Connect email capture to Microsoft 365
Point an email capture job at a Microsoft 365 mailbox with modern (OAuth2) authentication — the Entra app registration it needs, the four values that go into Content Central, and how to switch an old IMAP or POP3 job over.
Before you begin
- Access to the Content Central server (Catalog Manager runs there)
- Rights to create an app registration and grant admin consent in your Microsoft Entra tenant
At the end of this guide, a capture job reads a Microsoft 365 mailbox using modern (OAuth2) authentication — the setup Microsoft requires now that plain username-and-password mail access is gone — and attachments arriving in that mailbox become documents automatically.
The work splits in two: your Microsoft administrator creates an app registration (steps 1–2), then Content Central gets its four values (steps 3–4).
Step 1: Register an application in Microsoft Entra
In the Microsoft Entra admin center, create an App registration for Content Central's mailbox access. Content Central uses the app-only ("client credentials") sign-in style, which means:
- No redirect URI is needed — leave that blank.
- The registration needs application permissions (not delegated) for reading mail — and mail modify rights if you'll turn on delete-after-capture below.
- An administrator must grant admin consent to those permissions — without consent, the connection test fails no matter what you type.
Then create a client secret for the registration and copy its value immediately (Microsoft shows it once).
Collect three values: the Directory (tenant) ID, the Application (client) ID, and the client secret.
The client secret has an expiration date you choose at creation. Calendar it — when it expires, email capture stops with login failures, and the fix is a new secret pasted into the job.
Step 2: Pick the mailbox
Decide which mailbox the job reads — a dedicated address like capture@yourcompany.com works best. Content Central reads that mailbox's Inbox (folder selection isn't configurable), so keep the mailbox single-purpose.
Step 3: Create (or open) the email capture job
Capture jobs live in the Catalog Manager application on the Content Central server:
Open Catalog Manager, select the catalog, click Modify..., and go to the Capture tab.
Click Add... for a new job — or Edit... to convert an existing IMAP/POP3 job.
On the General tab: name the job, pick the Document Type, and set Capture Source to Email.
Step 4: Enter the Microsoft 365 connection
On the Details tab, under E-mail Server Settings:
Set Server Type: to OAuth2. (On an existing IMAP or POP3 job, this is the whole conversion — the hostname/port/password fields disappear and the OAuth2 fields appear; everything else about the job is untouched.)
Set Provider: to Azure, then fill the four fields:
Field Value Directory Id: The Directory (tenant) ID from step 1 Application Id: The Application (client) ID from step 1 Client Secret: The secret value from step 1 Username: The mailbox address from step 2
Decide Delete message after capturing:
- Unchecked — the job captures unread messages and leaves them in place (already-read mail is ignored).
- Checked — every processed message is deleted. The dialog makes you confirm: "I understand all messages will be deleted."
Click Test Server Settings.
What you should see: "Test Succeeded." with a message count. "Could not login" means the IDs/secret/consent from step 1 need rechecking; "Could not connect" points at the server-side network.
The Capture Job Details dialog with Server Type OAuth2 and the Azure fields filled, after a successful Test Server Settings
Step 5 (optional): Capture email details as field values
The E-mail Field Settings section maps message metadata — From address, Subject, Date/Time, Body, and more — onto the document type's fields. Two checkboxes change what gets captured: the email message itself instead of attachments, or the email and its attachments together.
Click OK and save the catalog.
Step 6: Prove it
Send a test email with a PDF attached to the mailbox, as unread mail (don't open it first if delete-after-capture is off).
Success check: within a couple of minutes the attachment appears as a document in the Coding Queue or catalog. Remember the capture rule: one document can't span multiple emails.
If capture stops working later
The usual culprits, in order: the client secret expired (step 1's calendar note), the mailbox password-style settings were "cleaned up" in Entra, or admin consent was removed. Re-run Test Server Settings — it tells you which side is failing. Then see Capture documents sent to email for the day-to-day mailbox behaviors.