Approvals fundamentals: Start and wait

Intermediate Power Automate

Dani Kahil

Solution Architect | Microsoft MVP

Why pause a flow for a human?

Approvals pause the flow until a human responds
High-stakes decisions shouldn't auto-execute
The connector sends the email and waits - no extra wiring

Anatomy of Start and wait

Start and wait for an approval action expanded in the Power Automate designer, showing the Approval type dropdown, Title, Assigned to, Details, and Item Link fields

Approval type - binary or custom
Assigned to - the approver's email
Title, Details, Item Link - what they see

What the approver actually sees

Outlook actionable approval email rendering showing Title, Details, Item Link, and embedded Approve and Reject buttons inline

Title + Details populate the email body
Item Link opens the record (contract PDF)
Approve / Reject buttons submit without leaving Outlook

Outcome: the casing trap

mermaid: outcome casing trap

Outcome is a string - 'Approve' or 'Reject'
Capital A, capital R - always
A lowercase comparison silently routes to If no

Where the approval slots into the flow

mermaid: green-navy: Condition splits flow on value; high-value branch uses approval, low-value sends email directly

Low-value renewals don't need a human in the loop
Approvals sit on the high-stakes branch
One approval = one Condition downstream on Outcome

Let's practice!

Intermediate Power Automate