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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. Attach files and compose your email as you normally would, then click Send. Draftable Clean cleans your attachments in the background according to your organization’s policies — you can send with confidence that your files have been cleaned.
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, you must pin the Draftable Clean pane and keep it open for files to be cleaned. In New Outlook, the pane does not need to be open — you can attach files and send without opening the panel.
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. colleague@yourfirm.com) — A lighter profile such as Clean Draft that preserves tracked changes and comments
  • External recipients (e.g. contact@externalfirm.com) — A stricter profile such as Standard Clean
These are examples — administrators and users can customize the default profile for when no recipients are entered, and configure domain rules to map specific email domains to any cleaning profile via Settings > Add-In. See Metadata cleaning profiles for details on managing profiles and domain rules. 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.
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 enabled by your administrator 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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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 an orange “Password protected” status 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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Inserting an attachment list or table

Click Insert Attachment List to add a formatted summary into the email body. 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

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.