Installing the Laserfiche Outlook Add-in for Microsoft 365

The Laserfiche Outlook Add-in enables saving emails and attachments directly to Laserfiche Cloud repositories. Available for use with Office 365 accounts, the Laserfiche Outlook Add-in can archive correspondence along with their metadata to start Laserfiche workflows or processes.

Note: The Laserfiche Outlook Add-in for Microsoft 365 is a separate offering from the Laserfiche Office Integration. The Laserfiche Outlook Add-in for Microsoft 365 and the Laserfiche Office Integration can both be installed at the same time and can coexist side-by-side.

Requirements

Installation

Microsoft 365 add-ins are deployed through the use of an XML manifest file:

  • Administrators can deploy the manifest through the Microsoft 365 admin center.
  • Users can deploy the manifest individually.

Centralized Deployment through the Admin Center

See Microsoft's documentation for how to deploy an add-in:

Search for the add-in from within Outlook or visit Microsoft AppSource directly to acquire the add-in:

Configuring the Laserfiche Outlook Add-in for Microsoft 365 to use OAuth

For the Laserfiche Outlook Add-in for Microsoft 365 to work with OAuth, you must configure OAuth in the Laserfiche Developer Console, and users will need to sign in using the same Laserfiche Cloud account ID as configured in the Laserfiche Developer Console. Follow the instructions below for all accounts that use the Laserfiche Outlook Add-in.

  1. Download the manifest.json file.
  2. Sign in to your Laserfiche Cloud account. From the app picker, select Developer Console. To sign in to the developer console, you must have the Developer Console Administrator access right. Learn how to configure access rights.
  3. Follow the instructions under "Create an Application from a Manifest" in the Import and Export Application Manifest How To Guide using the manifest.json file downloaded in step 1.

Note: Do not change the value of clientId or redirectUris, or the OAuth flow will fail.

Configuring Repository-wide Default Options

Administrators can configure a default location for the imported emails, as well as template and field information and settings for attachment handling. The name, location, and field information can also draw from properties of the email itself. For instance, you can store the time the email was received in a field value, or you could dynamically store the emails in a folder named after the email's sender.

  1. If you are not already in the repository administration section of Laserfiche, click your user name in the upper right corner and select Repository Administration.
  2. On the left, select Integrations.
  3. Select Outlook Import.
  4. In the Default behavior option, determine how attachments will be handled. You can leave them in the email, remove them and file them as a separate document, or store them both within the original email and as a separate document.
  5. If you have chosen to store attachments separately, select Apply email fields to attachments to give the attachments the same template and fields as the parent email.
  6. In the Field associations option, select a template that will be applied to imported emails by default. The Email template has already been added and configured for you, but you can select another template, or modify which properties are stored in which fields.
  7. In the Default email import folder option, specify the repository location where emails will be stored by default. A path has been configured for you, but you can modify this path to store emails elsewhere. You can use the token dropdown to dynamically file emails. (For instance, in the pre-configured path, the sender name token is used to automatically store emails in a folder corresponding to their sender.)
  8. If you would like to return to the default options, click the Clear button under Reset.
  9. When you are finished configuring import options, click the Save button at the top.

Troubleshooting

If the user does not see their add-in in their Outlook ribbon

  • Verify that the user is using the Outlook 365 desktop client or Outlook on the Web
  • Verify that the user's mailbox is in Exchange Online
  • Verify that the add-in has been deployed to the correct user or user group

Manual Installation

Deploying the add-in through the Microsoft 365 admin center is the recommended installation method. In rare situations, your organization may allow users to manually install add-ins themselves by side-loading the add-in. Please see Microsoft's documentation on how to side-load an add-in through the Outlook client:

Use the following manifest file:

Configuring the Laserfiche Outlook Add-in for Shared Outlook Mailboxes or Folders

The following steps are required to ensure smooth use of the Laserfiche Outlook Add-in with a shared Outlook mailbox or folder.

Create an Outlook category named "Saved to Laserfiche" in the shared mailbox

To display a Outlook category tag labeled "Saved to Laserfiche" on an email after it is saved to your Laserfiche repository, you must first create the category "Saved to Laserfiche" in the shared mailbox and assign it your preferred color. If this category is not created, the Laserfiche Outlook Add-in will apply a gray tag to the email saved to your repository.

Grant Microsoft tenant-wide admin consent

To ensure smooth use of the Laserfiche Outlook Add-in with a shared Outlook mailbox or folder for all users in your Azure organization, the Azure administrator of your organization needs to grant consent to allow the Laserfiche for Outlook app access to your shared Outlook mailbox or folder via Microsoft Graph API.

  1. Replace the placeholder <Azure tenant ID> with the tenant ID of your organization in the following URI:

    https://login.microsoftonline.com/<Azure tenant ID>/adminconsent?client_id=3a208052-b7b7-4566-b6e8-830cd36634b8&scope=user.read%20offline_access%20openid%20profile%20Mail.ReadWrite.Shared&redirect_uri=https://app.laserfiche.com/officeapps/outlook/v1/

  2. Copy the modified URI to your browser.
  3. Follow the Microsoft steps to sign in with your admin account and grant permissions. If successful, you will see the redirect page.
    outlook_admin_consent_redirect_page
  4. To verify or revoke permissions,
    1. Within the Azure admin center, browse to Azure Enterprise applications, and view the the app Laserfiche for Outlook client ID 3a208052-b7b7-4566-b6e8-830cd36634b8 .
    2. Go to Security / Permissions, then Admin consent.
      granted_admin_consent

Troubleshooting

Issue: Laserfiche Outlook Add-in is not visible in a shared Outlook mailbox or folder

Resolution:

  • If the add-in was deployed through the Microsoft 365 admin center, update the add-in to version 1.0.1 or later.
  • If the add-in was manually installed by side-loading the add-in, follow the instructions in the Manual Installation section to sideload the latest manifest file.

Issue: In a shared folder, the category tag "Saved to Laserfiche" is not applied to the email after it is saved to the Laserfiche repository

Resolution:

  • Verify that users' shared folder permissions include:
    • Read: Full details
    • Write: Edit all
    • Other: Folder visible

Issue: "Saved to Laserfiche" category tag color is gray in a shared folder

Resolution:

  • Verify that the category "Saved to Laserfiche" exists in the owner's mailbox under Categories and that a color is assigned to the category.
  • Note: The color category tag only appears in the owner's mailbox. Users who have access to the shared folder will only see a gray category tag applied by the Laserfiche Outlook Add-in.