Friday, June 21, 2019

Automating Email To PDF Conversion Using MessageExport Add-In For Microsoft Outlook

MessageExport is an add-in for Microsoft Outlook (2010/2013/2016/365) that extends Outlook's ability to manipulate email. Among MessageExport's many capabilities is the automation of Outlook email to PDF. You can use MessageExport to automatically convert Outlook email into PDF files, with options to convert email file attachments into PDF as well.

The basic method of using MessageExport is to select the emails you want to convert in the Outlook mail list, choose the export profile (that's the target format selected from the drop down list, such as pdf, msg, csv, etc), and then click the "Export" button.

Export Outlook mail automatically using the MessageExport add-in. This image shows the MessageExport toolbar in Outlook 2010.
MessageExport Toolbar in Outlook 2010

MessageExport's "Export Profiles" give you a lot of control over how they function. You can create your own export profiles or edit the existing profiles. Let's talk about how we can set MessageExport to automatically export email messages to PDF.

Once MessageExport is installed on your computer (a free 15 day trial is available for testing), consider how you want message to flow. For example, do you want to export only certain messages to PDF format?  If so, you should begin with an Outlook rule that will place a copy of specific messages into an Outlook folder. MessageExport can then be setup to monitor that folder and export any emails that are copied to that folder into PDF files.

Next, ask yourself how you want to handle email file attachments. Should MessageExport ignore attachments?  Embed them as separate files within the PDF?  Should it extract the files to disk? Or should it try to convert the file attachments into the PDF document image?

Once you've come to a decision on the above items, let's proceed. 

In our example today, I am going to have MessageExport convert all email messages that are copied to a specific folder into PDF files.

First, right click on your Outlook folder structure and select "new folder." 
Next, setup an Outlook rule that will copy email that meet your specific criteria to this new folder.
Third, go the MessageExport settings and edit the Export Profile to process new email messages that arrive in this folder. Here's how to accomplish step three in detail.

First, go to the MessageExport toolbar and select the profile called "Export to PDF - attachmetns converted/included."  Then click the Edit Profile button.


Click Edit Profile will cause the profile settings window to appear. Next, change the "Export From" field to "Predefined Folder with Subfolders."  This will cause a folder window to popup. Select the Outlook folder where your Outlook rule will be copying emails. This folder will contain the emails that MessageExport will process.

Image shows MessageExport's settings screen where you can setup automatic email-to-pdf processing.

To have MesageExport only save new email messages, check the box that says, "Turn on Export History."  Now it will only export an email one time and prevent duplicates.

From here, click the tab called "Scheduler" to setup the intervals at which MessageExport will check the folder and process any new emails.  Click "Enabled" to turn on the scheduler.
You can then set the time for the first execution of the schedule, as well as an optional last date. The schedule can be set to repeat at any interval you wish. Intervals are scheduled in minutes. To repeat every hour, just type in 60 minutes.


Schedule Outlook email export with MessageExport add-in
MessageExport's Outlook Scheduler
Click Ok, and you're ready to go!  MessageExport will run this schedule at the interval you specify, will convert any new email messages to PDF that your rule places in the target folder, and will copy those PDF files to a location that you specify.

Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions please ask them in the comments field below.






Thursday, May 23, 2019

How to Export an Outlook Email Folder

Outlook provides limited options when copying email beyond the pst or ost file containing the mail folder.  The easiest way to move emails from an Outlook folder is to open that folder, then select all of the emails by typing Control-A.  Drag and drop the emails to your Windows desktop. They will be saved as Outlook .msg email files.

How to save Outlook emails from an Outlook folder to the Windows desktop.
Saving Emails from Outlook Folder to Desktop


If you need more control over the process, such as converting the emails in the Outlook folder to a file type other than .msg (such as .eml, .pdf, .csv, .doc, etc), try a 15 day free trial of MessageExport add-in for Outlook.

MessageExport lets you easily create customized export profiles (or functions) that export a specific or selected Outlook email folder, in specific ways.  For example, an export profile could be set to run on the Sent Items folder,  convert any new email items in that folder to PDF, and save the PDF files in a folder on your hard drive.  If its important to automate the export, a timer may be set so that MessageExport automatically runs the export profile after time period you specify.

Exporting with MessageExport Add-in


After installing the free trial of MessageExport, you'll find the add-on has been added to your Outlook toolbar.

Add-in exports Outlook email folders.
MessageExport toolbar in Outlook

In this demonstration, we want to create a MessageExport profile that will export all of the emails in the Sent Items folder and save them to PDF.   To do this, we can either create an entirely new export profile, or edit an existing profile.  Today, I'm going to edit the "Export to PDF" profile and change it fit our need.

The first step is to select the profile we want to change from the drop down list in MessageExport.

Next, click the "Tool" icon in the toolbar. This opens the profile in edit mode.

Under "Main Export Settings," tell MessageExport to export from "Predefined Folder." This will open a Outlook folder structure explorer. Find the Outlook folder(s) you want to export email from, and tick the box next to it.


Screen shot showing Outlook email folder with check boxes adjacent.
Select the Outlook folder
The final setting to set is Main Export Setting > Export Format.  For our example, we want it set to PDF, although there many formats you can choose from.

Screen image showing location of export format setting, and PDF selected.
Export Format Setting

It may also be a good idea to check the box next to "Turn on Export History." Doing so will prevent MessageExport from duplicating emails that have already been export from Outlook to PDF.

Click Ok, and run your new MessageExport profile.


There are so many ways that MessageExport can be configured. Our support team is always ready to advise customers who need to build particularly complex export profiles. 

Download the 15 day free trial of MessageExport see how much time it can save you!


Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Installing MessageExport Add-on in Microsoft Office Outlook 365

MessageExport add-on brings additional email export functionality to Microsoft Outlook 365.  With MessageExport installed, Outlook 365 can save emails as PDF files, and automatically run user scheduled export actions.  Although email-to-pdf export is a major feature of MessageExport add-on, it can also save email to other formats, including CSV, EML, MBOX, JPG, GIF, TIF, Text, PNG, MHT and more.

MessageExport is free to try for 15 days.  Following the free trial, leave MessageExport installed! Although it will no longer run schedules or bulk export, you can continue to use it to individually export emails.  You can also convert the "free" version of MessageExport into the full version any time with an activation code.



Installing MessageExport


To install the 15 day free trial, visit the publisher's website and get the latest code-signed installer for MessageExport.

MessageExport is an add-on for Microsoft Outlook 365. It also supports Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013 and 2010.  Without a supported version of Microsoft Outlook, you should not install MessageExport.

A 64 bit version of Windows 10, 8, 7 or Vista, and a minimum of 2 GB of RAM is recommended.  32 bit Windows and 32-bit Outlook is supported, but performance may be compromised.

Tip: Outlook 365 must be closed before the MessageExport installer can begin.

Click on the MessageExport installer and follow the prompts!


Screen image displaying, Welcome to the MessageExport Setup Wizard
MessageExport Setup Wizard

Screen image displays "Accept End User License Agreement."
Accept End User License Agreement

Screen image shows "Select installation directory."
Select the application folder. Default is recommended.

Screen image with options for importing new export profiles into MessageExport.
If you are updating MessageExport, choose the best option for your installation.

Screen image displays, "The setup wizard is ready to begin the MessageExport Installation."
Begin the installation process.

Installing MessageExport
MessageExport installer will copy files to your computer.

Installation of MessageExport is completed
Finished!  Time to restart Outlook 365.

When the MessageExport installer wizard finishes, restart Microsoft Outlook 365 and lets verify that MessageExport  is now part of the Outlook menu system.
Outlook 365 start screen and logo
Start Outlook 365

MessageExport tab in Outlook 365
Find the MessageExport tab in Outlook 365
To start using MessageExport, choose an email (or several emails) from the Outlook mail list.  Then, choose an export profile from MessageExport's drop down list and click "Export."

To purchase a license for the full version of MessageExport, click "Get Full Version" from the toolbar.  After you receive your registration code by email, paste it into MessageExport's "Registration Code" field and click "Activate."

MessageExport add-on software activation screen.
Activating MessageExport add-on for Outlook 365.
Now you are ready to get to work!  If you have any questions or need assistance, contact the MessageExport support team at Encryptomatic LLC, or call +1-651-815-4902 x2.