Strip/dump attachments

The Strip/dump attachments action in CodeTwo Exchange Rules Pro is used to automatically remove certain attachments and to dump (copy) them from messages onto a hard drive. This feature lets the administrators make sure that unwanted attachments are removed from messages before they reach their recipients. Moreover, mailboxes can be significantly slimmed down as attachments are saved to a hard drive.

Example of usage

If you do not control the flow of attachments in your organization, the users may send large files via internal mail instead of making them available in a shared location; they might even send sensitive information in attachments. CodeTwo Exchange Rules Pro will monitor emails in your organization in case the attachments are used in an incorrect way. If you activate the Strip/dump attachments action in a given rule, the program will automatically strip and/or dump attachments that meet the criteria defined in Conditions.

How to configure this action

To activate this action, click Add on the Actions tab and select Strip/dump attachments (Fig. 1.).

Fig. 1. Choosing the Strip/dump attachments action on the Actions tab.

The Strip/dump attachments action will appear on the list of actions while the right pane will show the action's properties. In the properties pane, provide the scope of the attachments to be processed, the actions that will be triggered, and finally decide how the recipient of the message will be notified that the attachments have been modified (Fig. 2.).

Fig. 2. Properties pane of the Strip/dump attachments action.

First, specify the range of attachments to be processed in the If email contains field. You can choose the action to process all attachments and/or filter the attachments according to their size and extension. When size or extension are selected as the criteria, click the Options button to complete the filter configuration. The size filter can work either by checking the total size of all attachments or by checking the size of individual attachments. You will need to specify the size range for this filter with minimum size and maximum size in KB or MB (Fig. 3.).

Fig. 3. Specifying the size criteria for the attachment filter.

If you want to use the extension filter, you can add a set of predefined extensions related to a particular category (e.g. Office files) or specify them manually, using the Other... button (Fig. 4.).

Fig. 4. Specifying the extension criteria for the attachment filter.

The next configuration step allows you to define what to do with attachments that meet the criteria specified in a filter. You can choose to:

save these attachments to disk,
save these attachments and delete them from the email,
delete these attachments from the email.

If you choose to save the attachments, you are asked to specify additional options: the Target root folder to dump attachments onto, the Filename pattern and finally the Target folder structure so that the attachments are sorted into separate folders. Click the Options button to configure these settings. Once the Options window opens, on the Target root folder tab provide a path to a target folder where the attachments will be dumped (Fig. 5.).

Fig. 5. Providing a target root folder for dumped attachments.

The Target folder structure tab will let you design a folder structure according to which attachments will be saved and sorted. By creating such a structure, you make sure that the attachments are never saved to the same folder, to avoid overwriting (Fig. 6.).

Fig. 6. Designing the folder tree structure to sort dumped attachments into neat folders.

On the Filename pattern tab, choose what to do if the attachment of the same name or type already exists in the target location (Fig. 7.):

append a unique number to name,
overwrite it,
do nothing.

Fig. 7. Providing filename patterns for dumped attachments.

You can also specify if attachment names should contain dynamic fields that depend on the properties of the original message. If you want to create a more complex naming pattern, scroll down and choose Custom, then pick the desired dynamic fields. Each dynamic field can be further customized by clicking the Properties button.

The last option to configure in the Strip/dump attachments action (see Fig. 2.) is the way the recipient of a message will be notified about the modifications made to the message. You can choose from the following actions:

insert notification on top of the message body,
insert notification at the end of the message body,
insert notification as an HTML file attachment,
do not insert notification.

If you decide to notify the recipient of the modified message, click the Options button to open a simplified version of the template editor and compose the notification message (Fig. 8.).

Fig. 8. Composing the notification for the recipient in the built-in template editor.

After configuring this action, the program will save the attachments included in messages to a local drive and/or remove them from these messages if the defined Conditions are met.

See next

How to compress, remove and store attachments of a specific size in the incoming mail