Flow approval process troubleshooting
Key Takeaway
A failed flow approval process run can't be resumed. Find the cause in the error email, reproduce it with the Flow Builder debugger, and prevent the next failure with fault paths on stages.
A flow approval process is built in Flow Builder from stages, steps, and decisions. When a run fails, the approval submission ends in Error and the run can't be resumed. Admins troubleshoot with three tools. The error email shows what failed. The Flow Builder debugger reproduces and isolates the problem. Fault paths on stages stop submissions from failing.
What happens when a submission fails
When an orchestration run hits an error that nothing handles, the run fails. Both the run and its parent approval submission get the status Error. Salesforce also sends an error email.
Unlike other orchestration runs, a failed orchestration run for a flow approval process can't be resumed. So the fix is to handle errors before they cause a failure, by configuring fault paths on stages.
The statuses inside a failed run show where the error happened:
| Status | When it appears | |
|---|---|---|
| Stage run | Error | The stage or one of its steps caused the failure. |
| Stage run | Discontinued | The error happened at the orchestration run level. |
| Step run | Error | The step caused the failure. |
| Step run | Discontinued | The step was in progress. |
| Step run | Not Started | The step hadn't started. |
| Approval work item | Approved or Rejected | The work item was completed before the error and keeps its status. |
| Approval work item | Assigned | The work item was assigned but not completed. |
A failed approval submission doesn't necessarily roll back record additions, changes, or deletions made before the orchestration run failed. Salesforce recommends designing and debugging flow approval processes in a sandbox before deploying them to production.