Introduction
Recently we had a requirement where the list attachments should be shown in the approval action in Power Automate, this way the users/approvers can verify the requested content in the approval email itself without changing the context or navigating to the site. Here the attachments are of very less (<20 MB). The below steps should work for either single or multiple attachments.
We can set attachments in Email actions as well as approval action. We will investigate both the scenarios.
Sending attachment in Email
This is a straightforward approach. You can look into step by step in the
this article. Thanks to Sarvesh.
Sending attachments in Approval
Before I start the steps, I should thank Alex from It Ain’t Boring’ who wrote a brilliant post on ‘Attachment to CDS’. He gave a pointer on how to configure the attachment array in which Power Automate understands. I have mentioned the URL in the ‘References’ section. Hatsoff Alex!!!
Step 1
Browse to the list where you need to create a flow, and select Automate --> Create a flow as shown in below screen capture.
Step 2
From the modern UI ribbon select ‘Power Automate’ and click on the ‘Create Flow’. Lets use the template for this demo ‘Start approval when a new item is added’.
Step 3
Select continue after the initial configuration.
Step 4
To keep this demo simple I am removing the error handling block from the template.
Step 5
You should see something like this, after collapsing all the actions.
Step 6
Try getting the attachments of the request, after the trigger and configure the ‘Get Attachments’ action like below. ID should be ID of item when 'New Item is created'.
Step 7
After initializing variable add the ‘Get attachment content’ action as shown in below screen capture.
Step 8
You will have the following set up. Please note that once the values are configured the foreach block is automatically added.
The final action should look like below
Step 9
Inside an ‘Apply to Each’ block add an action ‘Append to an array variable’
Step 10
This is the crucial part. Observe commands carefully.
For the Name field chose the existing array variable ‘attachmentArray’ that is initialized before.
For the Value input the following JSON carefully.
For the “name” field the dynamic value should be as configured in below screen shot.
For the “value” field the configuration do the following very carefully.
- In the expression add ‘Attachment Content’ and the expression should be body(‘Get_attachment_content’). After that append ?[‘body’]. The reslut expression should be
body(‘Get_attachment_content’) ?[‘body’].
-
Now encapsulate the entire expression with braces. It should look like (body(‘Get_attachment_content’) ?[‘body’]).
-
In the expression window type base64 and encapsulate the resultant expression inside base64 function. It should look like base64(body(‘Get_attachment_content’) ?[‘body’]).
-
Now the final step in expression replace body with ‘outputs’. It should looks like
base64(outputs(‘Get_attachment_content’) ?[‘body’])
Step 11
The final value should be in JSON format as shown below.
Step 12
Now select the approval action ‘Start and wait for an approval’. You need to delete the default approval that comes with the template and configure as per below screen shot.
Step 13
In the condition action update the condition ‘Outcome’ is equal to ‘Approve’.
Step 14
validate the final approval action, it should look like below
Step 15
Validate the final flow and test it
Step 16
Validate the attachments in the approval email
Conclusion
Thus in this article, we have seen how to configure PowerAutomate to send attachments in approval action.
References
- https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/General-Power-Automate/Power-Automate-approval-with-Attachments/td-p/415327/page/2?lightbox-message-images-829975=224948iF612FF35BBDE1435
- https://www.itaintboring.com/dynamics-crm/power-automate-flow-creating-an-email-with-attachment-in-cds/
Emre SerperPosted Nov 9, 2021, 9:11 AM
Hello, thanks for sharing. I can see the attachment in mail but when I try to open it it gives an error.Error:This file cannot be previewed because of an error with the following previewer: Microsoft outlook image previewer To open this file in its own program, double-click it. When I try to open it in my own program with double-click, it still gives an error. Error: It appears that we don't support this file format. Do you have an idea for a solution?
Rupesh MalewadkarPosted Jul 15, 2021, 8:49 AM
Its generating error. The request failed. Error code: 'InvalidRequestContent'. Error Message: 'The request content was invalid and could not be deserialized: 'Could not find member 'contentBytes' on object of type 'ApprovalsConnectorAttachment'. Path 'attachments[0].contentBytes', line 1, position 843.'.'.
Vinay AyinapurapuPosted May 7, 2021, 6:34 PM
Surething :)
Ashwini BhandariPosted May 7, 2021, 7:42 AM
Thanks for sharing!