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Watched Mail Folders

Watched Mail Folders (also known as watched mailboxes) convert all emails that are placed into a configurable mailbox. In the 3-­Heights® Document Converter, a Mail Folder Windows service is used to convert email messages to PDF format.

In the Conversion Service, watched mailboxes are configured as connectors. The Conversion Service provides several connectors that are equivalent to the 3-­Heights® Document Converter Mail Folder service features:

Folder types for input folders (Pickup Folder)​

3-­Heights® Document ConverterConversion ServiceNote
IMAP FolderWatched Mailbox (IMAP)A connector that converts all mail that are placed into a configurable mailbox on an IMAP server
Exchange Online FolderWatched Mailbox (Exchange Online)A connector that converts all mail that are placed into a configurable mailbox on an Exchange Online server
File System DirectoryWatched FolderA connector that watches a directory and converts all incoming files

Folder types for output folders (Output Folder, Failed Folder, Succeeded Folder)​

3-­Heights® Document ConverterConversion ServiceNote
Folder relative to Pickup FolderCorresponding output connector typeExplicitly select a output connector that corresponds to the type of the Pickup folder: Output Mailbox (IMAP) or Output Mailbox (Exchange Online) or Output Folder
Mail recipient (SMTP)Send Email (SMTP) or Send Email (Exchange Online)For Exchange Online accounts, both connector types can be used. The Send Email (Exchange Online) connector uses the HTTP protocol (Microsoft Graph API) instead of SMTP.
File System DirectoryOutput Folder
File System Directory with Completion ActionExecute CommandImportant: In contrast to the "Completion Action", the "Execute Command" connector operates on temporary files located in an internal directory. The command itself is responsible for copying the files to their final destination and must not delete the files provided as arguments.

Setting up an IMAP folder​

You can set up an IMAP folder configuration similar to that used in the 3-­Heights® Document Converter,

In this example, the emails are retrieved from the Inbox folder (mail.yourcompany.com/user:encryptedpassword/INBOX), converted to PDF/A format. The converted files are then sent to an email address using the SMTP server (smtp:user@somewhere.org). Emails that couldn't be converted are placed in the Failed folder, and those converted are placed in the Succeeded folder.

Output folders

To set up this configuration in the Conversion Service:

  1. Open the 4-Heights® Conversion Service Configurator

  2. Go to the Integration tab.

  3. Press Add.

  4. Add an Input connector:

    • Select Watched Mailbox (IMAP)
    • Configure the account settings.
    • Click on the icon in the "Mailbox Path" field and select a mailbox.

  5. To send the results as an email, add an Output connector:

  6. To configure a "Succeeded" folder, add an Output connector:

  7. To configure a "Failed" folder, add an Output connector:

    • Select Output Folder.
    • In Job status, select Error. In File set, select Originals.

Migrating mail folder service settings​

This table contains the equivalent setup in the Conversion Service to migrate your existing 3-­Heights® Document Converter configuration.

3-­Heights® Document ConverterConversion ServiceNote
FileNameTemplateNot configurable (%SUBJ)For emails, the subject is always used as filename.
UseSubjectNot configurable (true)For emails, the subject is always used as filename.
MaxAttachmentNameNot configurableThe output filename from the workflow is used as-is without modification.
JobPrefixOutput Folder connector: Disable OverwriteIf the "Overwrite" option is disabled, filename conflicts are avoided by using a suffix: " (1)", " (2)", and so on. Adding a prefix to be used where there are no name conflicts is not supported.
Folder X (Threads, ThreadX in o2pmfs.ini)Configured mail folderAll configured Mail Folders listed in the Integration tab. See Migrating watched mail folder options.
LogPathLog directoryIn the Conversion Service, this setting applies to all services and client applications simultaneously.

Migrating watched mail folder options​

This table contains the equivalent setup in the Conversion Service to migrate your existing 3-­Heights® Document Converter configuration.

3-­Heights® Document ConverterConversion Service
Pickup Folder (-w)Input connector: Watched Mailbox (Exchange Online or IMAP) / Watched Folder
Output Folder (-o)Output connector: Output Folder / Output Mailbox (Exchange Online or IMAP) / Send Email (Exchange Online or SMTP) with Job Status: Success and File Set: Results
Succeeded Folder (-os)Output connector: Output Folder / Output Mailbox (Exchange Online or IMAP), Send Email (Exchange Online or SMTP) with Job Status: Success and File Set: Originals
Failed Folder (-of)Output connector: Output Folder / Output Mailbox (Exchange Online or IMAP), Send Email (Exchange Online or SMTP) with Job Status: Error and File Set: Originals
Ignore warnings (-ow)Use condition Job Status: SuccessOrWarnings instead of Success for output and succeeded folder.
Job options (-j)Configure workflow and profile settings, see Job and document options
Document options (-b)Configure workflow and profile settings, see Job and document options

Job and document options​

With 3-­Heights® Document Converter, if no job & document options are configured within the Watched Mailbox thread, the configuration from the O2PMFS.ini file is taken into account. Otherwise, the job & document options can be set with -j Set Converter Job Options and -b Set Document Options:

In the Conversion Service, options are not configured in the Watched Mailbox itself. A Workflow and Profile needs to be selected in the Configurator when creating or editing your Watched Mailbox configuration. The settings within the selected Workflow-Profile combination are taken into account when converting with this Watched Mailbox.

3-­Heights® Document ConverterConversion Service
Job optionsJob options