Does anyone know if there is an easy way to archive emails to DevonThink from Outlook on a Windows computer?
My situation is that the university I work for is shortly to introduce Mobile Device Management (MDM). Once introduced, remote staff will only be able to access university systems from devices with MDM installed. Currently I use my own computers, both Macs, for work, but staff who have already installed MDM report a variety of problems, which makes me anxious about installing it. An alternative is to use a laptop supplied by the university, but they will only supply Windows laptops. Most of my work involves supervising research students, and I maintain an ‘event log’ for each student, which is a DevonThink group containing all interactions with the student, especially emails. Transferring Outlook emails to DevonThink is therefore a daily activity.
I wondered if any DevonThink users archive emails to DevonThink from a Windows machine and could tell me if it is (a) possible and (b) relatively easy. I would be most grateful for your advice and experience.
Ah, good question. I’ve been playing around with Outlook on my Mac and it doesn’t appear to offer any! At the moment, I transfer emails by dragging them from Outlook onto the desktop and dragging them from there into the appropriate DevonThink ‘event log’ group.
Outlook on Windows and Mac doesn’t have feature parity.
You can drag and drop a mailbox in Outlook to the desktop to create an .mbox. Dragging the .mbox to DEVONthink’s dock icon will import it and its emails.
That’s really helpful, Bluefrog. Thank you. So presumably I am currently, unwittingly, using the .mbox format to transfer emails from Outlook to DevonThink on my Mac. The only extra step I will need if I switch to Outlook on Windows will be to transfer the .mbox file between machines using, for example, a pen drive or Dropbox (alas, no Airdrop from Windows). I think I’d prefer the inconvenience of that extra step to the risk of problems from installing MDM on my Mac.
Many thanks for your help.
with best wishes
Claire.
Ah, thank you, Bluefrog. I guess I’ll just have to opt for the university-supplied Windows laptop and try it out when I get it.
with best wishes
Claire.
I dislike moving email out of Outlook for Windows so much that I leave them in my Outlook Inbox and move them when I get home using Outlook for Mac.
Dragging an email from Outlook for Windows to a folder in the file explorer gets you a .msg file that is essentially useless on a Mac, but will still open in Outlook on Windows.
Ah, that’s useful to know, Robert. Thank you.
If I don’t install MDM on the Mac then that computer will no longer be able to access Outlook, which is licensed through the university. It looks as though individual emails can be saved from Outlook as html or PDF files, which might be an option. I guess I’ll have to wait until I have the Windows laptop and then play around!
