SharePoint feature for sending e-mails from document libraries

System requirements

Server
SharePoint 2010 must be installed. There are no special requirements for the edition of SharePoint.

Client
Following requirements must be fulfilled on the Client in order to use the feature:
1. Outlook is installed on the computer and the computer is located in the same domain as the server.
2. This feature is to be used with Internet Explorer only, as ActiveX technology is not supported by other web browsers.
3. In the security settings of Internet Explorer must be activated following settings: “Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe for scripting” and "Automatic logon with current user name and password".

For activation of settings, following steps must be carried out:
3.1. Click on "Tools" in the task menu of Internet Explorer
3.2. Click on “Internet Options” from dropdown-menu
3.3. In the internet options click tab ”Security”
3.4. Choose the zone ”Trusted sites”
3.5. Click the button “Sites” and insert your SharePoint-Site to “Trusted sites”.
3.6. Click the button “Custom level”
3.6.1 Activate the setting “Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe for scripting”
3.6.2 Activate the setting “Automatic logon with current user name and password”

Installation

The installation can be divided in to the following steps:
1. Adding “Communardo.SendSharePointDocumentsAsEmailAttachment.wsp” solution to the SharePoint Farm solutions. There is no possibility to do it by means of user interface. Thus command line tool “stsadm” has to be used. Following command should be run under administrative rights on the server (before that save the file “Communardo.SendSharePointDocumentsAsEmailAttachment.wsp” in any directory, for example C:\Communardo).
(Figure 1)


Figure 1.

2. Open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration and click the link “System Settings” and then the link “Manage farm solutions” (Figure 2).



Figure 2.

3. In the list of all SharePoint solutions click “Communardo.SendSharePointDocumentsAsEmailAttachment.wsp” and then “Deploy Solution“ (Figure 3)



Figure 3.

Activation

If the feature is not activated you can activate it by executing following steps:
Open Internet Explorer and open your SharePoint root site. Log in as administrator. Click on “Site Actions” and in the context menu on “Site Settings”. On the page “Site Actions” click on the link “Site collection features". On the then following page search for the feature “Communardo Send documents as attachments” and click on the button “Activate”. The feature is now activated and can be used.

Application

Sending documents via Ribbon Bar

When the feature “Communardo Send documents as attachments” is active, there will be added a button “Send documents as e-mail” to the section “Share & Track” in the ribbon of all document libraries (Figure 4). This button will be active only if at least one document is selected. After clicking on “Send documents as email” the dialog “New Mail-Dialog” of Outlook will be opened and the selected documents will be automatically added as attachments.



Figure 4.

Sending single documents as e-mail via context menu
There is an additional possibility to send a single document as an e-mail via context menu. For this purpose, there is an entry “As e-mail attachment” in the context menu (Figure 5).


Figure 5.