# Archiving emails and attachments

> Archive an email and its attachments to SharePoint from Outlook: choose a location, pick what to save, archive several at once, and see what's already archived.

Source: https://getmailconnect.com/docs/using-mailconnect/archiving/

## 1. Choose where to save it

Open an email, then open MailConnect. Find the library or folder to save to:

- **Tabs** along the top, set up by your organisation: for example a list of projects or customers, **Followed Sites** (the SharePoint sites you follow), or **Sites** to search across SharePoint. Select a location, then a library, then a folder.
- **Search**, the box under the tabs, searches the tab you're in.
- **Suggestions**, at the top, are the places you used for earlier emails from the same sender. Select one to go straight there.

You can save to any library or folder you're allowed to add files to. Where you
aren't, MailConnect says **You do not have permission to edit this location.**

Until you've chosen a library or folder, the **Archive** button at the bottom is
grey, and a hint above it says what's missing, such as
**Choose a location to archive to**.

![Two views of the MailConnect pane: on the left, the Projects tab with Suggestions at the top and the locations under them, and the Archive button grey under the hint “Choose a location to archive to”; on the right, a library folder open, with the Archive button available](https://getmailconnect.com/docs/using-mailconnect/archiving/archive-location.png)
*Left: before choosing a location. Right: a folder open, ready to archive.*

## 2. Archive

Select **Archive**. The **Archive** panel shows what you can save:

- **Email**: the email itself, saved as an `.eml` file, with its attachments inside it. It's named after the subject; change the name if you want.
- **Attachments**: tick the ones to save as separate files too, and rename them if you want.

Select **Archive**. MailConnect shows each file as it's saved, then
**Archiving Complete**. **Open** opens the folder in SharePoint, and the panel
closes by itself after a few seconds.

![The Archive panel: the email ticked, to be saved as Q3 budget review.eml, and one of its attachments, Notes.pdf, ticked to be saved too](https://getmailconnect.com/docs/using-mailconnect/archiving/archive-panel.png)

If a file with the same name is already there, MailConnect asks what to do with
it: **Replace**, **Keep both** or **Skip**. If SharePoint doesn't accept a name,
MailConnect suggests one: **Use this name**. If a file fails, MailConnect says
why, and **Try again** retries just that file.

Depending on your organisation's settings, MailConnect may then do more by
itself: put an Outlook category on the email, such as **Archived**, or fill in
SharePoint columns on the saved files. You can also
[add metadata](https://getmailconnect.com/docs/using-mailconnect/metadata.md) yourself, if your organisation
allows it.

**Return to home after archiving**, in
[your settings](https://getmailconnect.com/docs/using-mailconnect/your-settings.md), takes you back to the
start after each archive.

## Several emails at once

Select several emails in Outlook's message list, open MailConnect (or keep it
pinned), choose a library or folder, and select **Archive**. Each email is saved
as its own `.eml` file, named after its subject: rename any of them before you
select **Archive**.

This needs a recent version of Outlook, and doesn't work in Outlook mobile. Your
organisation can turn it off.

## Already archived

When an email has already been archived, MailConnect says so at the bottom:
**Already archived**, with **Open location** to go to where it was saved.

- **Emails you archived yourself** are marked when you archive them, so MailConnect knows straight away.
- **Emails a colleague archived** are found by searching SharePoint, if your organisation has set this up. MailConnect then says when and by whom, for example **Already archived on 3 Oct 2026 by Anna Berg**. SharePoint has to index the email first, which takes from minutes to hours.

Your organisation can turn either of these off.

## Encrypted emails

An encrypted email shows **Encrypted** in the Archive panel. If your organisation
allows encrypted emails to be archived, MailConnect decrypts the email as part of
archiving: the copy saved in SharePoint isn't encrypted, so anyone who can open
the folder can read it. If your organisation doesn't allow it, MailConnect shows
**Encrypted mail** and *Archiving encrypted emails is not supported.*

## When archiving is turned off

If your organisation has switched archiving off, the **Archive** button stays grey
with **Archiving is turned off for your organisation**.