loop when the approver answers

In the other lane, after "Wait for an approval":

Add "Set variable".
Choose StillWaiting and set it to false.
Then continue with your normal steps: check the outcome, update the list, tell the requester.

The Community thread describes the same idea: a Boolean variable that changes when the response arrives.

Step 6. Set the loop limits

A "Do until" loop has limits, and the defaults may stop your reminders early.

Microsoft's limits page lists Until iterations: default 60, maximum 5,000.
The Power Platform Community thread says the loop's timeout defaults to 60 minutes and that you can change it to a count or a duration such as P24D for 24 days. That is a community statement. Check the setting on your own screen.
Open the loop's settings and set Count and Timeout to cover how long you are willing to wait. For a two day reminder that repeats for up to 10 days, a count of 6 and a timeout of P10D is one way to start.
Microsoft's limits page says a single flow run lasts at most 30 days, and pending steps such as approvals time out after that. Your approval and your reminder loop must finish inside that time. If an approval can take longer, see "Power Automate approval fails after 30 days waiting".

Several approvers: who gets the reminder

Microsoft's approvals pages let you assign one approval to several people. The Assigned To field takes addresses separated by a semicolon (;). The approval type decides when "Wait for an approval" finishes.

"Approve/Reject - First to respond": any one answer completes the request. The StillWaiting flag flips on that first answer, so the reminders stop for everyone.
"Approve/Reject - Everyone must approve": the wait ends after all approvers respond, or when a single rejection occurs. The reminder lane keeps running until then.

The flow in this guide sends one reminder email to the whole Assigned To list. Microsoft's pages do not show a way to remind only the approvers who have not answered in this pattern. In Teams, the manual Follow up sends the notification only to recipients who have yet to respond.

Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: word the reminder so it still reads fine for someone who already answered, for example "Your approval is still open for anyone who has not answered."

Step 7. Test it with a short delay

Change the Delay to 2 minutes.
Run the flow and do not answer. Confirm that a reminder arrives.
Run it again and answer fast. Confirm no reminder arrives after you answer.
Change the Delay back to 2 days.

What to avoid

Do not put the Delay after "Start and wait for an approval". It runs too late.
Do not skip the flag. Without it, answered approvals still get reminders.
Do not leave the Do until at its default limits without checking them.
Do not send a reminder every hour. Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: a reminder every two days is enough.
Do not rely on a reminder alone. If the approver is away, see "Approvals stuck when the approver is out".
Do not use a plain email link as the only way to answer. Microsoft's connector page says approval emails are actionable only when sent from the standard approvals email account. Your own email with a link will not let people approve inside the email.

If the approvals are in Teams

If you use the Approvals app in Teams, not a flow, the requester can use "Follow up" by hand. Open Approvals, select Sent, find the request, open More options and choose Follow up. Exact names may differ. It is a manual step each time, so it fits a small number of requests. For a larger number of requests, use the flow above. For Teams display problems, see "Teams approvals not showing up".

Honest limits

This pattern adds steps to a flow, so it adds more things that can break. A reminder does not make the approver decide. It only makes the request visible again. Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: keep reminders to two or three, then send the request to a backup person. Also, approval timestamps always show in UTC on Microsoft's connector page, so a message that says "sent at" may look off by some hours.

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". Bring one example of the problem to a free call.

Tell me what's still manual

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

FAQ

Why did my reminder email go out even though the approver answered?

The Delay and the email were not tied to the answer. Use the parallel branch and a true or false variable from this guide, and check the variable before you send.

Can I send a reminder when an approval has several approvers?

Yes. One approval can go to several people, with addresses separated by a semicolon, and the same reminder lane works. It emails the whole list, not only people who have not answered.

Does a Teams approval reminder send by itself?

No. A Microsoft Q&A answer says the Approvals app does not send automatic, repeating reminders. The requester can select Follow up, which notifies recipients who have yet to respond.

Where does an approver see a pending approval?

Microsoft says approvers "can respond directly from an Outlook email, a Microsoft Teams adaptive card, or the Power Automate action center" if their license includes Power Automate.

Can my reminder email also let people approve inside the email?

No. Microsoft says approval emails are actionable only when sent from the standard approvals email account. Your own reminder email can carry a link to the approval, but it cannot approve or reject.