Showing posts with label MS Outlook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MS Outlook. Show all posts

Friday, May 15, 2020

MessageExport Update Adds Ability To Include Number of Email Attachments In File Name

MessageExport  is a popular add-in that extends Microsoft Outlook's export abilities to include formats like PDF, MHT, CSV, HTML, JPG, ODT, and much more. You can use MessageExport with Microsoft Outlook's rules feature to automatically save new messages that match your pre-set criteria.

The MessageExport toolbar in Outlook 2013.
MessageExport Add-on shown in Outlook 2013


Since version 2.3 includes a new feature, we wanted to expound on it so you can begin using it.

Using MessageExport's New Attachment Count in Email File Name


MessageExport gives users great flexibility to create a custom naming plan for the Outlook email messages they export.  They could also include the sending or receiving email address, send date, time, subject, etc.

Since MessageExport version 2.3, users can include an attachment count.  This idea came to us from one of our customers who needed a to identify the number of email attachments within an export Outlook email. To address this situation, we added the "att" field to the naming scheme.  "att" stands for attachments, of course.  If there are, say, six attachments in the message, you can now embed this information into the name of the exported email file.

Here is how to begin using the "att" function.

First, edit the MessageExport "Export Profile" that you wish to apply this function to.
Click on the "Export name" tab. Scroll down in the "Naming Schema Wizard" until you see the criteria called "Export Attachments Count." 
Click on it, and then click the arrow to add this criteria to the list of selected fields.

Name exported emails after message parts.
Adding the "Export Attachments Count" to an Export Profile


You can add additional fields to the Selected fields list.  In our example, I am going to have the attachment count as the first field in the name, followed by the "_" connector, the year the email was sent, the "+" connector, and the send month.

I could add more fields, or fewer fields, as MessageExport allows me to setup virtually any configuration of the data as necessary.  If the length of the file name exceeds the limits of the Windows file system, then the name will be truncated, so make every field count.

MessageExport naming schema, showing how to add email parts to the custom exported file name.
Adding attributes to the email export file-name schema.

Click Ok to save your naming schema and exit back to Outlook

I now select several messages with file attachments and export them using the profile I just edited. In my situation, I edited the "Export to MSG" profile, so I will be saving  the emails in .msg format.

After the export completes, here are the files that have been created by MessageExport in my target folder.

A list of exported emails with the number of attachments shown in their file name.
Files exported showing attachment count in their name

 Notice that the file name now includes 1att_, 2att_, 3att_, etc.. This corresponds to 1 attachment in this email, 2 attachments in those emails, 3 attachments, etc.  By viewing the name of the file, you can now instantly know how many files are inside that message.

If you have any questions, please post them below.
Download a free 15 day trial of MessageExport add-in for Microsoft Outlook and try it yourself!






Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Embedded E-Mail Processing: How to Convert Outlook Email With Email File Attachments to PDF?

MessageExport is a professional tool designed specifically for people who have important work to do with E-Mail.  It integrates tightly with Microsoft Office Outlook, enhancing the user experience with powerful new features designed to make their work life easier and more productive.

Today we released MessageExport 3.5, and we're excited about the new features it has.  One feature was requestd by several customers was to improve MessageExport's handling of .msg and .eml email file attachments (emails within emails).

In this release, we've improved how MessageExport handles E-Mail file attachments that are themselves E-Mails during the process of converting (or bulk converting)  E-Mails to PDF.

Say that you are working on a legal case, and you have just received a "smoking gun" E-Mail message as part of discovery.  This E-Mail that has a .MSG E-Mail file attached to it.  And inside that .MSG E-Mail attachment, is another E-Mail message, that contains yet another .MSG E-Mail file attachment.  And lets also say that each of these E-Mails contain other attachments, such as .jpg images.

If you are the lucky person who is responsible to convert this E-Mail message (which is actually four different nested E-Mails) into a PDF file, it may take you 30 minutes or longer to manually disassemble the entire E-Mail and attachments, re-organize them into a logical structure that preserves their context, and then convert them all into a single PDF file.

MessageExport software toolbar installed in Outlook 2013.
MessageExport 3.5 Exports E-Mails That Are Attachments Into PDF Files.


Or, you could just click on the main E-Mail message, choose "Export to PDF" from the MessageExport toolbar, and click "Export."  MessageExport will complete the entire E-Mail to PDF operation for you in less than a minute, including the processing of emails that are themselves forwarded email attachments.

MessageExport 3.5 also includes a re-vamped naming structure, which we call Breadcrumbs" for lack of a better term. Breadcrumbs help to orient the viewer to the content within the PDF.  For example, it may be important to know the order and the structure of the various E-Mails, otherwise how can you tell who sent which file to whom?

Embedded email processing is a powerful new feature for MessageExport. We hope it will help make you more efficient, and your work more delightful.

If you are already a MessageExport customer, you may be entitled to free upgrade.

If you have never tried MessageExport, take it for a 15 day spin. If it meets your needs, we'd love to have you as a customer. Click here to download a free trial of MessageExport.


Tuesday, May 14, 2013

MessageExport: The Outlook Add-In For Email Export

If managing your Outlook email content is important to your work, then MessageExport is a tool that can save you a great deal of time and effort.

MessageExport is an add-in for Microsoft Outlook (2016/2013/2010/2007) that greatly expands your ability to save and convert your email messages. For more than six years, MessageExport has been an important tool for people who need to manage email content, simplifying the process of converting and copying email messages from MS Outlook to neutral formats such as .pdf, .eml, .mbox, .csv, and more.

With MessageExport, you can convert Outlook emails to different formats either in bulk or individually, and simultaneously perform additional functions, such as compressing the output into a zip file, or copying the output to a specific folder.

MessageExport uses "export profiles" which are selected from a drop down list in the MessageExport's Outlook toolbar. Export profiles are instruction sets that give you a lot of flexibility to determine how MessageExport operates.  MessageExport comes with about twenty pre-configured export profiles, such as, "Export to PDF - attachments converted/included." You can customize profiles, or create entirely new ones.

Choose the export profile in MS Outlook.
Email Export Profiles in MessageExport
To use MessageExport, start by selecting the Outlook email messages you want to convert from the email list.  Once the messages are highlighted, choose the desired export profile from the toolbar dropdown list.  Click the export button to begin the process.

The image below shows the entire process, from selecting Outlook emails, choosing an export profile, and starting the process.

Using MessageExport save Outlook email to PDF

MessageExport can also convert an entire Outlook folder, making it a great tool to use along side Outlook's Rules function. For example, if you want to convert all emails received from a specific email domain into a pdf format and copy it to a shared folder, this can be accomplished quite easily with MessageExport. There are endless ways in which MessageExport's capabilities can be combined in an Export Profile to automate manual email conversion processes.

Common uses for MessageExport

  • Bulk convert email to PDF
  • Convert an Outlook folder into a single PDF file
  • Convert an email and file attachments into a PDF file
  • Convert an email to PDF and embed file attachments within the PDF
  • Convert Outlook emails to EML, MSG or MBOX
  • Save selected Outlook emails into a CSV file
  • Schedule an export profile to run at a specific time interval and process new emails
  • Combine MessageExport with Outlook rules to process specific emails
  • Create specific naming criteria (bates-stamp like) and apply to the file name.
  • And much more.

The best way to learn about MessageExport is to download a 15 day free trial and try it for yourself.