Using the Outlook Add-in

Learn how to clean email attachments automatically using the Draftable Clean Outlook add-in, including profile switching, PDF conversion, saving to your DMS, and send protection.

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Part 2: Draftable Clean Outlook add-in

The Draftable Clean add-in runs directly inside Microsoft Outlook and automatically cleans attachments as you compose emails.

The current Outlook pane is shown in the 1.13 and later tab below. Older examples elsewhere on this page may show the former Insert Attachment List label; the current button is Insert Attachment Summary. Desktop settings screenshots show 26.10.0.

Attach files and compose your email as you normally would. Draftable Clean applies your organisation’s cleaning rules and send-protection settings. Review the status in the pane before sending: Cleaned means cleaning completed, while Skipped means a Skip Cleaning rule left the file unchanged.

1.13 and later

Earlier versions

The desktop application must be running for the add-in to function. If it is not already open, the add-in will attempt to launch it silently in the background.

In Classic Outlook, open the Draftable Clean pane for attachments to be cleaned, and pin it to open automatically when composing. The Allow, Prompt, and Block send-protection settings also apply when the pane has not been opened. If the settings cannot yet be read, Outlook asks you to open the pane before sending. In New Outlook, cleaning can run without the pane open, provided Clean has not been turned off for New Outlook.

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Opening the pane in Classic Outlook

In Classic Outlook, if the Draftable Clean pane is closed, a banner appears on the email once it has recipients: “Open Draftable Clean to check attachments before sending.” Open Manage Attachments to open the pane, and the attachments are cleaned for your recipients. The banner does not appear while the email has no recipients, or while the pane is open.

With the pane closed, Classic Outlook cannot ask Draftable Clean which profile applies to your recipients, so the banner can also appear when your recipients are covered by Skip Cleaning. This is expected: open the pane and the attachments show Skipped. Pinning the pane avoids the banner altogether.

Open Manage Attachments in the Outlook ribbon at any time to view cleaning progress and access the options below.

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Changing the add-in language

Draftable Clean supports multiple languages including English, Deutsch, Español, Français, 日本語, Nederlands, Polski, Português, Svenska, and Tagalog. Open the add-in pane and click the globe icon at the bottom of the panel to select your preferred language.

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Automatic profile switching based on recipients

Draftable Clean intelligently adjusts the cleaning profile based on recipient email domains. Domain rules are configured in Settings > Add-In and determine which cleaning profile is applied. For example, a typical configuration might be:

• No recipients entered — A default profile such as Standard Clean is used
• Internal recipients (e.g. [e-mail]) — A lighter profile such as Clean Draft that preserves tracked changes and comments
• External recipients (e.g. [e-mail]) — A stricter profile such as Standard Clean

These are examples. Administrators and users can customise the no-recipient default and map domains to cleaning profiles in Settings > Add-In. See Metadata cleaning profiles.

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Skip Cleaning

With Draftable Clean 26.10.0 or later and Outlook add-in 1.12.110.0 or later, choose Skip Cleaning (do not clean) for the no-recipient default or a domain rule in Settings > Add-In.

Attachments covered by Skip Cleaning show Skipped straight away and are sent unchanged. When cleaning is skipped or turned off for your recipients, the add-in does not check the files and shows no banner on the email; the pane shows “Cleaning is off for these recipients.” For domain rules, skipping applies only when every recipient resolves to a skip rule. If any recipient matches a cleaning rule or no rule, cleaning takes precedence. Keep Default (all other domains) assigned to a cleaning profile, such as Standard Clean.

Skip Cleaning does not remove metadata. If removal is required, use a cleaning profile.

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When recipients change

When you add or change recipients, a banner appears: “Recipients changed — re-cleaning attachments with updated profile.” You can click Review Attachments to check the changes.

If recipients change while attachments are still cleaning, for example when you add an external recipient to an internal email, Draftable Clean cleans the attachments again for the new recipients. If you press Send before that has finished, sending is held and Outlook asks you to review the attachments, for example: “Recipients changed just before sending. Click Review to open Draftable Clean and check the attachments for the current recipients.” Click Review, let the attachments finish cleaning, then send again.

As attachments are cleaned, the panel shows cleaning progress or identifies if tracked changes or comments are present.

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Updating the file profile

If profile overrides are enabled in Settings > Add-In, you can override the cleaning profile for individual files using the per-file Profile dropdown in the add-in pane.

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Converting attachments to PDF

Supported Word, Excel, and PowerPoint attachments can be converted to PDF from the add-in panel. Click Convert to PDF on an attachment to flag it — the file is converted automatically when cleaning completes.

Once conversion is complete, the panel updates to reflect the cleaned and converted attachments. If tracked changes or comments were present on a file and removed in PDF conversion, the notification reverts to showing the total number of files cleaned.

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Saving cleaned attachments to your DMS

You can save a cleaned attachment, or an attachment converted to PDF, straight to your document management system (DMS) from the add-in pane. Each cleaned file shows a button for each DMS turned on in Draftable Clean under Settings > Integrations:

• Save to iManage
• Save to NetDocuments
• Save to SharePoint
• Save to Epona 365

1. Let the attachment finish cleaning

   The buttons appear once the file shows Cleaned. Files that were skipped, or that still need cleaning, have no Save buttons.

2. Click the Save button for your DMS

   Draftable Clean opens the save dialog for your DMS. Choose where to save the file and confirm.

3. Check the status in the pane

   The pane shows the result under the file, for example “Saved to SharePoint”. If you close the save dialog without saving, it shows “Save to iManage cancelled” (with the name of your DMS).

Things to know:

• Only the cleaned copy is uploaded. The original file is never sent to your DMS.
• Each save creates a new document in your DMS. It does not add a version to an existing document.
• Files are saved one at a time. Wait for one save to finish before starting the next.
• The Save buttons are unavailable while the pane is cleaning or converting files.

If a Save button you expect is missing, see Troubleshooting: Outlook Add-in.

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Renaming attachments

After cleaning, you can rename files directly in the Draftable Clean panel. Click the pencil icon next to a file name to edit it inline.

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Unsupported file types

If you attach a file in a format Draftable Clean does not support, the Draftable Clean panel displays an “Unsupported format” status with the message: “This file type cannot be cleaned. See Knowledge Base.” Unsupported files do not block sending by default — this behavior is configurable in Settings > Add-In > Send Protection.

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Password-protected files

If you attach a password-protected file, it shows “Password protected” with the message: “Enter the document password to clean this file.” Enter the password in the provided field and click Unlock to authenticate and clean the file.

If the password is incorrect, an “Incorrect password. Please try again.” message is displayed. Re-enter the correct password and click Unlock again.

Once the correct password is provided, the file is cleaned automatically and shows the same “Cleaned” status as your other files.

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Files protected by Microsoft Purview

If your administrator has turned on support for Microsoft Purview protected files, and you use Draftable Clean 26.11.0 or later, protected attachments are cleaned in the add-in in the same way as in the desktop application. The cleaned copy that is sent is an ordinary, unprotected file. You need the right to extract content from the protected file. The add-in cannot show a Microsoft 365 sign-in window: if a protected attachment is not cleaned, open a protected file in the Draftable Clean desktop application once to sign in, then add the attachment again.

If Purview support is turned off, a protected attachment shows Protected with the message “Protected by Microsoft Purview: not supported. The attachment will be sent as it is, still protected.” When Skip Cleaning applies to your recipients, protected attachments are also sent as they are, still protected.

See Cleaning files protected by Microsoft Purview for how to turn on support and what your administrator can control.

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Inserting an attachment list or table

Click Insert Attachment Summary to add a formatted summary into the email body. Earlier screenshots below show the former Insert Attachment List label. The button includes a dropdown arrow with two format options:

• List — A bullet-point list of attachment names

• Table — A table with Attachment and Description columns

The default format is configurable in Settings > Add-In > Attachment Summary.

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Send protection

These checks do not run in New Outlook for Windows when Clean attachments in New Outlook is turned off. See New Outlook settings.

Draftable Clean controls what happens when issues are detected on send. By default:

The screenshots below are from New Outlook. Dialogs and prompts appear similarly in Classic Outlook.

• Attachments not finished cleaning — Sending is blocked with a dialog: “Attachments need review before sending.” The user can click Review to return to the email or Don’t send to cancel.

• Tracked changes or comments detected — The user is prompted with a dialog: “Tracked changes or comments detected.” The user can click Send anyway, Review, or Don’t send.

• Unsupported attachment types — Sending is allowed

Each scenario can be configured to Allow, Prompt, or Block in Settings > Add-In > Send Protection.

Unsupported attachments include attached emails and ZIP archives whose contents cannot all be checked. They follow the unsupported-attachment policy. See Outlook troubleshooting if attachments are duplicated, remain pending, or fail to clean.

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New Outlook settings

In the desktop app, open Settings > Add-In > New Outlook (beta). Clean attachments in New Outlook is on by default unless your administrator has configured it otherwise.

Turning it off disables both attachment cleaning and pre-send checks in New Outlook for Windows. The pane explains that Clean is off. This switch does not affect Classic Outlook or Outlook on the web. You may need to open a new email after changing it. If the setting is locked, contact your administrator.

Use desktop 26.10.0 or later and add-in 1.12.110.0 or later for this setting. New Outlook support remains in beta.

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Large attachments and email size limits

The add-in cleans attachments up to Microsoft’s limit for a file an Outlook add-in can attach, about 24 MB. To make room, it takes the original off the email before it adds the cleaned copy.

An attachment over this limit that needs cleaning shows Failed with “File exceeds maximum size (24 MB)”, and sending is held because the attachment still needs cleaning. This is Microsoft’s limit, not a fault. To send the file, share it through your DMS or a link instead of attaching it. Attachments that do not need cleaning, for example when Skip Cleaning applies to all your recipients, are sent as they are whatever their size.

The add-in reads your organisation’s Microsoft 365 mailbox size limit where available, using the Microsoft Graph Mail.Read permission if your administrator has approved Draftable’s app, Draftable Clean, in Microsoft Entra ID. If this permission has not been granted or the lookup is unavailable, it uses a standard default limit. No additional permission is needed once Draftable Clean is approved. If your organization approved the add-in’s permissions before Outlook add-in 1.12.114.0, an administrator needs to approve Draftable Clean once; see Approving Draftable Clean in Microsoft Entra. If an attachment would exceed the limit, a message explains the failure. Remove attachments or reduce their size, then retry and check the pane before sending. On-premises Exchange retains its existing behaviour.