File Explorer
Email Import from File Explorer Guide
Introduction
As part of your transition to CMap Mail, you may need to do an email import from your File Explorer. This guide provides step-by-step instructions on how to do this, but there is also an accompanying video that provides a useful visual reference.
We recommend that you read this article and watch the accompanying video at least once before you start your import so that you have an understanding on how the process works. Also, it means you can raise any questions or queries with your CMap Mail Consultant ahead of your import if you need further clarity.
Preparing for your Import
Below, we have highlighted some import prerequisites. We recommend that you action, confirm or follow up on these before you start your import as they may save you time further down the line.
Import Tool
The website that hosts the import tool is password protected. Your CMap Mail Consultant will provide you with this password.
Microsoft 365 Global Administrator Consent
There is a specific import consent that needs to be approved by your Microsoft 365 Global Admin before you start the import. It should have been approved when doing your CMap Mail installation. If you are unsure if this consent has been approved, contact your Microsoft 365 Global Admin or your CMap Mail Consultant.
Email File Formats
The import tool can only import .MSG and .EML file formats.
Integrated Platforms
Your CMap PSA and Mail platforms need to have been linked together via the PSA-Mail integration before you start the import process. If you are unsure if the integration has been set-up, speak to your CMap Mail Consultant.
Windows Machine
The import tool is only compatible with Windows machines.
CMap Mail Admin Permissions
The person managing and running the import needs to be a CMap Mail Admin. Being a CMap Mail Admin gives the user permission to create sites on SharePoint and automatically assigns them the correct CMap Mail Hubsite access.
Enable CMap Mail Projects
If you are currently using CMap PSA, make sure you have enabled your CMap Mail projects in CMap Mail Admin ahead of your import. Note: this can only be done once the integration has been set-up.
Best Practices & Recommendations
In addition to the prerequisites, here are some best practices and recommendations we suggest you follow or action.
Understand the Process
As mentioned, make sure you read this guide and watch the accompanying video at least once before you start your import. This may remove any blockers further down the line, or answer any questions you may have.
Notify Your IT Team
If you haven't so already, we suggest sharing this guide and the video with your IT team. As we will see later in this guide, you will need to download the import tool from a website and use the Command Prompt, both of which may need IT approval or review. Letting your IT team know ahead of time what you will be doing is not only best practice, but could also prevent potential roadblocks.
Check Your Command Line
As part of your Onboarding, your CMap Mail Consultant will prepare the Command Line needed for the Command Prompt. We suggest you go through this line with your Consultant ahead of the import to ensure the information they have put together is correct. If any of the information in this line is incorrect, the import will fail.
Test Import
We suggest running a quick test import before you start the main import(s). This will give you an opportunity to check your set-up is correct and is working as expected.
Import Plan
It is important to establish an import plan to help with the transition to CMap Mail. Make sure to share this plan with the wider team ahead of kicking off your import. When putting your import plan together, here are some things to consider:
- When should the wider team stop filing File Explorer to manage their emails and start using CMap Mail?
- Are there certain projects you need to prioritise when it comes to importing?
- Will you do one bulk import, or split the import into batches?
- Will you be importing all projects (historical and live) or just live projects?
Virtual or Spare Machine
We recommend you use a virtual or spare machine (specifically one that can be left on for the entirety of the import) to run the import. If the machine that is being used for the import is switched off, the import will stop and fail. If you use a virtual or spare machine, the import is less likely to be disrupted.
Process Overview
The import process can be broken down into 4 key stages. Each stage will contain around 3/4 steps to follow and complete.
Stage 1: Prep
- Prepping the C Drive and import folder
- Downloading the import tool
- Import Template
- File Pathways
Stage 2: Run
- Command Prompt Set-Up
- Understanding the Command Line structure
- Running the Import
Stage 3: Validate
- Import Reports
- Validating the results via SharePoint
- Validating the results via CMap Mail Discovery
Stage 4: Sweep
- Sweep Imports
Stage 1: Prep
Step 1: Prepping the C Drive & import folder
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Open your File Explorer and go to your C Drive. Not sure how to do this? Open your File Explorer > click on the down arrow next to ‘This PC’. You should now see OS (C: ), double click here. This is your C Drive.
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In your C Drive, create a new folder called 'EmailImport' (or something equivalent).
Step 2: Downloading the import tool
- Go to this website and enter the password given to you by your CMap Mail Consultant.
- Download the tool called 'Atvero Mail Import from local folder structure'.
- Once downloaded, open the zipped folder and extract the files to the new folder you've created in the C Drive.
Step 3: Import Template
- Open a new Excel workbook
- In column A, type in Project
- In column B, type in EmailDirectoryPath
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In column C, type in ProjectDisplayName
- Now we can populate the import template. Column A is for your project codes and Column C is for your project names. If your projects already exist on CMap Mail, make sure your codes and names match up.
If you use leading zeros in your project codes, you'll need to prompt Excel to keep the leading zeros, otherwise they will disappear when you save the file. Before you enter any codes, go to File Options > Data > Untick the option called 'Remove leading zeros and convert to number'. Then, start entering your project codes as usual. We recommend quickly checking if the changes have embedded by entering a number, saving the file, closing it then reopening it.
Step 4: File Pathways
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To find the file pathway, find the folder or location of where the emails are stored in your File Explorer > right-click on it > select ‘Copy as Path’. This will give you the email pathway. Paste this into the ‘EmailDirectoryPath’ column in your import template.
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When pasting your file pathways into Excel, you will notice that there will be quotation marks at the start and end of the file path, like this:
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You need to remove these quotation marks so that the file path looks like this:
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Save your import template with the name ImportPaths (or something equivalent) and as a CSV file. Make sure you save this CSV file to the new folder you’ve created in the C Drive.
- Close the file once finished.
Set-Up Check 1
Before we move onto the next stage, let's do a quick set-up check:
- Do you have a spare or virtual machine to run the import?
- Has your Microsoft Global Admin approved the import consent?
- Are you a CMap Mail Admin?
- Have you created a new folder in your C Drive?
- Within this folder, is there an extracted version of the import tool AND a CSV file that contains your project codes, file pathways and your project names?
Stage 2: Run
Step 1: Command Prompt Set-Up
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Open Command Prompt. To open Command Prompt, type ‘Command Prompt’ into the windows search bar.
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Once Command Prompt is open, check that the Command Line is pointing to your user folder in the C Drive.
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We want the Command Line to be pointing to the folder that contains the import tool and the Import Paths. To get here, type in cd/ and press enter. This will point the Command Line to the C Drive (C:\>).
Then, type in cd[space][name of folder]. So, if you called your folder EmailImport, it would look like this:
cd EmailImport
You'll know if the C Drive is pointing to the right folder as you will see C:\[name of folder]>
Step 2: Understanding the Command Line Structure
- Check the Command Line your CMap Mail Consultant has prepared for you. The structure will look like this:
AtveroMailFolderImport.exe -t [domain name] -i [name of Excel].csv -r Reports -s [SharePoint Tenant Name] -a [CMap Mail Hubsite Name] -v
Let's breakdown what each parameter means:
- AtveroMailFolderImport.exe: Name of the tool with ‘.exe’ added at the end. If you have renamed the import tool at any point in the process, let your Consultant know as they will need to adjust the name in the Command Line.
- -t [domain name]: Found in your email address. The two elements following the @, e.g ‘yourorganisation.com’
- -i [name of Excel file].csv: The name of the CSV file you’ve created with the project codes, file pathways and project names
- -r Reports: Will generate reports for the import
- -s [SharePoint Tenant Name]: The name of your SharePoint tenant. It can be found in the URL of your SharePoint web address: yourtenancyname.sharepoint.com
- -a [CMap Mail Hubsite Name]: The name of your CMap Mail Hubsite that you created as part of the CMap Mail installation. yourtenancyname.sharepoint.sites/CMapMailHubsite
- -v: Adds additional detail to your reports
So, your Command Line might look something like this:
AtveroMailFolderImport.exe -t CMap.io -i ImportPaths.csv -r Reports -s CMapHQ -a CMapMail -v
The Command Line is very sensitive to spaces so make sure you copy and paste it, rather than typing it out.
Set-Up Check 2
Before we start the import, let's do a final set-up check:
- Do you have a spare or virtual machine to run the import?
- Has your Microsoft Global Admin approved the import consent?
- Are you a CMap Mail Admin?
- Have you created a new folder in your C Drive?
- Within this folder, is there an extracted version of the import tool AND a CSV file that contains your project codes, file pathways and your project names?
- Is your Command Prompt pointing to the correct folder in your C Drive?
- Have you checked the Command Line with your CMap Mail Consultant?
Step 3: Running Your Import
- Press Enter in Command Prompt to start the import.
- You will be asked to login to your Microsoft 365 account. Select the relevant account and wait for the 'Authentication Complete' message to appear. You may need to do this twice. The login page will stop appearing automatically once the authentication is complete. This ensures the import tool can establish the correct tokens.
- Head back to Command Prompt.
If the import has been kicked off successfully, you will see the following statuses:
Scanning: The import tool is scanning the folder for new emails to import.
Processing: The scan is complete and the import tool has found new emails to import into your project.
Uploading: The import tool is now uploading new emails into your project sites.
Once the import tool has completed one project, it will automatically move onto the next one on the list. You can minimise Command Prompt, but do not close it as this will stop the import.
Stage 3: Validate
Step 1: Import Reports
- Go to the EmailImport Folder in your C Drive.
- Click into the folder called 'Reports'.
- Find the folder that corresponds to your import date.
- Open the CSV called 'importReport'.
Here you will see a breakdown of how many emails were imported and how many failed.
Make sure to check the Scanned Failures, Scan Error, Uploaded Failed and Upload Error columns. The Scanned Failures and Upload Failures will tell you how many emails failed. The Scan Error and Upload Error will tell you why they failed.
If you are unsure what the errors mean, reach out to your CMap Mail Consultant.
Step 2: Validating via SharePoint
- To check the results of the import, you can validate via SharePoint. Go to a SharePoint site where emails have been imported to. Use this URL structure: https://[yourSharePointTenant].sharepoint.com/sites/[projectcode].
- Click on the Settings Clog in the top right-hand corner.
- Click on Site Contents.
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Look for a folder called 'Filed Email Content' (this is where the emails would have been imported to). Make sure the number in the 'Items' matches the number of emails that were stored in the folder you imported from.
Step 3: Validating via CMap Mail Discovery
- Go to CMap Mail Discovery.
- Select the project you want to validate from the 'Select a Project' dropdown.
- See if you can search for and find the imported emails.
Stage 4: Sweep
Step 1: Sweep Import
You may want to run a sweep import to capture any missing emails or projects.
- To run the sweep import, make sure Command Prompt is pointing to the EmailImport folder in the C Drive (Stage 2: Step 1).
- Copy and paste in the same Command Line used previously.
The import tool will skip any emails that have already been imported (which avoids duplication) and instead will just import the missing emails.
Import Complete
You have now completed an email import from your File Explorer! If you ran into any problems, or have any questions, contact your CMap Mail Consultant.