How get email approval for Document Set without email for each member of document set workflow action

I have a document sets in a SharePoint library with varying number of documents in each set. I am trying to create a workflow that allows the user to choose an approver from a list of Approvers that I provide as a Choice in the Initiation Form. Once chosen, I want to send an Approval email to that user and have that person approve the Document Set without getting an email for each member of the document set. Once the Approver approves the Document Set, all documents in the Document Set are approved automatically.  I have create a Task Approval Action, but that sends an Approval Email for the Document Set and each item in the Document Set.  I've tried using the Document Set Approval Action but I can't find any documentation or examples on how to use it and what I've tried fails.  Any examples or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Pat

August 16th, 2015 11:15pm

Hi PatPark- I may be mistaken, but sounds like you're trying to use an out of the box approval workflow? You need to make a custom SharePoint Designer workflow for this- one that would grab the approver's email and send them an email. Then set all the items to approved in the doc set.
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August 17th, 2015 2:04pm

Hi Pat,

Per my description, you want to know how to use "Start Document Set Approvel Process".

It starts an approval action on a document set to specific users.When you use this action, the status of the documents set and the documents that comprise the document set are changed, such as to Approved or Rejected.

Following is an example of what the action might look like in a workflow step:
Start Bill of material approval process for the contents of this Document Set with the users specified by Variable:Bill of Materials Approvers .

More information:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Workflow-actions-in-SharePoint-Designer-2010-A-quick-reference-guide-5A7AD276-0ED7-49B0-B652-E56A77DD96C6

Best Regards,

Wendy

August 17th, 2015 10:27pm

Thanks Cameron, but I created a task approval workflow to the selected user and I get an email for the Document set and each document in the document set.  I want one email sent to the approver to approve the document set.  Once the document set is approved, all contents of the document set are approved.

Thanks,

Pat

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August 24th, 2015 3:35pm

There is zero documentation that I can find on this action.  What sort of data type is the "column" parameter expecting, am I pointing to another approval task?  The example you cite is the same a in the article link but the article gives no explanation on what it expects.  Any other examples out there to make this work.  By the way the support document you cite is the only documentation that deals with the action I've found anywhere after two weeks of looking.

Thanks,

Pat

August 24th, 2015 5:02pm

Hi,

We are currently looking into this issue and will give you an update as soon as possible.
 
Thank you for your understanding and support.

Best Regards,

Wendy

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August 26th, 2015 9:08pm

Hi Pat,

The paramter "this column" is the approvers, and the approval(*) is the current approval task.

I tested using a simple paramter "Created By" like the screenshot:

However, when I ran the workflow on a document set, it returned "Error Occurred".

It seems that Microsoft has been aware of this issue for quite a while and they have decided not to fix it. They should just take this activity out.

A similar post:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/e64e9f19-44a8-4a1d-ae05-1c255eec15e4/start-document-set-approval-process-workflow-action-fails?forum=sharepointcustomization

For confirming this issue, I suggest you open a ticket from Microsoft.

Best Regards,

Wendy

August 31st, 2015 2:26am

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