Revise article on request approval failure

Updated the title and description of the article to clarify the issue regarding request approvals. Adjusted the date and refined the symptoms and solutions sections for better clarity.

Author: Cloud-Writer

SharePoint/SharePointOnline/sharing-and-permissions/request-approval-failed.md

@@ -1,109 +1,101 @@
 ---
-title: Request approval failed when you process a pending request
-description: This article describes an issue where Access Denied to Access Requests list or Request approval failed when you process a pending request, and provides a solution.
+title: Errors when you process a pending request
+description: Describes an issue where Access Denied to Access Requests list or Request approval failed when you process a pending request, and provides a solution.
 author: Cloud-Writer
 manager: dcscontentpm
 search.appverid: 
   - MET150
 audience: ITPro
 ms.topic: troubleshooting
 ms.author: meerak
+ms.reviewer: prbalusu, nirupme
 ms.custom: 
   - sap:Sharing\Access requests
   - CSSTroubleshoot
 appliesto: 
   - SharePoint Online
   - SharePoint Server 2019
   - SharePoint Server 2016
-  - SharePoint Server 2010
-ms.date: 12/17/2023
+ms.date: 12/05/2025
 ---
 
-# "Access Denied" to Access Requests list or "Request approval failed" when you process a pending request
+# Errors when you process a pending request
 
-## Problem
+## Symptoms
 
-You have a Microsoft SharePoint Online site on which the **Allow access requests** setting is enabled.
+The "Allow access requests" setting is enabled for your SharePoint Online site.
 
-When users who have **Full Control** permissions to the site clicks **Access requests and invitations in Site Settings**, they receive one of the following error messages:
+When users who have Full Control permissions to the site select **Access requests and invitations** in the settings for the site, they receive one of the following error messages:
 
-**Access Denied.**
+- Access Denied
+- You can't access this item.
+- You don't have permission to access this item.
 
-**You can't access this item.**
-
-**You don't have permission to access this item.**
-
-Also, when users browse to the **Access Requests** list and then click **Approve** or **Decline** for a pending request, they receive the following error message:
+Also, when users browse to the **Access Requests** list and select **Approve** or **Decline** to process a pending request, they receive one of the following status messages:
 
 > Sending approval
 > Request approval failed
-## Solution
 
-To resolve this issue, users must be either site collection administrators or be members of the Owners group for the site. The Owners group must also have permissions to access the **Access Requests** list. Use the following solutions as appropriate for your specific configuration.
+## Cause
 
-### Site collection administrator
+These issues occur because the affected users are neither site collection administrators nor members of the Owners group for the site. Only users with these specific permissions can process requests to the Access Requests list. For users who are members of the Owners group for the site, an additional requirement is that the Owners group must have Full Control permissions to access the Access Requests list.
 
-If an affected user should be a site collection administrator, go to the following Microsoft website for more information about how to manage administrators for your sites:
+## Resolution
 
-[Manage site collection administrators](/sharepoint/manage-site-collection-administrators)
+To resolve the issues, assign site collection administration permissions to the affected users or add them to the Owners group for the site. Additionally, the Owners group must have Full Control permissions to access the Access Requests list.
 
-### Add the user to the Owners group for the site
+Use one of the following solutions.
 
-If the user should be a site owner, you must add the user to the Owners group for the site. To do this, follow these steps:
+### Solution 1: Assign Site collection administrator permissions
 
-1. As a user who can change site permissions, browse to the affected site or site collection. Click the gear icon for the **Settings** menu, and then click **Site settings**.
+To provide a user with site collection administrator permissions, see [Manage site collection administrators](/sharepoint/manage-site-collection-administrators).
 
-1. Click **Site permissions**.
+### Solution 2: Add the user to the Owners group for the site 
 
-1. Click the **Owners** group for the site.
+Use the following steps:
 
-1. Click **New**.
+**Note**: You must have the Manage Permissions permission level on the site to edit the Owners group for the site.
 
-1. In the **Share** dialog box, enter the user account of the user who you want to add to the group. Then, click **Share**.
+Find the Owners group for teh affected site collection. If the Owners group for the site collection does not exist, click **Grant Permissions**, enter the name of the Owners group for the site in the **Share** dialog box, and then click **Share**
 
-1. Test to verify that the user can now access the list and approve or decline requests.
+1. On the affected site, select **Settings** > **Site settings**.
 
-### Make sure that the Owners group has permissions to the Access Requests list
+1. Select **Site permissions**.
 
-If the Owners group is changed or was removed from the **Access requests** list, you must add the Owners group permissions for the list. You must also make sure that the affected user is included in the Owners list. To do this, follow these steps:
+1. Check for the Owners group in the list. If the Owners group for the site collection doesn't exist, select **Grant Permissions**, enter **Owners** for the name of the Owners group for the site in the **Share** dialog box, and then select **Share**.
 
-1. As a user who has the **Manage Permissions Permission Level** on the affected site and who also has access to the **Access Requests** list (for example, a Site Collection administrator), browse to the **Access Requests** list in **Internet Explorer**.
+1. Select the **Owners** group for the site, and then select **New**.
+   
+1. In the **Share** dialog box, enter the user account to add to the group, and then select **Share**.
 
-1. Press F12 to open the F12 Developer Tools window.
+Test to verify that the user can now access the Access REquests list, and approve or decline requests.
 
-1. Press Ctrl + F5 to refresh the page.
+### Owners group must have permissions to the Access Requests list
 
-1. Click the **Debugger tab**.
+If the Owners group is changed or was removed from the Access requests list, you must re-enable permissions to the list for the Owners group. To make these updates, you must have the Manage Permissions permission level for the affected site and also have access to the Access Requests list.
 
-    :::image type="content" source="media/request-approval-failed/debugger-tab.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the Debugger tab of F12 Developer Tools window.":::
+Use the following steps:
 
-1. In the search box on the right hand side of the page, type **pagelistid:**, and then press Enter.
+1. Navigate to **Access Requests** in your browser.
 
-    :::image type="content" source="media/request-approval-failed/pagelistid.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the search box when you type PageListId.":::
-
-1. Copy the GUID that follows the pageListId located in the listedit.aspx page. The GUID will be between an opening brace ( { ) character and a closing brace ( } ) character as follows:
-
-    :::image type="content" source="media/request-approval-failed/guid.png" alt-text="Screenshot of an example of GUID that follows the pageListId.":::
+1. Press the **F12** key to open the F12 Developer Tools window, and **Ctrl + F5** to refresh the page.
 
-1. In the browser address bar, enter **https://contoso.sharepoint.com>/_layouts/15/ListEdit.aspx?List=<{GUID}>**.
+1. Select the **Debugger tab**.
 
-    Example: `https://contoso.sharepoint.com/_layouts/15/listedit.aspx?List=d078a4df-3c52-4b23-8c28-e9561a243f0c`
-
-    > [!NOTE]
-    > In this address, represents the URL for the site collection in which you want to change the access requests (for example, `https://contoso.sharepoint.com`). And <{GUID}> represents the GUID that you copied in step 6.
+    :::image type="content" source="media/request-approval-failed/debugger-tab.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the Debugger tab of F12 Developer Tools window.":::
 
-1. On the **Settings** page, click **Permissions for this list**.
+1. In the search box on the right side of the page, type **pagelistid:**, and then press Enter.
 
-1. Make sure that the Owners group for the site is included in the list of permissions for the Access Requests list. If the Owners group for the site collection does not exist, click **Grant Permissions**, enter the name of the Owners group for the site in the **Share** dialog box, and then click **Share**.
+    :::image type="content" source="media/request-approval-failed/pagelistid.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the search box when you type PageListId.":::
 
-1. Follow the steps in the "Add the user to the Owners group for the site" section to make sure that the user is included in the Owners group.
+1. Copy the GUID that follows the pageListId located in the listedit.aspx page. The GUID will be enclosed between braces. 
+    :::image type="content" source="media/request-approval-failed/guid.png" alt-text="Screenshot of an example of GUID that follows the pageListId.":::
 
-## More information
+1. In the address bar of the browser, enter '<your_tenant_URL>/_layouts/15/ListEdit.aspx?List=<{GUID}>'.
 
-This issue occurs because only site collection administrators or users who are members of the Owners group for the site collection have permission to approve or decline pending requests in the **Access Requests** list. For situations in which users are members of the Owners group for the site, the Owners group must also have Full Control permissions to be able to access the **Access Requests** list.
+    Example: `https://contoso.sharepoint.com/_layouts/15/listedit.aspx?List=d078a4df-3c52-4b23-8c28-e9561a243f0c`
 
-For more information about how to set up and manage access requests, go to [Set up and manage access requests](https://support.office.com/article/set-up-and-manage-access-requests-94b26e0b-2822-49d4-929a-8455698654b3).
+    In this example, 'https://contoso.sharepoint.com' is the tenant URL and the GUID is the value from step 5.
 
-For more information about how to use the F12 developer tools, go to [Using the F12 developer tools](/previous-versions/windows/internet-explorer/ie-developer/samples/bg182326(v=vs.85)).
+1. On the **Settings** page, select **Permissions for this list**, and select the **Owners** group.
 
-Still need help? Go to [SharePoint Community](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/sharepoint/ct-p/SharePoint).