Mail Sources

M-Files provides the opportunity to save, manage, and share important e-mail in a controlled manner. The messages can be transferred directly and automatically from the mail server to the document vault.

For example, messages and their attachments sent to the organization's common e‑mail box can be transferred directly to the document vault. In the document vault, imported messages can be handled in a controlled manner via, for example, workflow features. Example use cases include a centralized and controlled way for handling orders, and a systematic method for archiving sent offers. Important information can thus be managed in M-Files so that it does not get lost and forgotten in e-mail boxes.

The organization may also want to save important sent e-mail to M-Files. Such important messages could include, for instance, proposals and order confirmations. Your organization can use a designated archive e-mail account to which M-Files is connected. From this box, M-Files imports all e-mail to the document vault and then deletes the messages from the mail server. Important sent messages can be archived in M-Files by sending the message to the archive box via the Cc or Bcc fields. To avoid junk mail, it is possible to set the e-mail account to accept mail from internal users only.

Video: Email Monitoring

Creating a New Connection to a Mail Source

Do the following steps to create a new connection to a mail source:

Steps

  1. Open M-Files Admin.
  2. In the left-side tree view, expand the desired connection to M-Files Server.
  3. In the left-side tree view, expand the document vault of your choice.
  4. Still in the left-side tree view, expand Connections to External Sources and then select Mail Sources.
  5. Click New Mail Source... on the task area.
    The Connection Properties dialog is opened.
  6. In the Description field, enter a description for the new connection.
  7. Select either:
    1. POP3: Use this option if the protocol for connecting to the mail server is POP3.
      or
    2. IMAP: Use this option if the protocol for connecting to the mail server is IMAP.
  8. In the Mail server field, enter the network address of the mail server (the IP address or the domain name, such as mail01.company.com).
  9. Optional: Check the Use encrypted connection (SSL/TLS) option check box to use an encrypted connection to the mail server.
  10. In the Port number field, enter the port number of the mail server.
  11. If you selected IMAP as the protocol, enter the folder on the server from which mail is read and imported in the Folder field.
  12. In the Username field, enter the username for connecting to the mail server in the format user@domain (for example, [email protected]).
  13. In the Password field, enter the password for connecting to the mail server.
  14. Optional: In the Action section, select the appropriate options:
    Select the option... If you want to...
    Include attachments Import attachments along with e-mail messages.
    Import only messages that have attachments Import to the vault only the e-mail messages that have attachments. Messages without attachments will not be imported.
    Delete messages from server after importing Remove the messages from the mail server automatically once they have been imported to M-Files.
    Remove attachments from server after importing Remove attachments from the mail server once e-mail messages have been imported to M-Files. This option can be enabled only if the selected protocol is IMAP and the option Include attachments is enabled.
    Save in Outlook message format (*.msg) Save the e-mail messages to M-Files in the Outlook message format (MSG). Attachments are stored inside the MSG file and the messages appear in M-Files as single-file documents (see Single-File and Multi-File Documents).
    Note: This functionality requires Microsoft Exchange Server or a 32-bit MAPI client to be installed on the server running M-Files Server.
    Separate attachments from the message Save attachments separately from the body of the message. This option can be enabled only if the option Save in Outlook message format (*.msg) is enabled. The message without its attachments is saved into an MSG file, and any attachments are stored beside the MSG file in their original file formats. If the message contains attachments, the message and its attachments appear in M-Files as a multi-file document.
  15. Optional: Check the Check for new and deleted files periodically option check box to enable M-Files to synchronize with the mail server at predefined intervals.
    1. In the Delay between checks field, enter the time interval in seconds between synchronizations.
  16. Optional: Click Refresh Now to synchronize the vault with the mail server right away.
    You can click Refreshing Status... to see the current status of the refreshing process.
  17. Optional: On the Metadata tab you can define properties for new objects created via this connection.
    For more information, see Defining Automatic Metadata for a Mail Source.
  18. On the Advanced tab you can set an alias for this connection.
    For more information, see Associating the Metadata Definitions.
  19. Click OK to finish creating the connection.

Results

E-mail messages are imported to M-Files from the defined mail source according to the settings specified.

Defining Automatic Metadata for a Mail Source

You can define automatic metadata for new objects created from an external mail source. You can use fixed property values or extract property values from the imported e-mail messages.

Do the following steps to define automatic metadata for objects created from an external mail source:

Steps

  1. Open M-Files Admin.
  2. In the left-side tree view, expand the desired connection to M-Files Server.
  3. In the left-side tree view, expand the document vault of your choice.
  4. Still in the left-side tree view, expand Connections to External Sources and then select Mail Sources.
  5. On the Mail Sources list, double-click the source that you want to edit.
    The Connection Properties dialog is opened.
  6. Click the Metadata tab.
    The Metadata tab is opened.
  7. Use the Object type drop-down menu to select the object type for new objects created via this connection.
  8. Use the Permissions drop-down menu to select the permissions for new objects created via this connection.
    You can click the ... button to refine the permission settings.
  9. In the Properties section, click Add... to add a new automatic property for objects created via this connection or select one of the existing properties and click Edit... to edit it.
    The Define Property dialog is opened.
  10. Select either:
    1. Use a fixed value: Use this option to add a fixed value for the selected property.
      or
    2. Read from the e-mail message: Use this option to extract a value from the e-mail message for the selected property.
  11. If the selected property is of the Choose from list data type, in the Conversion to value list item section, select either:
    1. Use the value read as the ID of the item: Select this option if you want to use the extracted value as an identifier of the value list item with a separately defined name.
      or
    2. Use the value read as the name of the item: Select this option if you want to use the extracted value as the name of the value list item. You can check the Add a new item to the list if a matching item is not found option check box if you want to add a new value list item whenever a new value is extracted.
  12. Click OK to close the Define Property dialog.

Results

The e-mail messages imported to M-Files via this connection are assigned automatic properties according to the settings that you have defined.
© M-Files Corporation 2016
Last updated 10/2016