Automatically send an email to a user when 'assigned to' column is modified? (SharePoint Online)

[toby.mcdaid]

We have a list that contains items which go through an approval process. When a list item is first created, a name is put into the 'assigned to' column, indicating the first approver. When that user approves the item, they will modify the name to the next approver, etc.

We need a system where each time this 'assigned to' name is changed, the name of the new approver added to the column is notified via email. I can't for the life of me figure this out. Some people said elsewhere on Google to use SharePoint Designer, but this software gives me all sorts of errors when trying to connect with any SharePoint Online site. SharePoint Online's inbuilt flows feature doesn't seem to be great either.

Any suggestions?

[#2]

Hi Toby, in the old days of event receivers your had a before and after properties which you could use to ascertain whether a field had changed. With Flow you may need to be a little more devious with your resolution, by storing the "previous approver" in a field which you hide away. Then each time your Flow runs, compare the "Approver" to the "Previous Approver" and if they don't match then process as a new approval. Then each time your run the approval, change the "Previous Approver" to the name of the person who just approved (How many times can I say approve in one sentence!).

Try that first of all and see if we get into the ballpark of what you're trying to achieve.

[#3]

As @Matt Weston explained very well, you'll need to figure out how to use Microsoft Flow and build this workflow yourself; Microsoft makes a few out-of-the-box workflows, but as you've observed, they feel limited because they can't build every possible permutation of what people want. Very doable once you can understand that tool.

[#4]

Is the list a task list or a custom list? If it's a task list there is an option in advanced settings to send an e-mail when tasks are assigned.

If it's a custom list you can either use flow or if you don't have a bunch of users you can create a view called My Approvals. Filter the view using where Assignedto field = [Me], and then have each person create a list alert, based on when items are changed, sending alert when changes are made in the follow view "My Approvals". 

This should send an alert anytime a new item shows in that view, aka someone gets one assigned to them. The only negative with this approach, they will get notification when they make edits to their task when it's assigned to them.