Archiving e-mails
This process fetches e-mails from the configured mailboxes, archives them together with their attachments and marks them in the mailbox afterwards. It is built to keep running: what fails today is tried again tomorrow – by itself.
When it runs
A timer of type M (also written MAIL), set up under timers. The mailboxes themselves are configured under e-mail accounts.
Here too: without the ECM-Connect permission the timer is booked as executed while doing nothing.
The three marks in the mailbox
The process writes its state into the category of the mail. That tells you at a glance what happened to a message:
| Category | Meaning | What the next run does |
|---|---|---|
| ECM-Connect | archived, finished | nothing – the mail is done |
| ECM-Connect Pending | being worked on | archived again (an aborted run leaves this mark behind) |
| ECM-Connect Error | archiving failed | tried again as soon as it is due |
"Error" is not a final state
Only ECM-Connect is final. A mail marked ECM-Connect Error is picked up again – after 60 minutes at the latest, and at once on the next run if the archive became reachable again in the meantime. So you do not have to remove the category by hand.
What happens
- The configured mailboxes are read. With no mailbox or no connection configured, the run ends here.
- The connection is built per mailbox and the monitored folder is read.
- For each mail it is decided what to do – from the category, the last attempt and the question whether the archive became reachable again:
- not touched yet, or "Pending" → archive it
- "Error" and due → archive it again
- "Error" but not due yet → leave it for now
- "ECM-Connect" → do nothing, mention it in the log once a day
- If the mail carries another mail as an attachment, that one is considered as well.
- Target archive and indexing are determined, then it is archived: the message body and – depending on the mailbox setting – the attachments separately or together as one document.
- After success the mail is marked as done, the remembered failed attempt is dropped, and the mail is moved to the target folder if one is configured.
- After a failure the attempt is recorded so the waiting time starts. If the archive was the cause, the process remembers that: the next successful run picks up all failed mails at once instead of waiting 60 minutes.
Why once a day and not on every run
Standing conditions – such as "this mail is already archived" – are written to the log once a day per mailbox, not on every pass. Otherwise the log of a timer running every five minutes would no longer be readable.
What steers it
| What | Where |
|---|---|
| Timer and schedule | timers |
| Mailboxes, monitored folder, target folder, attachments separately or together | e-mail accounts |
| Credentials for the mail server | interfaces |
| Target archive and indexing | repository · document types |
| Watching a run | ECM monitor |
What can go wrong
Mails stay in the mailbox marked "ECM-Connect Error"
That is the intended state after a failure – not a final one. The mail is tried again after 60 minutes at the latest. If it stands for hours, the archiving keeps failing; the reason is then in the log, usually an archive connection that cannot be reached.
What you do not have to do: remove the category by hand. What you can do: fix the cause – the next run picks up every affected mail at once.
Message "a configured mailbox folder does not exist"
a configured mailbox folder does not exist – see the error above for the folders that do
A configured folder does not exist in the mailbox. The message before it lists the folders that do. Common causes: the folder was renamed in the mailbox, or the name is configured in a different language than the mailbox uses.
Nothing is processed although mails are in the mailbox
- Is a mailbox configured and active under e-mail accounts?
- Is the monitored folder correct?
- Do the mails already carry the category ECM-Connect? Then they are archived and are passed over deliberately.
A mail is archived but not moved
Moving is a separate step after archiving and only happens when a target folder is configured. Without one the mail stays in the monitored folder and carries the category ECM-Connect – it is archived nonetheless.
Attachments are in the archive separately, one document was expected
That is steered by the setting of the respective mailbox, whether attachments are archived separately or together. It takes effect from the next run; mails already archived stay as they are.