Your single source of Cloud email solutions
Talk to us: info
outlookcloud.com
Getting started with Attachment Manager
The Attachment Manager is distributed as a zip file. First unzip the file to a temporary directory, then run the Setup.exe program to install the application. We recommend not to click the .msi file to install because some of the dependencies may not be installed correctly.
After install, start your Outlook. You should see a new toolbar as shown below. This indicates that the Attachment Manager has been installed and loaded properly.
Before using Attachment Manager, you first need to configure its options. Click the "Tools" on the menu, then "Options", then the "Attachment Manager" tab, and you should see the screen below. We currently support 3 "Cloud" providers: a network drive, Amazon S3 or Microsoft Windows Azure. Use the drop down menu to select which Cloud service to use. If you select "No attachments management" radio button, Attachment Manager is disabled. If you select "Detach attachments to Network Drive(ND)", you are enabling Network Drive Cloud option. If you select "Detach attachments to Amazon S3", you are enabling the Amazon Cloud option. If you select "Detach attachments to Microsoft Azure", you are enabling the Microsoft Windows Azure Cloud option. In the future, we will support more Cloud providers.
Standard features for all Cloud providers
"Auto detach on new emails": If enabled, Attachment Manager automatically convert each new incoming email and detach attachments to the Cloud.
"Detach embedded images": If enabled, Attachment Manager no only detach regular attachments, but also convert embedded images to the Cloud. If you detach to Amazon S3, you need to add "yourbucket.s3.amazonaws.com" to your trusted zone in "Outlook->Tools->Options->Security->Zone Settings->Trusted sites->Sites". If you detach to Windows Azure, you need to add "youraccount.blob.core.windows.net" to your trusted zone. Otherwise, your image may not display properly.
"Local cache": You must specify a local directory where attachments are cached. This will allow you to view attachments even if you are offline. You can delete all content in the local cache directory if you wish. It will not affect the permanent storage of these attachments in the Cloud.
"Sub dir. path": All attachments are stored under a sub-directory specific to the email to avoid name conflicts. Since version 2.1.0, you can specify the subdirectory name. Use the "Edit..." button to help you enter the name. Several special character sequences are recognized:
- %Y: Year. The year the message was sent.
- %M: Month. The month the message was sent.
- %D: Day. The day the message was sent.
- %H: Hour. The hour the message was sent.
- %m: minute. The minute the message was sent.
- %A: Author. The name of the sender of the message.
- %S: Subject. The email message's subject.
- %E: Email. The sender's email address.
The default is "%Y_%M_%D_%A_%S", but you can customize as you wish.
You can use any characters in the name, but special characters such as /\<>*|:?" are automatically converted to . (period). In addition, the total name is chopped to be 60 characters or fewer to fit in file system limits.
"Detach only if bigger than": Since 2.1.0, you can specify the minimum size of the attachment that you want to detach.
Enterprise features for all Cloud providers
"Encrypt": Will encrypt each regular attachment (not embedded images) before putting it in the Cloud. The local cached copy remains in an un-encrypted form.
"Encryption password": You can specify a password to be used on all attachments.
"Random key on each attachment": If checked, Attachment Manager automatically generates an 8 characters long password for each attachment. The password is stored with the email message. Since the password is different for each attachment, this option provides stronger security since it is difficult for a hacker to guess all passwords.
"Compress": Each attachment is compressed using the standard Deflate algorithm to save on Cloud storage space. The local cached copy remains in an un-compressed form.
Network Drive Cloud option
If Network Drive is enabled, you must specify a path on the Network Drive to store the attachments permanently, e.g., "e:\myattachment", in the "ND path" box. The network drive has to be mounted on the same letter every time, e.g., "e:\".
Amazon S3 Cloud option
If Amazon S3 is enabled, you must provide your Amazon credential. See the AWS S3 guide on how to get started.
"AWS Access Key ID": Provide your Access Key ID from Amazon. You can obtain this from AWS web portal.
"AWS Secret Access Key": Provide your Secret Access Key from Amazon. You can obtain this from AWS web portal. Do not give out this key to anyone.
"AWS S3 bucket": Give a unique name for a bucket in S3. If it does not exist already, it will be created when you click "Save". If it does not exist already, you can check the "EU" box to specify that the bucket be created in Europe. By default, all buckets are created in the US. Once created, you own the bucket and you pay for everything stored in this bucket. All attachments will be uploaded to this bucket.
Microsoft Azure Cloud option
If Microsoft Azure is enabled, you must provide your Azure credential. See the Microsoft Azure guide on how to get started.
"Azure Storage Account": Provide the Azure storage project name.
"Azure Primary Access Key": Provide the primary access key for your storage project.
"Use free trial account": The program has a built-in Azure storage account which you can use for free. There is no need to sign up for an Azure account if you are just evaluating. Since everyone with the Attachment Manager software can store data in this free account, you should choose a long and unique container name. No Attachment Manager user can list the available containers, so if you have a cryptic, unique container name, your data will be secure from other users. Even though the container is public, no one can access your data without knowing the container name first. This account can store up to 50GB of data. We reserve the right to delete content from this free account to make space for other trial users. We recommend your container name to include your email address so that we can contact you before we delete any data under your container.
"Azure Blob container": All your attachments, sent or detached, are stored under this container. Each storage account has its own namespace, so you can name the container anything you want. If it does not exist already, it will be created when you click "Save".
Send large files through email
In outlook 2003, create a new email, in menu, click "Insert"->"File via Cloud". In outlook 2007, create a new email, click "Attach File Via Cloud" button in the "Insert" ribbon. You will be prompted for a file to upload. Enable encryption and compression as necessary, then click "attach" to upload the file. While file is uploading, you can continue editing your message. When upload is finished, a link is automatically inserted into your email message. You recipient can simply click the link to download the file.
Detach attachments
Select one or more items in the Outlook explorer, then click "Detach" to detach attachments from those email items and put them in the Cloud.
ReAttach attachments
Select one or more items in the Outlook explorer, then click "ReAttach" to download attachments from the Cloud and reattach them to the original email.
Cache attachments
By default, all attachments are cached locally after detaching. However, if you manually deleted cached items or if you switched to a new computer, you may have to cache the attachments manually to improve performance and allow offline access. You do not have to cache if you are always connected to the network. When you click to open an attachment, it will be automatically cached locally if not yet.
Select one or more items in the Outlook explorer, then click "Cache" to cache them locally.
Permanently delete emails and their attachments in Cloud
If you hit "Delete" key on items in your "Deleted Items" folder or hit "Shift+Delete" key, your mail item is permanently deleted from your account. However, if there are any associated attachments in the Cloud, they still remain. This is a well known limitation that Outlook would not notify addin programs, such as ours, that items are permanently deleted.
To make sure you delete the attachments when you want to permanently delete the items, please click the "Permanent Delete" button on the Attachment Manager toolbar. This will make sure the items, as well as the attachments, are permanently deleted.
View error log
Attachment Manager will pop up an error message box if there is any error during a single item conversion, where the user selected one item and clicked one of the buttons on the toolbar. However, Attachment Manager will not notify users about errors during bulk conversion (selecting multiple items and then detach/reattach/delete/cache) or during auto conversion (if you checked "auto detach" option). This is designed to minimize interruption to the users.
If there are errors during bulk and auto conversion, the "view log" button icon will change as shown below.
To see the error log, just click the "view log" button. To save space, the error log is automatically cleared after viewing.
Registering
You have 30 days of free trial to evaluate the AttachmentManager product. Beyond 30 days, you must obtain a proper license to continue using the product. You can purchase a valid license from the Outlook Attachment Manager product page. After your purchase, you should receive a serial number in your email within 24 hours. Click "Tools -> Options -> Attachment Manager -> Register" button, then put in your serial number, then click "Register". After successful registration, your purchased features should be automatically enabled.
Un-install
If you do not like the product, please send us an email (support AT outlookcloud.com) to let us know what you do not like about. Maybe we are addressing your concerns already in the next release. Even if not, we will be happy to evaluate feature requests. We will appreciate your feedback. However, if you still decide to uninstall, you need to go through your OS's uninstaller. In WinXP, go to "Control panel -> Add or Remove programs", then choose "AttachmentManager" and click the uninstall button.
As part of the installation, the installer may also have
installed a few dependencies if they were not installed before.
You can remove them if you are sure no other programs are using
it. Unfortunately, there is no way to auto uninstall the
dependencies. Again, in “Add or Remove Programs”,
check and remove the following:
- Microsoft Office 2007 (or 2003) Primary Interop Assemblies
- Visual Studio Tools for the Office system 3.0 (or 2.5) runtime
- Microsoft .NET framework (more likely to be used by other
applications as well)
- Windows Installer 3.1 (more likely to be used by other
applications as well)
If you are upgrading to a newer version of Attachment Manager,
you do not need to remove the dependencies.
Upgrading
As a paid user, you have one year free to upgrade to the latest version. You first have to un-install the older version as shown above (no need to remove the dependencies though), then run the setup program in the new version to install. If you install the new version directly, the installer will complain that you already have a version installed. The upgrade will retain your existing settings.