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Forum Discussion
Can no longer save outlook emails to Dropbox
In the past I've copied over certain emails from my Outlook inbox into Dropbox just by using copy/paste function. These would bring attachments along with the original message text and are a backup ...
Thanks for this. This one link shows at the bottom how to move the "Documents" folder to dropbox which moves the Outlook data and creates an auto sync. Not what I was doing as I was only backing up selective emails but it might work.
https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Files-folders/Can-you-help-me-backup-my-emails/td-p/282911
What is interesting is that while playing with this I found that if I copy and past an outlook email with attachments from my Outlook inbox into the Documents folder in Windows first, I can then copy and past it into Dropbox the way I used to with no third party app.
So this is an extra step and something Dropbox has done created this inability to do the same thing directly from my email inbox. No idea why or what the fix might be but it does work now if I take this extra step. I tested it and I can open that same email from dropbox with a double click and it opens automatically with Outlook so the process break is only one way on the save side.
Walter
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHello Cbray - welcome to the Dropbox Community; how are you today?
As I'm not sure about this, could you clarify how exactly were you copying and pasting your emails from Outlook to Dropbox and what device were you on?
While it is possible to sync Outlook or Windows Mail .pst files using Dropbox, we believe you'll have a better experience enabling IMAP through your email provider which will automatically sync changes to your email for you, if your email provider supports that capability. IMAP is only associated with email providers and not related with Dropbox, so you'll need to check with your specific email provider for more info on how to set up or enable IMAP.
I hope this helps to some extent and I'll be waiting for your response to look further into this.
Thanks for the reply Walter. My emails are all set as IMAP. To answer your initial question I am on a laptop and was simply copying emails from my inbox list and pasting them into the appropriate Dropbox folder in order to save them as a backup. Doing it this way would capture not just the email text but also any attachments that were included with the email.
I've been doing this for years but just recently went to refresh my backup for this one business I run and that is how I found the function to no longer work.
There are two reasons I am a Dropbox user. One is the multi device access to my information as I travel and use multiple laptops as well as mobile devices. I also share information with others in a group. The second reason which is the most important is that I use Dropbox as a back up for my media but most importantly also for my critical business communications which is where the copy and paste of certain emails was being used. It was a simple and quick method that I must have to remain a Dropbox user.
- Fiona
Hey Cbray. I wanted to add this Community thread that might help.
:pushpin: The Dropbox add-in to your Outlook account can:
- Replace email attachments with a shared link to any file, big or small
- Save email attachments that you receive directly to your Dropbox account
- Ensure those with access to a file see updates to it (since shared links always point to the latest version of a file, whereas attachments are just a static copy)
Read more about Dropbox for Outloook. The add-in does not save and sync the text of emails directly
Gmail +Dropbox: Note, this integration does not save or sync your Gmails text body to Dropbox automatically. )
To fully understand the issue you are facing with the emails you were saving, it will be super helpful to provide the steps you were taking and the type of device you are using to complete this process, as Waltersuggested.
Thanks for your time checking out the resources I provided.
Looking forward to more details for us to assist you the best way possible!
Thank you for the reply. I thought I had explained the process and what I was using but maybe this is clearer. I'm on a laptop. I go into my Outlook email inbox. I right click and copy the email if it is needed for future purposes from the inbox without opening it. I go to the appropriate folder in Dropbox and right click/paste the email copy there. In the past this worked and the email copy retained the attachments as well for future reference. Nothing more complicated than this and a function I need with Dropbox. Also just to mention that I did already add the Dropbox add-in to my Outlook account. It did not support this funciton any better as I was doing it.
- Walter
So you're drag and dropping those emails to your Dropbox folder on your laptop directly Cbray.
As you mentioned that this used to work, when was the last time you remember doing this? What file types did your emails have by the way?
Also, what happens now? Are you getting any errors?
In addition, could you try another browser other than the one you used originally to do this and let us know the results?
