Forum Discussion
Save/attach from emails in MS Outlook 2016 to SharePoint site
Hi there
Appreciate this has been discussed before, but are there any updates planned to the interaction between Outlook and SharePoint?
We're rolling out SharePoint as a file store for our documents, but a common issue is saving to/attaching from emails direct to SharePoint.
Options are:
1. Use the File Sync tool - but we've had some bad experience with files not updating/syncing so there's some resistance to this
2. Use a third party tool - harmon.ie or OnePlace
3. Use the 'Sites' weblocation in Outlook - but this only shows 'recent sites' which is pretty useless.
If the Sites option in Outlook had a selection/browse capability it would resolve all our requirements - any plans to do this ?
thanks
Angus
- This is now possible using the Outlook Desktop and modern browsers - take a look: https://jonasbjerke.wordpress.com/2019/09/06/you-can-now-drag-e-mails-from-outlook-directly-to-sharepoint/
46 Replies
The problem(s) persists but alternatives have become available. There are SharePoint Apps that act when a user adds one or more emails to SharePoint. See e.g., https://directory.collab365.com/office365-sharepoint/sharepoint-email-management-software/ and https://directory.collab365.com/listing/slim-companion-email-manager/.
The Apps automatically extract email metadata like From, To, Subject, ... during uploading and populate the corresponding SharePoint columns. This then allows for sorting, filtering and searching. For example, users can search for emails in SharePoint using the familiar Outlook syntax like From:microsoft. This is fully transparent for end-users and requires no training/instructions: all they need to do is upload the emails via drag and drop from Outlook or use the standard SharePoint "Upload" button.
Some tools even provide additional functionality such as generate a unique name for the email based on the email metadata, show email previews in the browser, allowing viewing of email attachments (pdf, docx, jpg, ...) directly shown in the browser, ...Granted
(1) you can already drag an email to SharePoint today and it will be saved
(2) you can copy an email to Teams using a Microsoft Add-in
The methods above don't meet the robust requirements of customers that need to be able to search and review that email later in M365. We find customers need more than simple copying of emails which goes beyond what Microsoft typically offers in their native functionality. For example
- Extract metadata from the email that you will use to Filter/Search later e.g. Sender, Recipient, Date/Time Received, Subject, etc.
- Some intelligence about where to save it, like predictive filing suggestions
- Ability to apply retention labels
- Ability to add other metadata that can be used for a workflow or lifecycle purpose. e.g. Status, Next Actions, Comments, etc.
- Some centralized control where you can file things in SharePoint/Teams/Onedrive that makes it simple for the user
- The ability to look at previously filed emails without needing to leave Outlook
- The ability to get file from SharePoint and attach or link to your fully formatted outgoing emails without having to leave Outlook.
- Same functionality as above wherever you are using Outlook: desktop, tablet, phone, browser mail.
- All the functionality above made available automatically without the need to install software on your computer, which just needs to be updated every 2 months.
For this and others, I think you will need to look at third party tools. Yes, I work for Colligo. https://www.colligo.com/sharepoint-addons/microsoft-365/
- I do not see a way to drag and drop an email in the modern view, only the classic. Have you had a different experience? It does look like we would need a 3rd party add-in to make this work, but doubt that we will be authorized to bring on a vendor just to save email to a SharePoint list.
You drag the email from Outlook and drop it into a library (not a list). This results in an MSG file in SharePoint (works with modern too). But another downside is that the filename will the same as the subject so it will likely conflict if you add other emails especially from the same thread.
Yes, its not free to use a third party add-in, but it comes down to the value. Customers find it pays for itself in compliance with regulations (certain industries), knowledge management (keep all related files together including emails), and for business processes. We can make a business case to loosen the purse strings because we can show the ROI.
Roland
- In classic SharePoint, we could drag an email directly from Outlook into a SharePoint List Item. Now, in the modern view, we can't figure out how to do that. The only solution seems to be clicking on add an attachment, but that is nearly impossible to navigate to an email if it hasn't been saved some place. Does anyone have a simple solution to this problem created by the modern experience?
- Hi Angus,
I might be a bit biased, but it sounds like we might be able to help you out in a fairly frictionless way.
https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-us/product/web-apps/colligonetworksinc1590513490509.sol-3139-kzl
Thanks, - Any update on this? We are running into same issue.
- This is now possible using the Outlook Desktop and modern browsers - take a look: https://jonasbjerke.wordpress.com/2019/09/06/you-can-now-drag-e-mails-from-outlook-directly-to-sharepoint/
Jonas Vestergaard Bjerke Hansen
The drag and drop from Outlook to SharePoint will get the email over, but no metadata properties that would be helpful for searching/filtering the email later. The new 365 version of Colligo email manager add-in enables a single click copy of one or more emails plus attachments (embedded or separated from the emails) and will include all the typical metadata useful for sorting and filtering (Subject, Sent/Received date, Sender, Recipients, etc. ) and you and append other tags easily to further categorize (e.g. Project ID, follow up actions, comments, plus retention labels if needed). Send and file is also a cool way of capturing your outgoing emails too that need to be shared and preserved.
https://www.colligo.com/sharepoint-addons/microsoft-365/
- The main issue regarding this is that many reply emails have the same subject which creates a name clash when dragging to SharePoint (or any filing system).
IJonas Vestergaard Bjerke Hansen
Indeed Outlook + Chrome (since version 76 released around 30 July 2019) or Outlook + Edge allow users to drag and drop emails and/or attachments directly from Outlook to SharePoint. See also various posts on https://sharepoint.uservoice.com/forums/329214-sites-and-collaboration/suggestions/16003996-please-let-me-drag-outlook-attachments-into-sharep.
It does not work with IE11 or FireFox. It also does not work on macOS. The emails are uploaded as msg files. Separate tools are necessary in case the email metadata needs to be extracted and captured into SharePoint columns.
Paul | SLIM Applications
I wonder if this is timely...
We have an addin for Outlook that allows the saving of emails and all attachments (doc, jpeg, wav, mp4, etc.) to a SharePoint folder.
You can get a trial at the website mail2share.com or ask me directly.
Joe
Another option is of course to save the attachment to OfB (e.g. in a folder called Temp). When the file is synced to the cloud (should not take long time) you can easily move the file to the correct SharePoint Team site folder. If you do it like this you will leave no traces in OfB.
It's of course much much much better if we could save directly to a SharePoint Team site folder.
- On my system , Windows 10 and Outlook 2016 , I have the new sync client installed.
Assuming that I have the site/library that I wish to save the attachment to already synched , then I can select the attachment , right click, save as and then select the library that has been synched in the client or else to my OD4B location. I think this is probably the easiest way to do it OOTB on my system.
Another option is to forward the email to a channel in MS Teams. This will save the attachment into a folder within the "documents" library associated with the Team. i'm not so hot on this option as you need to go into Teams (afaik) and copy the email address associated with the channel first.
I think the ability to add the attachment (cloudy) is quite nice.. though tbh I normally am in SharePoint already when I want to share a document so I'm typically using the system generated email when sharing internally. HTHWhen I attempt to save an Outlook attachment directly to SPO, with a list already connected to Outlook, it tells me I don't have permission. I am the Owner and Admin for the whole site. ??
Hi
Thanks for the clear response.
I agree using Sync'd libraries works well, both for attaching and saving attachments.
Emailing to a team email address sounds interesting too - I've may revisit this.
It's still an issue though if you don't have the library sync'd. We have a document library in SharePoint for each of our clients (100+), so it's not practical to sync them all, even with Files on Demand.
I guess what I'd like to see is something like the functionality in commercial add-ins which add a nice search function to Outlook to locate files in SharePoint to attach, and/or save attachments to any cloud-based library. (without having to purchase an add-on!!).
Thanks
Angus
You can use Flow to store attachments in SharePoint. Create a shared mailbox "StoreInSharePointX". Build a Flow to be triggered when an email arrive in the shared mailbox. You can use this template and customize to exactly what you need:
https://us.flow.microsoft.com/en-us/galleries/public/templates/f7a46809e53c42108034e56acf83bb79/save-my-email-attachments-to-a-sharepoint-document-library/The process is then that the user forward to the shared mailbox when they want to store the attachment.
Um, Outlook has been able to integrate with SPO/ODFB for a while now, have you looked at "cloudy attachments"? https://blogs.office.com/en-us/2015/11/09/attachments-in-outlook-2016-ready-for-collaboration/
In addition to that, you get a quick "Save to OneDrive" option. Or am I missing something here? Are you talking about On-Prem? If so, the steps to configure integration between SharePoint and Exchange are here: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/exchange/2016/11/03/configure-rich-document-collaboration-using-exchange-server-2016-office-online-server-oos-and-sharepoint-server-2016/
- I think Angus is talking about saving attachment in regular SPO sites (not in Group sites that is something we have by default).
- This looks like the most relevant answer:
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Office-365/Save-email-attachments-from-MS-Outlook-2016-to-SharePoint-site/td-p/16555
I see Juan is on that thread already. Any idea how up to date this information is?
