Overview
The Syncplicity Outlook Add-in for Office 365 allows users to upload files to their Syncplicity account and email a shared link instead of an actual file. In addition, users can set protection on those links, and send links to files already uploaded in their Syncplicity accounts, all within Outlook.
Whenever a user chooses to email a shared link to a file instead of the file itself, that file is uploaded to a special folder called Email Attachments. Recipients of the email receive a shared link instead of the file.
NOTE: The Syncplicity Outlook Add-in for Office 365 is not the same as Syncplicity Outlook Published last monthAdd-in for Windows, which is an Outlook client add-in for the Windows desktop. For information on the Windows desktop add-in See About Syncplicity Outlook Add-in for Windows.
Benefits
While the Syncplicity Outlook Add-in for Office 365 offers most of the same functionality as the Syncplicity Outlook Add-in for Windows, it works slightly differently and has some unique benefits.
Users who compose email in a web browser or on systems other than Windows can use this add-in across a wide range of devices, operating systems and platforms. Once the add-in is installed, it is automatically available when you log into Outlook on another supported platform, device or browser.
The following sections describe the installation process, Email Attachments folder, Syncplicity menu, policies, and the log file.
Installation
The Syncplicity Outlook Add-in for Office 365 supports the Outlook Web App (OWA) in addition to the Windows desktop version of Outlook, so it is available from multiple platforms, as described in Supported platforms.
To make the add-in available to your users, you must first install and configure it on the Exchange Server for your company or group. You can access the add-in from the Microsoft Office store. You install and configure the add-in as you would any Office add-in.
Once the add-in is on the Exchange Server, you can make it available to users. Alternatively, individual users can install it themselves by going to the Office Store.
When the add-in is configured and the user is logged in on one device, the user can access the add-in when logged into the same Exchange account on all other devices, including web browsers that support this type of Outlook add-in. Most of the user's preferences and settings are automatically available from one device to the next.
To install the Outlook Add-in for Office 365, click here.
Email Attachments folder
The Email Attachments folder contains the files that users attached to their email but elected to send as Syncplicity shared links. This folder has the following special properties:
- The folder cannot be deleted or shared. However, the files in the folder can be downloaded, shared or deleted as you would any other file in a Syncplicity folder.
- The folder does not allow subfolders.
- Files cannot be uploaded to this folder, except from email attachments from Outlook.
- Files cannot be versioned. Should a user upload the same file again through the Outlook Add-in, it is uploaded as a different file. Therefore, there can be multiple occurrences of the same file.
- The folder does not synchronize to desktop clients.
- The folder is not available to the Syncplicity mobile clients. However, the folder is available in My Syncplicity.
- The folder is created on the default StorageVault of the user. Once created, the folder remains on that StorageVault even if the user's default StorageVault changes.
- Items in this folder count towards the user's account storage.
- This folder is used both by the Outlook Add-in for Office 365 and the Outlook Add-in for Windows.
Syncplicity menu
The add-in is accessible in the Outlook Apps for Office Add-ins when the user composes a new email or responds to an email. When the user clicks the Syncplicity icon, the Syncplicity menu items appear in a navigation pane. If the user is not logged into their Syncplicity account, the navigation pane shows the login screen.
The Syncplicity menu contains the following items:
- Attach local files. Click to attach a file currently on the user's system or device.
- Attach from Syncplicity. Click to select a file currently available in the user's Syncplicity account.
- Link options. Click to view and manage how users can access the shared links. Also includes the ability to expire the shared link.
- File settings. Determines which file types cannot be uploaded to Syncplicity.
- Account settings. Shows the user's storage consumption and email address, as well as links to Support topics.
Policies
The Syncplicity Outlook Add-in for Office 365 is managed by the same policies, listed below, as Syncplicity Outlook Add-in for Windows.
- Syncplicity for Outlook Policy enables or disables authentication for Outlook Add-ins. See Syncplicity for Outlook Configuration Policy for more information.
- The file type exclusion policy allows you to prohibit users from uploading specific types of files. See File Type Exclusion Policy for more information.
- The various file sharing policies allow you to determine who can access the files using the shared links, when the links expire, and whether a password is required to access the file. See File sharing policies for more information.
Logs
Syncplicity Outlook Add-in for Office 365 adds the following events to the log file:
- Any errors, including authentication errors.
- File attachment details, such as username, client device and version if available, path to file, and client IP address.
- The name of the policy set used when the file was shared.
- Whether the file was already attached or uploaded to the Email Attachments folder.
Users can easily send the log files to Syncplicity Support.