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Save/attach from emails in MS Outlook 2016 to SharePoint site

Brass Contributor

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

46 Replies

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-...

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-Sha...

I see Juan is on that thread already. Any idea how up to date this information is?

Hi

 

Yes, to clarify, I'm talking about SharePoint Online (not Groups or OneDrive 4 Business)

 

There are a couple of issues with the current functionality.

1. Saving attachments doesn't seem to have any links to SPO (I get the option to save to OneDrive/OneDrive for Business or Groups, but not SharePoint online sites)

2. Attaching from SharePoint Online gives me the option to attach from 6 recent folders, but not the option to select a different site to attach from.

 

The thread @teslateser refers to does seem to be the most relevant, but is quite old - is there any update on this?

 

As a general comment, SharePoint/Office integration really does seem to be poor given how long SharePoint (and Office) have been around. We've just about got the ability in Office to save/open files from Sites in Word/PowerPoint/Excel now, but it's a big issue for adoption within organisations when it is so hard to save to SharePoint vs. saving to a file share/local drive. (Which is what people do instead!).

 

thanks

 

Angus

I'm not aware of any update, but maybe Vasil has more info. to share here

Hi

 

Vasil - is there any update? I've also realised this is not supported in Outlook Web app either - OneDrive for Business and Groups are, but not standard SharePoint sites.

 

I'm on the brink of rolling out storage of client-related documents in SharePoint but am concerned by the lack of integration...any reply would be appreciated!

 

thanks

 

Angus

 

Sorry, no, I assumed you talked about ODFB only, which is not the case obviously.

So...is there any likelihood of getting this implemented?

 

It seems strange Microsoft's Cloud Email service can't save/attach documents from it's Cloud document sharing system? (And likewise the Office -> SharePoint integration is so limited).

 

If not, is it because file Sync -> PCs and/or Groups are the focus for the future of SharePoint sites?

 

Thanks

 

Angus

Any update on this? We are running into same issue. We have well over 800 employees that would like to attach documents from sharepoint sites! 

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. HTH

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

 

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.

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...

The process is then that the user forward to the shared mailbox when they want to store the attachment. 

Hi

 

Thanks for that - I'll give it a try. I'd need to look at how we'd know where in SharePoint to save it, but I'm sure there's something we could do with a Flow.

 

thanks

 

Angus

I see this is a couple of months old, but we are trying to switch to Office365 and Sharepoint.

 

For Attaching Files: Create a new email, click Attach File in the email, scroll down to Browse Web Groups, and then select Group Files. 

 

This allows us to navigate our folder directory and select the file we want to attach. Unfortunately, we haven't had much luck with Saving Files by browsing the file directory. We can only save files in the Main Directory, which we then have to move to appropriate folder. 

 

If anyone have a better save option, I'm all ears.

 

Thanks

I still maintain using mail2share.com 

Less headaches, more sharing,

Attach files
There are solutions available that allow attaching SharePoint documents to emails. For example, the SharePoint Add-in Email Manager allows users to attach documents within a browser window. See e.g. https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-us/product/office/wa104380931

 

Saving emails/attachment from Outlook
Outlook is still not compatible with browser drag and drop format. This prevents a direct drag from Outlook to SharePoint. There are quite some solutions: https://directory.collab365.community/office365-sharepoint/sharepoint-email-management-software/
One common solution is to use an Outlook Add-in that enables users to directly transfer emails/attachments to SharePoint. There are several vendors and the main drawback is the need to install the add-in on the user's computer. This might become a drawback when part of the SharePoint users are from other organisations.
Creating a drive mapping or using the OneDrive for Business client are other options.
Lastly, there are also solutions that use the desktop as an intermediate location. Some solutions (e.g. Migration Manager https://directory.collab365.community/listing/slim-companion-migration-manager/) also allow extraction of email metadata (To, From, Subject, Sentdate, conversation, ...) into SharePoint columns. The email metadata can then be used for searching, organising emails, etc..

Paul

When 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. ??

1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by Angus Hamilton (Brass Contributor)