How to Send Reminder Email to Approver Using Salesforce Flow : Bijay Kumar

August 04, 2025 August 04, 2025

How to Send Reminder Email to Approver Using Salesforce Flow
by: Bijay Kumar
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### Summary of Sending Reminder Emails to Approvers in Salesforce In Salesforce, when employees submit requests for approvals (like reimbursements or leave), sometimes the approvers forget to act on them, leaving the requests pending. To address this issue, we can set up an automated reminder email to be sent to the approver two days before the salary day or the employee's leave date. This article explains how to create a Salesforce Flow that sends these reminder emails automatically. #### Steps to Create the Reminder Email Flow: 1. **Approval Process Setup**: - Create an approval process for reimbursement requests where an assigned approver can approve or reject the request. 2. **Scheduled Trigger Flow**: - Set up a Scheduled Trigger Flow that checks daily for any pending approval requests. - Define the schedule for when the flow should run. 3. **Retrieve Approval Details**: - Use the "Get Records" element to fetch details about the approval process and the individual approval steps. 4. **Check for Pending Requests**: - Filter the records to find those with an approval status of "In Process." 5. **Get Approver's Email**: - Retrieve the email address of the approver assigned to the approval step. 6. **Date Calculation**: - Create a formula to check if today's date is two days before the salary date or leave date. 7. **Send Email Action**: - If the condition is met, use the "Send Email" action to notify the approver. 8. **Testing and Activation**: - Save and debug the flow to ensure it works correctly before activating it. #### Conclusion By automating reminder emails for pending approvals, organizations can ensure that requests are addressed promptly, improving workflow efficiency. ### Additional Context This process is particularly useful in organizations where timely approvals are critical for payroll and employee management. Automating reminders can significantly reduce delays and enhance productivity. ### Relevant Hashtags for SEO #Salesforce #SalesforceFlow #ApprovalProcess #EmailAutomation #WorkflowManagement #SalesforceTips #BusinessAutomation #EmployeeManagement #SalesforceTutorials #ProcessAutomation

In Salesforce, when we send a record for approval, such as a reimbursement or leave request, the approver sometimes forgets to take action, and the request stays pending for a long time.

To avoid this, we want to automatically send a reminder email to the approver if the request is still pending 2 days before the salary day or the employee’s leave date.

In this article, we will learn about how to send a reminder email to the approver using Salesforce Flow.

Send Reminder Email to Approver Using Salesforce Flow

First, I will show you the approval process that I have created for reimbursement approval.

Whenever an employee sends approval for reimbursement and the assigned approver fails to take action within 2 days of the salary day, a reminder email should be automatically sent to the approver.

Reimbursement Approval Process on Employee Object in Salesforce

Below, I have provided a screenshot of the Approval Process I created. In the approval process, the assigned approver should be there to approve or reject the approval request.

Create a Scheduled Trigger Flow with Send Email Action in Salesforce

Now, let’s create the flow to send a reminder email to the approver using Salesforce flow.

In that, I will explain how to retrieve the approval process details:

Approval Process that we created on the object.
Approval steps allow us to view the status of each step, such as pending, approved, or rejected, along with the assigned approver (User).
How do you obtain the approver’s email address to send a reminder email?

We need to check daily for any pending approval requests. For this purpose, we use a schedule trigger flow that executes daily at the predefined time.

Log in to Salesforce Org. -> Click on the Setup -> Home Tab -> In Quick Find Box, Search for Flows. You will see an option under Process Automation -> Click on Flows.

Then, click on the New Flow button to create a new flow.

Here, we will schedule the flow to the freeze user. To achieve this, create a flow with a Scheduled Triggered Flow.

As we click on the schedule trigger flow, we need to set a schedule time:

Start Date: When do you want to start the flow?
Start Time: When should it trigger in the day?
Frequency: Here, we can select Once, Daily, and Weekly.

Schedule Reminder Emails Using Salesforce Flow

To initiate the flow, we added an Object, Employee, along with a condition that if the Approval Status of the record is ‘In Process‘, then only that record should be entered for further processing.

Salesforce Flow to Schedule Reminder Email to Approver

Next, we need to retrieve the approval process that we created for the Employee object. To achieve this, we need to add the Get Records element and enter a Label and API Name.

To get the overall approval request generated when an employee submits a record for reimbursement approval, we must add the Process Instance Object.

Then enter the Filter Conditions so that we get only those approval requests that are submitted from the employee object:

Target Object ID– Equals – Employee>Record ID.

Add Process Instance Object to Get Approval Request in Salesforce Flow

Now we need to retrieve the individual approval steps in a record’s approval process. To achieve this, again add the Get Records element and enter a Label and API Name.

To get the individual approval steps in a record’s approval process, we must add the Process Instance Step.

When a record, such as an expense, reimbursement, or leave, is submitted for approval, Salesforce creates a Process Instance, and within it, one or more Process Instance Step records are assigned to an approver.

Next, enter the Filter Conditions to retrieve only the approval steps within the approval process that were fetched in the previous step.

Process Instance ID – Equals – Get Process Instance>ID.

Add Process Instance Steps to Get Approval Request in Salesforce Flow

To send the email to the approver assigned to approve or reject the approval, we first need to retrieve the user details.

For that, again add the get records element and provide the User in the Object field. Next, to get only those users who are assigned to the approval step, we can add a filter condition as below:

User ID – Equals – Process Instance Step > Actor ID (user).

Get Appover User From Approval Process in Salesforce Flow

We need to check if today’s date is two days before the salary date, and if so, send an email reminder to the approver. To create a Formula Resource, click the Toolbox icon and then click the New Resource button.

In the Resource Type dropdown field, provide the API Name. Select the Formula. Now we need to select the Data Type based on the desired output value.

Now, we need to create the logic using the fields, functions, and operators available in Salesforce Flow.

TODAY() = 
IF(
  MONTH(TODAY()) = 12,
  DATE(YEAR(TODAY()), 12, 31) - 2,
  DATE(YEAR(TODAY()), MONTH(TODAY()) + 1, 1) - 3
)

This formula calculates the First Date of next month minus 3 days, then checks if TODAY() is equal to that date.

Returns TRUE if yes, FALSE otherwise.

For example: DATE(YEAR(TODAY()), MONTH(TODAY()) + 1, 1) this returns first day of next month. Then subtract 3 days to get two days before the last date of the current month.

To validate our formula, click the Check Syntax button. If it displays a valid message, then our formula is correct, and you can click the Done button.

User Formula Resource in Salesforce Flow

To determine if today’s date is two days before the last day of the current month, we add the Decision Element. If it returns true, we will send a reminder email to the approver.

In the condition, we added the formula resource we created and will check if it is true.

Use Decision Element to Check Todays Date in Salesforce Flow

Before adding the send email action, let’s create the Text Template for the email subject and body.

If the condition is true, then we will send an email reminder to the approver. For that, under that outcome, add the Send Email action element. Here, you need to select the field values to send an email, such as sender email, subject, body, recipient address, etc.

In the Recipient Address, select the Get Approver User > Email. Then, in Subject and Body, provide the text template that you created.

Now we are ready to save the flow. To do this, click the Save button, provide a flow Label, and the API Name will be automatically populated.

After that, always debug the flow before activating it to ensure that the working flow is correct and that there are no runtime errors. Then activate the flow

Send Reminder Email to Approver Using Salesforce Flow

Proof of Concept:

When an employee submits a record for reimbursement approval and the approver neglects to act on the request, our created flow sends a reminder email to the approver (user) two days before the last date.

How to Send Reminder Email to Approver Using Salesforce Flow

In this way, we can automate the process of sending a reminder email to the approver who has forgotten to take action on the approval request using Salesforce Flow.

Conclusion

I hope you have got an idea about how to send a reminder email to the approver using Salesforce Flow.

I have explained the approval process that we created on the object approval steps, which allows us to view the status of each step, such as pending, approved, or rejected, along with the assigned approver (User) and how to get the approver’s email address to send a reminder email to them.

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