The Microsoft Exchange Node allows you to distribute documents through Microsoft Exchange, a server-based application used for email hosting, calendar sharing, and contact management.
Exchange Versions Supported:
- Microsoft Exchange 2010 SP2
- Microsoft Exchange 2013
- Microsoft Exchange 2016
- Office365
To open the Microsoft Exchange Node window, add an output node for Microsoft Exchange, then double-click on it.
Do the following:
Check the Enabled box when there are multiple output locations. When unchecked, this output will be ignored. While the workflow will still validate, documents will not be output and may be lost.
In the Node Name field, enter a meaningful name for the Microsoft Exchange Node.
In the Description field, enter a description for the Microsoft Exchange Node. This is not required, but it can be helpful when you have more than one output destination. If the description is long, you can hover the mouse over the field to read its entire contents.
In the Connection Type area, select one of the radio buttons:
- Exchange Web Services - The native Microsoft Exchange protocol.
- SMTP - The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol that is standard for email transmission. The following three options are not available if SMTP is selected as the Connection Type:
- Save a copy of the email in the sent folder - Use the drop-down list to select whether or not to save a copy of the email in the sent folder of the From account.
- Request a delivery receipt - Use the drop-down list to select whether or not to request a delivery receipt.
- Request a read receipt - Use the drop-down list to select whether or not to request a read receipt.
In the Connection Properties area, enter the following options for Exchange Web Services:
- Web Service URL - Enter the URL of the Microsoft Exchange’s EWS endpoint. The format is: https://<server>/EWS/Exchange.asmx
- Username - Enter the username for your Microsoft Exchange account.
- Password - Enter the password for your Microsoft Exchange account.
Timeout - Enter the seconds allotted for the time without communication before a timeout occurs, if necessary.
Note: If multiple servers are associated with a hostname (e.g. smtp.office365.com), each server will be allowed the full timeout.
Retry Attempts - Enter how many times the connection should be retried before timeout.
Retry Delay - Enter the seconds allotted before a retry is attempted.
Log all server communications - Check this box to log all server communications.
Test Connection - Click this button to check if the URL and credentials that were entered are valid.
Note: In order to view the log, you must right click the Activity Log of the workflow, then select Log Level, then select Debug.
In the Connection Properties area, enter the following options for SMTP:
Host / IP Address - Enter the identifying host name for the outgoing, external SMTP email server or its IP address.
Port - Enter the port used by the server for SMTP communication (default is 25).
Enable SSL - Enable this option to connect to those SMTP servers that only allow SSL connections. With this option, support for SSL servers is enabled. If you check this box, the port number will automatically change to the secure SMTP port default of 465 unless the port was customized already. For configuration options with particular SMTP servers, please refer to their latest documentation.
Username - Enter the username for your Microsoft Exchange account.
Password - Enter the password for your Microsoft Exchange account.
Timeout - Enter the seconds allotted for the time without communication before a timeout occurs, if necessary.
Note: If multiple servers are associated with a hostname (e.g. smtp.office365.com), each server will be allowed the full timeout.
Retry Attempts - Enter how many times the connection should be retried before timeout.
Retry Delay - Enter the seconds allotted before a retry is attempted.
Log all server communications - Check this box to log all server communications.
Test Connection - Click this button to check if the URL and credentials that were entered are valid.
Note: In order to view the log, you must right click the Activity Log of the workflow, then select Log Level, then select Debug.
In the Advanced Settings area, specify the following options:
Include file attachments - Use the drop-down list to select whether or not to allow file attachments to be included.
Send email for each attachment - Use the drop-down list to select whether or not to send an email for each attachment.
Note: If you choose to send all attachments in a single email, then using per file metadata may not work as intended (i.e., if you choose to send all attachments in a single email and you use the “filename” metadata in your node, then it will pick the filename of one of the attachments). If you want to use per file (or page level) metadata, then you should choose to send an email for each attachment.
Message Limits
- Max number of Attachments - Enter the maximum number of attachments that can be included on the email.
- Max Attachment Size - Enter the maximum size (in KB) of an attachment that can be included on the email.
Filename Encoding - You can customize the way email attachments’ filenames are sent to the SMTP server. This option is only available for the SMTP Connection Type. This advanced feature should be used when an email client is incorrectly displaying attachment filenames that are sent from Dispatcher Phoenix. The following options are available:
- Choose Modern Email Clients to encode filenames using the RFC2231 encoding scheme. This is the newest standard and is recommended for use with modern email clients.
- Choose Legacy Email Clients to encode filenames using the RFC2047 encoding scheme, which uses character sets that cause the filenames to be encoded in the lowest possible size.
- Choose Legacy Email Clients Compatibility Mode to encode filename are encoded using the RFC2047 encoding scheme, which uses base64 UTF-8 encoding for all filenames. The filenames will be largest with this option selected but compatible with the largest number of email clients.
In the Email Settings area, specify the following options: - Sensitivity - Use the dropdown list to select the sensitivity of the message. Options are: Normal, Private, Personal, Confidential. - Importance - Use the dropdown list to select the importance of the message. Options are: Low, Normal, High.
In the Compose Mail area, do the following:
Check the If input file is an email, bypass the composition settings below box to allow the composition settings (From, To, Cc, Bcc, Subject, Message) and any email attachments to be pulled from an email file. Additionally, any header information in the email file is also sent. When an email file is detected in the Microsoft Exchange node, its settings are used instead of the information provided in the composition settings fields and its attachments are sent.The supported email file types are: “.eml” files captured from 3rd party software and “.mbox” files generated by the SMTP In node. Note the following:
If this option is enabled, the Send email for each attachment option is automatically set to Yes and is no longer configurable. This is because email files can contain their own list of attachments. Since the workflow cannot mix email file attachments with other input files as attachments, this setting requires an individual email to be sent for each input file.
When the SMTP Connection Type is selected, the Microsoft Exchange node will send email files with all associated header information from the file (since SMTP supports the email file format directly).
When the EWS Connection Type is selected, the From, To, Cc, Bcc, Subject, Message, and email attachments are extracted from the email file and converted into the EWS format expected by the Microsoft Exchange server. In other words, any other header information from the email file is not used.
In the From field, enter the sender’s email address.
In the To field, enter the recipient’s email address (multiple addresses are separated by a comma, semicolon or new line).
Click the Cc link to display a field where you may enter an email address to be carbon copied on the email.
Click the Bcc link to display a field where you may enter an email address to be blind *carbon copied (*other recipients will not see this address) on the email.
In the Subject field, enter a subject line for the email.
In the Message box, enter the message to accompany the output file(s).
Select the Metadata button to open the Metadata Browser.
Note: Metadata will only be available if it has been added by another node first.
Select the Save button to keep your changes. You can also do the following:
- Select the Help button to access online help.
- Select the Cancel button to exit the window without saving any changes.
Using Dynamic Variables for Email Header Metadata
The address fields (From, To, CC, and Bcc) support the following:
Sending to multiple email addresses using commas (,), semi-colons (;), and spaces. See the following examples:
accounting@emailhosting.com; manufacturing@emailhosting.com; sales@emailhosting.com
accounting@emailhosting.com, manufacturing@emailhosting.com, sales@emailhosting.com
accounting@emailhosting.com manufacturing@emailhosting.com sales@emailhosting.com
The use of metadata.
Specifying a backup address if the metadata doesn’t exist. In this case, the keywords “or”, “orelse,” “else,” and “or-else” can be used to specify back up addresses for metadata.
With these keywords, if the metadata specified on the left side of the keyword doesn’t exist, the email address specified on the right side will be used as in the following examples:
{email : accounting} else accounting@emailhosting.com
{email : accounting} or accounting@emailhosting.com, {email : manufacturing} or manufacturing@emailhosting.com, {email : sales} or sales@emailhosting.com
You can combine multiple back up addresses if you wish to check multiple metadata fields as well. In these cases, the first metadata, from left to right, that is present will be used, as in the following example:
{email : accounting} or {email : account manager} or accounting@emailhosting.com
Note that the backup logic is always read from left to right. In the following example, the metadata will never be used because the static email value will be read first:
accounting@emailhosting.com or {email : accounting}
Building an Index Form
Open the Index Form Builder and drag-drop the Microsoft Exchange icon to the right-hand side of the window, as shown in the following illustration:
When building an index form, the following fields must be set with one of the following accepted values:
Sensitivity - Normal, Private, Personal, Confidential.
Note: This field is case-sensitive
Importance - Low, Normal, High.
Note: This field is case-sensitive
Save a copy of the email in the sent folder - Yes, No, True, False.
Request a delivery receipt - Yes, No, True, False.
Request a read receipt - Yes, No, True, False.
Include file attachments - Yes, No, True, False.
Send email for each attachment - Yes, No, True, False.
If you choose the Microsoft Exchange index form in the bEST Node, the fields of the Microsoft Exchange node will be taken over, as shown in the following illustration:
Firewall Note:
If you are using SMTP as your Connection Type, please note that third-party firewall applications, including some anti-virus software, may block ports used by Dispatcher Phoenix SMTP Out nodes. By default, SMTP Out uses port 25. However, this port number is configurable, so it may differ if the number has been changed. If mail fails to send, check the workflow log for the following message:
“[Warning][SMTP user@mail.com]Connection failed to SMTP server mail.com:25”
To allow the Microsoft Exchange node to function properly, please consult your firewall application documentation to either stop blocking port 25 or to allow access by the workflow engine process, “blox-erl.exe.”
If you are using EWS as your Connection Type, a firewall may still block outbound traffic, though it is unlikely.