SharePoint modern approvals: one approver, every approver, and edits that cancel a request

Select the SharePoint library file, choose Request approval, add the reviewers and set the response rule before sending. By default, an approval from any one named approver grants the request. Turn on the option requiring a response from all approvers when every named reviewer needs to decide.

Finish the file first. Saving an edit while its approval is in progress cancels the request. A response to the earlier submission needs to remain attached to that earlier review record.

Choose the response rule

Imagine a vendor brief for 120 units scheduled for delivery Friday at 9 a.m. Noor in operations checks the delivery window; Eli in procurement checks the quantity.

If either person is an authorized delegate who can approve the entire brief, the default any approver rule fits. Noor’s approval is enough under that rule even if Eli has not responded.

If the decision requires both disciplines, select the all responses required option. Noor’s response alone then leaves the response requirement unmet. Give each reviewer a separate question:

• Noor: “Does the Friday 9 a.m. delivery window match the warehouse schedule?”
• Eli: “Is 120 units the approved order quantity?”

The names, time, and quantity are an illustrative scenario, not a SharePoint test result. Microsoft documents the any approver default and the all responses option; it does not establish a universal outcome for every possible mix of approvals and rejections. Read the actual request status for that decision.

Send the request and resolve access

In a library where modern approvals are enabled, select a file and use Request approval from its context menu or the Approval status pill. Add the approvers and the details they need to decide. Once the request is created, the status pill changes to Requested. Name the content in the details, such as “120-unit brief with Friday 9 a.m. delivery,” so reviewers can identify the submission without relying on a filename ending in final.docx.

The request does not give its recipients access to the underlying file. If a reviewer gets a notification but cannot open the brief, check the file’s access and share it with that reviewer as needed. Sending another approval notification does not grant the missing access. If the file is confidential, a public link could widen its audience beyond the intended reviewer; grant that named reviewer access through the organization’s normal sharing process.

An owner configuring a library can go to Integrate > Configure Approvals > Enable Approvals > Apply. The configuration includes default approvers and a setting for whether users with lower permissions may overwrite those configured names. That does not mean every reader can enable approvals or replace the defaults; the available controls depend on their access and the library’s configuration.

Finish revisions before requesting approval

Suppose the 120-unit brief is sent to both reviewers under the all responses rule. Call this illustrative request R-A. Noor approves its delivery window, but while Eli’s response is pending, Eli asks for a change to 100 units. The requester saves a revised brief.

Under Microsoft’s documented rule, saving an edit to a file while its approval is in progress cancels that request. Noor’s answer to the 120-unit revision cannot be treated as approval of the saved 100-unit revision.

Finish the 100-unit brief, then create a fresh request to both reviewers. Call it R-B in your own notes; R-A and R-B are example labels, not SharePoint-generated IDs. The new request should identify the revision and update Eli’s question. For example:

Review the 100-unit brief saved today. Noor: confirm the Friday 9 a.m. delivery window. Eli: confirm the 100-unit quantity. Both responses are required. Please put proposed changes in your response so the author can revise the document through a fresh request if needed.

Eli’s question now names 100 units. Reusing the old question about 120 units would leave the request describing a quantity that no longer appears in the document. Noor’s earlier scheduling response also remains in R-A: it was made against that submitted brief, even though the delivery window itself has not changed.

Event in the illustrative history	Review record	What belongs in that record
Noor approves the 120-unit submission	R-A	Noor’s response to the original brief
Quantity changed to 100 and file saved during R-A	R-A	Cancellation and the saved change
Completed 100-unit revision submitted to both reviewers	R-B	New response rule, reviewers and revised questions
Both reviewers approve the revised submission	R-B	Responses to the 100-unit brief

R-A and R-B keep the old response from being mistaken for a new decision. In your own notes, use the actual request references and observed file revisions. Do not fabricate a SharePoint version number from how often the author clicked Save.

Word, Excel and PowerPoint for the web open a file with an approval in progress in view-only mode. Windows Word, Excel and PowerPoint mark it as final to discourage editing. Neither description makes the file immutable: a saved edit can still cancel the request. A metadata update can also warn that approval will be reset. If a change is necessary, treat the resulting approval state as something to check before relying on earlier responses.

For a list item, edits and deletes automatically cancel an approval in progress. When troubleshooting an unexpected cancellation, establish whether the request concerned a library file or a list item, then examine the relevant change.

Find the current request and its history

SharePoint’s approval-related columns show the latest approval activity. They are useful for locating the current state, but a newer request can replace what you see there. In the vendor example, the columns may show R-B while the response to R-A is part of the earlier history. Use Teams Approvals for the complete approval history when you need to distinguish those events.

A requester can use Cancel request. An approver can Approve or Reject. In Teams Approvals, More actions includes Follow up and Reassign. Those actions address the request workflow; they do not substitute for giving a reviewer access to the file.

Disabling approvals hides the related SharePoint columns, while active approvals remain actionable in Teams Approvals. Use the request’s cancellation action when cancellation is the intent.

Modern approvals are separate from SharePoint’s content approval and Request sign-off features; they are not integrated workflows. When tracing a decision, make sure everyone is referring to the same kind of approval.

Diagnose an unexpected cancellation

An automatic cancellation can be recorded with the requester named as the canceller even when someone else edited the item. That label alone does not establish who intended to cancel the request.

For a real case, compare the file version or change timestamp with the approval history, then ask the person who made the change what they edited. This is a diagnostic method, not proof of a cause from the cancellation label. If the saved change created a new revision, finish that revision and send a new request with the right reviewers and questions.

The request history CSV contains filled fictional any approver and all responses examples, the R-A/R-B revision sequence, and blank rows for your own notes. Its seven data rows contain five populated illustrative events and two reusable blank rows. Record the local request label, file, revision, response rule, questions, responses, what is known about any cancellation, and the next action. The worksheet helps keep revisions distinct; Teams Approvals remains the service history.

Source note: The product steps and behavior above come from Microsoft’s SharePoint approvals guidance, checked on October 7, 2026. The vendor brief and worksheet rows are illustrative; no SharePoint approval request was sent or tested.