Outlook Add-In: Email Filing

Connect Microsoft Outlook to Cogram to automatically file project emails, review AI filing decisions, and track email status with Outlook category labels.

Connect your Outlook account to automatically file project emails and review decisions without leaving your inbox.

Manage your email connection in Account Settings > Integrations.

Prerequisites

• A Cogram account with at least one project

• A Microsoft 365 / Outlook account

• The Cogram Add-In installed in your Outlook (contact your IT administrator if not yet available)

Connecting your Outlook account

1. Go to Account Settings > Integrations.

2. Under Email Connection, click Connect next to Microsoft Outlook.

3. Sign in and grant the requested permissions.

Cogram begins processing new emails immediately. Emails already in your inbox are not retroactively filed.

Your IT organization may need to approve the integration. Contact your administrator if the authentication step fails.

How filing works

When an email arrives or is sent, Cogram checks it against your active projects and assigns a decision:

Decision	Meaning
Filed	Matched to a project and filed automatically.
Pending	A project is suggested; needs your confirmation.
Not Filed	No matching project found.

Filed emails appear in the Emails tab of the matched project. Review and act on decisions in the Cogram Add-In panel, a sidebar inside Outlook. Open it via the Cogram icon in your toolbar or ribbon.

Pin the Add-In panel, recommended on first use. Click the pin icon (thumbtack) in the top-right corner of the panel. The panel stays open as you click between emails and updates automatically, so there is no need to reopen it each time. Without pinning, Outlook automatically closes the panel whenever you click on another email. This is Outlook's default behavior for any add-in, not a Cogram limitation. The pin only needs to be set once per account.

Action	What it does
Confirm	Accept the suggested project; status becomes Filed.
Reject	Decline; status becomes Not Filed.
Remove	Remove a previously confirmed filing.

Filing settings

Go to Account Settings > Integrations > Email Connection to control what gets filed.

Auto-file incoming emails

Toggle on to automatically file emails you receive to matching projects. When off, incoming emails are not processed unless you file them manually from the Add-In panel.

Auto-file outgoing emails

Toggle on to automatically file emails you send to matching projects. This is independent of the incoming toggle, and useful if you only want to track sent correspondence.

File from folder

Designate an Outlook folder as a manual filing trigger. Any email moved into that folder is sent to Cogram for matching, regardless of the auto-file toggles above.

Enable the File from folder toggle in Account Settings > Integrations > Email Connection:

Enable the File from folder toggle to open the folder picker

A folder picker opens. Select an existing Outlook folder, or click Create "File to Cogram" to let Cogram create a dedicated folder. You can also type any name to create a custom folder:

Pick an existing folder or create a new one with any name

The selected folder appears at the top with a checkmark. Click Confirm to save:

Confirm your selection: emails moved to this folder will be filed automatically

Apply category labels

Cogram writes a color-coded Outlook category to each processed email: Filed (green), Pending (yellow), Not Filed (gray). Labels update automatically as decisions change. Turn off if you use Outlook categories for other purposes.

Organization admins can set defaults and lock all three auto-filing toggles (incoming, outgoing, apply category labels) for the entire organization. Go to Organization Settings > Emails > Auto-Filing. Each setting can be left Unlocked (users override freely) or set to Locked (your org default applies to everyone and cannot be changed by individual users).

Organization Settings > Emails > Auto-Filing: admins can toggle and lock each setting org-wide

Sender Blocklist: excluding senders from auto-filing

Admin-only. Some senders should never have their emails auto-filed: HR communications, personal contacts copied in on project threads, automated notification services. Org admins can maintain a Sender Blocklist of sender addresses that are excluded from auto-filing for the entire organization.

Go to Organization Settings > Emails > Sender Blocklist and add the addresses to the Sender Blocklist field. Separate multiple addresses with commas or semicolons, or press Enter after each. Changes save automatically.

Enter full email addresses only (for example [e-mail]); domains and misspellings won't match, so double-check each entry.

How it works:

• Sender match only. Cogram compares the From address of incoming email against the list. Strict, full-address match ([e-mail]), lowercased. Domains (example.com) and partial matches are not supported; add each address individually.

• Auto-filing only. Excluded senders still show up in your inbox and you can still file their emails manually from the Add-In. Only automatic filing is skipped.

• Outgoing mail is unaffected. Filing sensitivity is applied to incoming mail based on the sender. Emails you send to a listed address are filed normally.

• Visible to admins only. The list is never shown to non-admins or included in auto-filing decision explanations.

Bulk-filing emails from the Add-In

Outlook version requirement: Bulk-filing requires Outlook with a Microsoft 365 subscription (desktop or web). It is not available on perpetual / volume-license Outlook (Office 2016, 2019, 2021, or 2024 LTSC), Outlook for iOS and Android, or Outlook on the web connected to an on-premises Exchange Server. On unsupported versions the multi-select option does not appear in the Add-In panel; single-email filing works normally.

You can file or remove multiple emails at once directly from the Cogram Add-In panel in Outlook.

1. Select two or more emails in your Outlook folder (hold Ctrl or Shift to multi-select), then open the Email Management Add-In from the toolbar or the action menu.

Select emails, then open Email Management from the toolbar or action menu

1. The Add-In shows the count of selected emails. Pick one or more projects to file them to. You can search or scroll the project list.

Select a project (or multiple), then click File

1. Click File N emails to N project. The Add-In confirms the count of filed emails.

Confirmation: emails are now in the project record

To remove a batch from a project, select the emails, open the Add-In panel, and click Remove.

Disconnecting

Go to Account Settings > Integrations > Email Connection and click Disconnect. Existing filed emails remain in your projects; no new emails will be processed.

Troubleshooting

Emails not filing automatically. Check that auto-file toggles are on and the account shows as connected. Reconnect if needed.

Category labels not appearing. Enable the Apply category labels toggle. If labels still don't appear, ask your IT administrator to confirm Cogram has the required Microsoft Graph permissions.

Add-In panel not visible. Contact your administrator to install the Cogram Add-In via the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Panel closes when switching emails. The panel is not pinned. Click the pin icon (thumbtack) in the top-right corner of the panel to keep it open as you navigate between emails.

Label shows wrong status. Refresh the Cogram Add-In panel. The label updates once Cogram processes the change.

Bulk-filing (multi-select) option not visible. Your Outlook version does not support multi-select in add-ins. Bulk-filing requires a Microsoft 365 subscription version of Outlook (desktop 2301+ or Outlook on the web against Exchange Online). It is not available on perpetual Office licenses (2016/2019/2021/2024 LTSC), Outlook mobile, or Outlook on the web connected to on-premises Exchange. Use single-email filing until you upgrade.

Next steps

• Projects: how emails appear in the project record

• Emails: forward emails for summarization or report drafting