Enabling e-mail in a Document Library

There are many reasons why you might want to e-mail enable a Document Library in SharePoint.  One of them could be simply because some manager doesn’t want to navigate to the library to upload a file.  Another, better reason is because they are traveling and want to post a document  on your Intranet without having to VPN into your network.  Regardless of the reason, the steps to make this happen are easy so let’s get started.

Step 1 – Know what you want

• Do you want the documents to all go into the root library or into folders?
• Do you want anyone in the world to post files to this library?
• Will your e-mail system allow incoming email to route to SharePoint? (not sure, see references below)

I will assume you get those questions answered and are ready to go now.

Step 2 – Navigate to the Document Library you want to e-mail enable.  I will use “Shared Documents” for this example.

Step 3 – Select Settings > Document Library Settings

Select Document Library Settings from the Settings drop-down

Step 4 – Select Incoming email settings from the Communications section of the Library Settings page

Select Incoming e-mail settings

Step 5 – Enable Incoming e-mail

• Allow the document library to receive e-mail – yep, that is why we are here.
• Enter an e-mail name for users to send files to this library.  You may want to use some form of the document library name.  Since this is a test run for me, I used ‘testtony’ and plan to change it once I know it is working fine.  Note that the full email address contains “@sharepoint” dot your company domain.  This is something you may have to ensure your e-mail system will allow.  You also may have to setup a specific e-mail box and use that address here to allow it to work.  See the references at the end of this post.
• Select the appropriate options for E-Mail Message, and Meeting Invitations (if you are not sure just say No, it is likely the best option).
• Read the Caution under E-Mail Security and set the E-mail security policy.

Incoming E-mail Settings screen

Step 6 – Click OK and Test

Send an email to the address defined and see if it post to the Document Library.  In my case I am using the Subject line as the folder, so I am making sure that works by sending several emails with different subject lines/folder names.

REFERENCES:

Planning for Incoming E-Mail: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263260.aspx

Reference this article for details on configuring your SharePoint SMTP services:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262947.aspx