Incoming approval emails with subject containing "requires your approval/rejection" are rejected
Problem
If the subject text of an incoming email to be approved contains "requires your approval/rejection", the email inbound action for approval rejects the associated approval record.
| Incoming email | Subject contains | Body contains | Approval result |
| Email 1 | approve | approved | |
| Email 2 | reject | rejected | |
| Email 3 | approved | ignored | |
| Email 4 | state: approve | approved | |
| Email 5 | state: reject | rejected | |
| Email 6 | approve | state: reject | rejected |
| Email 7 | reject | state: approve | approved |
| Email 8 | reject | approved | rejected |
| Email 9 | Approved | ignored |
| Note: Email body has precedence to the email subject on the approval inbound action |
Symptoms
Some approval records that you expect to be approved are rejected, for example, if the responder types "Approved" in the body of the email.
| Note: Inbound emails for approval needs to have a matching watermark in the email body or subject |
Cause
If a request for approval is sent and the notification contains "requires your approval/rejection" in the subject text, when the person replies, the subject containing "rejection" matches a search for "reject", which causes the approval record to be rejected.
Resolution
The simplest solution is to change the outbound email notification to avoid subjects containing the words "approved" or "reject".
To fix the response email to approve the record, put "state: approve" in the body, retaining the watermark from the approval email, or replace the subject with either approve or reject (case sensitive).
| Note: Adding "Approved" in the email response body is not enough. The body text needs to say "state: approve" or "state: reject" or contain either approve or reject in the subject. A watermark in the incoming email is ALWAYS required for approval records. |