MacroView Managed Filing (formerly known as CEF, or Corporate Email Filing) is an optional module for MacroView DMS and DMS Pro as well as for solutions with these two products as their core, such as the MacroView Legal Solution.
MacroView Managed Filing automatically saves sent and received Outlook emails to areas in SharePoint (including SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business) based on rules stored in a central location, and it compliments the personal email filing rules that are already supported by MacroView DMS and DMS Pro.
In addition to the types of filing that are already possible via personal filing rules, MacroView Managed Filing supports automatic filing of emails by using special tags in the email subjects. In a well-designed SharePoint environment new rules are not required as new locations are created, thus making MacroView Managed Filing easy to deploy and administer.
Types of Email Filing Rules
MacroView Managed Filing supports all the types of email filing rules that are currently available for personal filing rules. Examples include:
- To contains fredd.nurk@acme.com
- Subject contains 'Macroview' AND From contains 'Dennis'
- Body contains 'Macroview DMS'
- CC contains any of these words 'Bob', 'Carol', 'Ted', 'Alice'
MacroView Managed Filing also supports filing rules that use filing tags (aka luggage tags) in the subject of an email to automatically file the email. These rules define both the shape of the filing tag and the general structure of the URL for the save location.
Definition of Filing Tag Based Rules
The definition of MacroView Managed Filing tags and associated save locations is generalised such that the same filing rule will cover any number of save locations, provided that the URL for each location has a consistent structure. A new Managed Filing rule will NOT need to be created every time a new Client / Project / Case / Matter is created.
Flexible Tag Format
MacroView Managed Filing tags are highly configurable and support a range of formats. Tags can be:
- Alphanumeric (i.e. combination of letters and digits)
- Numeric (i.e. all digits)
- Fixed or variable length
- Enclosed or separated by special characters (e.g. [123-456-789])
Multiple Part Filing Codes
MacroView Managed Filing can recognise multiple filing codes in a single tag, allowing them to be used together to identify a unique save location using generalised rules in a well-configured SharePoint environment. See the following examples:
- Tag: [C1234/5535]
- This tag consists of the following filing codes:
- C1234: Client code, which corresponds to a SharePoint site
- 5535: Project Number, which corresponds to a document library
- This tag consists of the following filing codes:
- Tag: [ACME 2019-M7768]
- This tag consists of the following filing codes:
- ACME: Company name, which corresponds to a SharePoint site
- 2019: Year, which corresponds to a document library
- 7768: Matter Number, which corresponds to a document set
- This tag consists of the following filing codes:
Unique Reference Filing Codes
MacroView Managed Filing can recognise a unique filing code (luggage) tag across a SharePoint environment, regardless or where it's located. For example it can be useful when:
- A site is created for each client, and
- the document library is created for each year and
- the document library contains a document set for each matter and
- the matter number is unique across all clients and year.
* Unique reference filing tags are only available in DMS and DMS Pro version 8.9.784 or later
Saved Emails Categorised in Outlook
Save to SharePoint by Managed Filing
MacroView Managed Filing automatically applies a Saved to SharePoint by Managed Filing category to emails so that users can easily identify which emails have been saved and which have not.
Not Auto Filed by Managed Filing
MacroView Managed Filing will not automatically file any emails when:
- Prompting the user for metadata is required (this is to avoid causing disruptions)
- The user does not have permission to save to the designated location
In these instances, a blue Not Auto Filed by Managed Filing category will be applied to the email in Outlook.
The user can then save these emails by drag and dropping them to the desired location.
Tip: MacroView DMS 8.6 introduced support for saving emails without profiling when there is only non-mandatory metadata. When this option is configured, Managed Filing will automatically save emails that do not have mandatory metadata and categorize them as Saved to SharePoint by Managed Filing.
Managed Rules Tab
When MacroView Managed Filing is active and the user clicks Email Filing Rules on the MacroView tab in Outlook, a Managed tab will be available in the dialog:
For each Managed rule the tab will display:
- The status (enabled/disabled)
- Whether the Managed Filing rule applies to sent emails / received emails / both sent and received emails
The user's personal rules will be displayed on the Sent Rules and Received Rules tabs:
Inserting Filing Tags
Manually adding a tag
A Managed Filing tag can be manually inserted in the subject of a drafted email.
This is achieved by clicking the Insert Tag button on the MacroView tab within the email itself. A drop-down will display the Search functionality as well as the the user's recent save locations:
The selected tag is then inserted in the subject of the email. When the email is sent, MacroView Managed Filing will automatically save a copy in the area identified by the tag.
Clicking the Search funcionality will display a tree-view of all the areas in the Office 365 tenant for which the user has permission. When the user clicks on an area that is a valid save location defined in an active Managed Filing rule, the OK button will activate.
Clicking OK will cause the filing tag corresponding to the selected location to be inserted into the subject of the email.
Inserting a Tag as part of saving an email
The Tag and Save button allow the user to select a save location valid for a Managed Filing rule. Recently used tags / save locations are displayed at the top of the list, followed by the Search button:
When OK is clicked, the email will be saved to the selected location and the corresponding filing tag will be inserted in the subject of the saved email.
If the tag inserted by Tag and Save is different from the Managed Filing tag(s) that is already in the subject of the email, or there are multiple tags in the email subject, Managed Filing will prompt the user to confirm the replacement of any filing tag with the new tag.
Applying Filing Rules to Existing Emails
MacroView Managed Filing will allow a user to select one or more existing emails in a folder in Outlook and run the currently active Managed Filing rules over those emails using the Run Filing Rules buttons on the MacroView ribbon.
Emails that satisfy a Managed Filing rule will be saved automatically provided metadata is not required and the user has permission to the save location.
When an email is successfully saved it will have a Saved to SharePoint by Managed Filing category applied in Outlook. If the email matches a Managed Filing rule but is unable to be saved it will have a Not Auto Filed by Managed Filing category applied.
Co-existence with Personal Rules
Having both Managed Filing and Personal Email Filing Rules defined allows an email to be saved twice - once to the location specified by a Managed Filing rule and once to the location specified by the personal email filing rule.
The screenshot below shows such an email which has both a Saved to SharePoint and Saved to SharePoint by Managed Filing categories applied to it.
If the personal rule and the Managed Filing rule saved the email to the same location, only one copy of the email will be saved but both categories are applied to indicate that both rules were satisfied.
Multiple tags or rules
In the same way that both Managed Filing and Personal rules can be applied to save an email to multiple locations, you can specify that MacroView Managed Filing look for multiple tags and continues processing remaining rules after finding a matching rule.
By default, the rules will stop being checked once a matching rule is found, but to change this you can uncheck the Stop rule evaluation after first matching rule option.
Processing all rules allows an email to be save to multiple locations when there are multiple tags in the email subject.
When an email is saved to two different locations due to a personal and/or Managed Filing rule, the addendum text and/or location category added to the email will reflect the location where the email was last saved. This will generally be the save location identified by the personal rule.
* Supported only in DMS and DMS Pro version 8.9.784 or later.
Filing rules are stored in SharePoint
MacroView Managed Filing rules are stored in a central location which can be a SharePoint document library, document set or folder. Updates to the central rules are picked up by MacroView DMS each time Outlook is restarted.
This central location makes the deployment of filing rules very simple as there is no need to roll out Managed Filing rules to each users computer.
In DMS version 8.8 or later, to set or change the rules file that is used, enter the path to the rules file on the Managed tab of the Email Filling Rules dialog, or click the button to select a file.
For earlier version of DMS the managed rules file path must be set in the user registry.
See Also
Getting started with MacroView Managed Filing