Gmail addon to share files from, send files to SkyDrive
Microsoft in preparation of the Windows 8 launch has evaluated all of its products to sort out some and focus on others.
One of the products that the company has moved into focus is SkyDrive, its cloud hosting service, file synchronization and document management service.
Microsoft has linked the service directly with Microsoft Accounts and the Windows 8 operating system. Windows 8 users who log in with a Microsoft Account can synchronize account data with SkyDrive to use the same settings and data on any Winodws 8 PC they log in.
SkyDrive has also been integrated into the redesigned Hotmail.com / Outlook.com email service to manage files more effectively.
Update: Attachments.me is no longer available. The service has been discontinued. We suggest you check out IFTTT instead which offers similar functionality.
Microsoft's latest addition to SkyDrive is an add-on for Gmail. This may sound strange at first considering that Gmail is operated by Google. The reasoning here may be to provide existing SkyDrive customers who are also using Gmail with options to use the storage on Gmail, and to win new Gmail customers for SkyDrive.
Microsoft has teamed up with Attachments.me to create browser add-ons for Chrome and Firefox that integrate SkyDrive functionality into Gmail. I had troubles installing the add-on in Firefox Nightly or Aurora, but the Chrome installation worked as intended.
When you open the Google Mail homepage for the first time after installation, you will see a prompt to complete the setup. Here you need to link the SkyDrive, or Dropbox, Box or Google Drive account, with Gmail. A click on link your account opens a new page where you need to authorize the service to access contents and information of your SkyDrive account.
Once that is out of the way you see two new options on the compose email page:
- Share from SkyDrive to pick a file hosted on SkyDrive and add it as a link to the email. This is different from sending the file as an attachment and usually preferred by many users as it is making emails smaller and less likely to bounce.
- Send file to SkyDrive and share allows you to select files from your local computer to host it on SkyDrive and share it with the email recipients.
Attachments that you receive can be uploaded manually or automatically to SkyDrive. You need to click on the attachment icon at the top of the Gmail interface next to the profile name and select automatic filing rules from the context menu for that.
Rules can be fairly complex. Not only can you select specific file types but also filters when you want attachments to be saved automatically. You could for instance configure a rule to automatically save all documents from a contact, or one that saves code files if the subject contains a certain phrase.
Attachments are automatically saved even if Gmail is not open at the time.
The SkyDrive Gmail add-on may be useful to users of the service who use the Gmail web interface. It may also be an option for Gmail users who want to use Microsoft's service to host their files online, especially if they plan to use a PC with Windows 8 in the future.
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You said that Outlook isn’t your main email client, so which is your main one?
I think its thunderbird
It is Mozilla Thunderbird.
Awesome! This actually solved my problem… what a stupid bug.
If this is the same bug that I’ve encountered, there may be another fix: (1) hover over open Outlook item in Taskbar, cursor up to hover over Outlook window item, and right-click; (2) this should give you Restore / Move / Size / Minimize / Maximize — choose Move or Size; (3) use your cursor keys, going arbitrarily N/S/E/W, to try to move or size the Outlook window back into view. Basically, the app behaves as though it were open in a 0x0 window, or at a location that’s offscreen, and this will frequently work to resize and/or move the window. Don’t forget to close while resized/moved, so that Outlook remembers the size/position for next time.
THANK YOU Claude!!! I could get the main window to launch but could not get any other message window to show on the desktop. You are my hero!!!!
Solved my issue! 6 years later and this is still problem…
Fantastic. Thank you. Size did the trick.
This solved my Outlook problem, too. Thank you. :)
Thank you so much, this started happening to me today and was causing big problems. You are a life saver, I hope I can help you in some way some day.
You are a god – thank you!
thanks a lot…. work like charm.. :-)
Yah…thanks Claude. I’ve been having the same problem and tried all the suggestions…your solution was the answer. It had resized itself to a 0/0 box. Cheers
Excellent post. This had me baffled even trying to accurately describe the problem. This fixed it for me.
Thank you
Thanks a lot for the article. Don’t know why it happenend, don’t know how it got fixed, but it was really annoying and now it works :-)
Thanks a lot. I was facing this issue from past 3 week. I tried everything but no resolution. The issue was happening intermittently and mainly when I was changing the display of screen ( as i use 2 monitors). The only option i had was to do system restore. But thanks to you.
I’ve been tried to sole this problem for 12hours. Your comment about changing the display of screen helped me a lot!! Thanks!!
Thank you…don’t know why this happened but your instructions helped me fix it. Running Windows 10 and office pro 2007
Great tip! Thanks!
Worked for me, too – thank you!!!
It’s Worked for me, too
thank you very much!
I had a similar issue with Outlook 2013 on Windows 10 and this helped me to fix it. Thank you very much!
Thank you so much. Solved!
Considering you published this in 2012, incredible not been debugged by Microsoft.
Thank you again. M
This problem was faced by only one user logging to TS 2008 r2 using outlook 2010.The issue was resolved.
Thanks.
Great tip. Thank you!!!! If it helps, I had to use the Control Key and the arrow keys at the same time to bring my window back into view. Worked like a charm.
Thank you, this worked !!!!
Man, you are a fucking god. Thanks a lot, what an annoying bug!!
Awesome, this post solved the issue. Many thanks!