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            Approval Steps

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            Approval Steps

            Approval steps require user interaction and create approval actions that assigned approvers or delegates can complete asynchronously. Approvers can complete reviews without running the associated flow, so include only actions directly relevant to the approval work item. Use a background step after the approval step to update related records or trigger additional notifications.

            Required Editions

            View supported editions for Flow Approval Processes.
            Note
            Note Don’t create a flow approval process with no approval steps. When an approval submission based on a flow approval process with no approval steps runs, the approval submission is always approved.

            When to Start the Step

            To control when an approval step starts, select a condition.

            Step Condition Requires
            When the stage starts, the step starts —
            When another step is marked Completed, the step starts The name of the step that must be completed before the step can start
            When the specified requirements are met, the step starts Up to 10 requirements that determine whether the step can start
            When the specified evaluation flow returns True, the step starts The name of the active evaluation flow that determines whether the step can start

            Select An Action to Run

            Each approval step is associated with an active screen flow. To work with Flow Approval Processes, the screen flow must contain at least one required variable. If the required output variable is missing or contains an invalid value, the associated flow approval process fails.

            Name Required Description Used For
            approvalDecision Yes A text variable that stores the result of the review. Valid values are Approve or Reject. Use the step's approvalDecision output in conditions in other flow approval process elements to determine if a step was approved or rejected.
            approvalComments No A text variable that stores the approver's comments about the review. The Comments field of the associated approval work item is set to the value in this output variable.

            When to Complete the Step

            To control when an approval step completes, select a condition.

            Step Condition Requires
            When the assigned user has completed the screen flow, the step is marked Completed —
            When the specified requirements are met, the step is marked Completed Up to 10 requirements that determine whether the step can be completed
            When the specified evaluation flow returns True, the step is marked Completed The name of the evaluation flow that determines whether the step can be completed

            Approval Step Assignment Types

            When a flow approval process is designed, an approval step is assigned to a user, group, or queue.

            Step Assignees
            Type Description
            User
            • The username of an internal user
            • The username of a credentialed Experience Cloud site visitor
            Group
            • The API name of a group that includes only internal users
            • The API name of a group that includes only credentialed Aura site visitors
            • The API name of a group that includes only credentialed LWR site visitors
            Queue
            • The API name of a queue that includes only internal users
            • The API name of a queue that includes only credentialed Aura site visitors
            • The API name of a queue that includes only credentialed LWR site visitors
            Resource

            The API name of a resource that contains one of these items at run time:

            • The username of an internal user
            • The username of a credentialed Experience Cloud site visitor
            • The API name of a group that includes only internal users
            • The API name of a group that includes only credentialed Aura site visitors
            • The API name of a group that includes only credentialed LWR site visitors
            • The API name of a queue that includes only internal users
            • The API name of a queue that includes only credentialed Aura site visitors
            • The API name of a queue that includes only credentialed LWR site visitors

            Default Notifications by Recipient Type

            At run time, when an approval work item is created or reassigned, all assigned approvers receive notification emails. If assigned approvers have delegates, then their delegates also receive email notifications.

            Default Notifications Sent When Approval Work Item Is Created
            Notification Recipient DEFAULT Notification
            Assigned internal user Personalized email notification with a link to the internal record page of the record to be reviewed
            Assigned credentialed Experience Cloud site visitor Personalized email notification with a link to the record page of the record to be reviewed of the oldest live Experience Cloud site that they're a member of
            Assigned group or queue of internal users General email notification with a link to the internal record page of the record to be reviewed
            Assigned group or queue of credentialed Aura or LWR site visitors who are all members of the same site General email notification with a link to the record page of the record to be reviewed of the live Experience Cloud site that they're all members of
            Assigned group or queue of credentialed Aura or LWR site visitors who are all members of one or more common sites General email notification with a link to the record page of the record to be reviewed of the oldest live Experience Cloud site that they're all members of
            Assigned group or queue of credentialed Aura or LWR site visitors who have no site in common

            General email notification with a link to the internal record page of the record to be reviewed

            The link is invalid for Experience Cloud site visitors, because they don't have access to internal pages. They can use the Approval Work Item Object List page to view and access their assigned work items from an Experience Cloud site that they're a member of.
            Assigned group or queue of internal users and credentialed Aura or LWR site visitors

            General email notification with a link to the internal record page of the record to be reviewed

            The link is invalid for Experience Cloud site visitors, because they don't have access to internal pages. They can use the Approval Work Item Object List page to view and access their assigned work items from an Experience Cloud site that they're a member of.
            Delegated internal user Personalized email notification with a link to the internal record page of the record to be reviewed and a link to the approval work item

            Flow approval processes send email notifications from the Automated Process User Email Address specified in Process Automation Settings. If you don't specify this setting, Salesforce looks for an organization-wide email address with a purpose of Default No-Reply Address. If that doesn't exist, Salesforce uses any verified organization-wide email address. If no organization-wide email address exists, Salesforce uses the email address of the user running the flow approval process. If the orchestration run associated with the flow approval process runs in system context without a user, Salesforce doesn't send the email. See Set Up an Org-Wide Email Address for Flow Approval Processes.

            Approval Email Notification Customization

            You can customize the approver email notification. When you create a custom email for an approval step, it’s sent both to approvers and the approvers’ delegates when the associated approval work item is created. For more information on customizing notification emails, see Approver and Delegate Emails.

            When an approval work item is reassigned, the default notification is sent to both the newly assigned approver and their delegates, even when the approval step is configured to send a custom email notification.

            Disable Approval Email Notifications

            You can disable all email notifications to approvers and their delegates. To manage email settings for flow approval processes, see Manage Approval Email Notifications. You can also disable all email notification to approvers and their delegates for a specific flow approval process. To stop sending emails for a specific flow approval process, see Control Approver Emails for a Flow Approval Process.

            Important
            Important Approvers and their delegates can always see their assigned approval work items in the Approvals app or in the Approval Work Items list view. However, if you disable notifications to approvers and their delegates, they can’t approve or reject approval work items by replying with a keyword to their email notifications.

            Where to Complete the Step

            Approvers and their delegates can complete their assigned work items in multiple ways. To control whether approvers and their delegates can approve or reject an approval work item by replying to their email notification, select Enable email approval response in Process Automation Settings,

            setting complete assigned approval work item
            None
            • On the record page of the record to be reviewed, by selecting the approval work item in the Work Guide
            • From the Approval Work Item list view, by selecting Review from an approval work item’s quick menu
            Enable email approval response in Process Automation Settings is selected. From email, by replying to the email notification using specified keywords.

            A delegate of an assigned approver is always a recipient of an email notification. The email notification sent to delegates depends on whether the approval step has a custom email notification configured and whether the associated approval work item is being assigned or reassigned.

            The Enable email approval response Process Automation setting also controls how members of an assigned group or queue are emailed. The email notification sent to members depends on whether the approval step has a custom email notification configured and whether the associated approval work item is being assigned or reassigned.

            State email field Approval Work item Action Receives
            • Enable email approval response is selected.
            • Approval step has no custom email notification configured.
            		 To Assigned Each member receives their own version of the default approver email notification.
            Reassigned Each member receives their own version of the default approver email notification.
            • Enable email approval response is selected.
            • Approval step has a custom email notification configured.
            		 To Assigned Each member receives their own version of the approval step's approver email notification.
            Reassigned Each member receives their own version of the default approver email notification.
            • Enable email approval response is deselected.
            • Approval step has no custom email notification configured.
            		 BCC Assigned Each member receives a copy of the default approver email notification.
            Reassigned Each member receives a copy of the default approver email notification.
            • Enable email approval response is deselected.
            • Approval step has a custom email notification configured.
            		 BCC Assigned Each member receives a copy of the approval step's custom email notification.
            Reassigned Each member receives a copy of the default approver email notification.

            Running Context of an Action Called by an Approval Step

            An active screen flow called by an approval step runs in the context of the person who’s completing it.

             
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