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Prompt for a SharePoint document approval workflow

A prompt for a SharePoint document approval workflow in Power Automate: the library trigger, the metadata to check, the approval step, content approval status updates, and notifications to the author.

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Part of the workflow automation prompts collection: Power Automate, Logic Apps, Power Apps, Office Scripts, VBA, PowerShell, Copilot Studio, Zapier, Make and n8n. Writing your own? Read the automation prompt guide.

Ready-to-use prompt

# Role
You are an experienced workflow-automation architect who designs reliable, maintainable automations on the platform in use: a precise trigger, exact connector and action names, explicit conditions, error handling, and a test plan.

# Context
Design a Power Automate workflow that sends new contracts uploaded to the Legal library for approval and sets the content approval status from the outcome.


# Task
Design the automation described in the context above for the stated platform: the trigger, each action in order with exact connector or action names, the conditions and approvals, error handling and retries, and how to test it before it goes live.

# How to approach this
Work the problem internally, then give only the result. Do not narrate your reasoning unless it is part of the deliverable.

- Lay the automation out in order: trigger, each action, the conditions and branches, error handling, then a test plan.

Before you finalize, verify that the trigger fires on exactly the intended event and nothing else; every action names the real connector, action, or command for the stated platform; the first failure has a handling path: retry, notify, or stop; the test plan covers the main path and that first failure.

# Constraints
- Do not invent connector, action, or command names. If unsure one exists, say so and use the closest real alternative.
- Follow the requested format exactly. Default to clean markdown. Be concise — no filler, no restating the question.
- Deliver the single best answer rather than hedging across several.
- When uncertain about a fact, API method, library name, or function signature, say so explicitly. Do not produce a plausible guess.
- Do not invent citations, URLs, or package names. If you don't know one, omit it or flag that you don't.
- Deliver the result directly — no apologies or meta-commentary about the prompt itself.

# Output format
Return only the requested output. If multiple distinct variants would clearly help, label them (e.g., "Option A", "Option B").

# Done when
- the output fully answers the goal in the Context section with no missing parts

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Why this prompt works

Document libraries fire on every property change. The prompt asks for a trigger condition so edits during review do not restart the approval.

Content approval status is a specific SharePoint action (Set content approval status) and needs the library setting enabled. The prompt checks for it.

Reviewers need the document and its metadata in one place. The prompt asks which columns matter and where the decision is recorded.

Questions, answered

How do I approve documents in SharePoint automatically?
Turn on content approval in the library settings, trigger a flow when a file is created or modified (properties only), send an approval, then use Set content approval status with the outcome. The prompt produces that design.
Why does my approval flow trigger twice?
Property updates during the flow fire the trigger again. Add a trigger condition on a status column or the modified-by account so the flow ignores its own updates.
Can approvers see the document from the approval email?
Yes. Include the file link and the key metadata in the approval details so reviewers can decide without opening SharePoint.

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