SQL Server 2012 FileTable not able to open Outlook 2010 email message

Question

I have created a SQL FileTable in a SQL Server 2012 database. I am trying to drag and drop an Outlook 2010 .msg file to the SQL FileTable. I have tried doing this to a Network Drive mapped to the location of the FileTable and also to the original FileTable location but both times I get the error

The request is not supported.

If I drag the file to my local drive first I can then copy it to the FileTable but when trying to open the file i get the following error message:

Cannot open file . The file may not exist, you may not have permission to open it, or it may be open in another program. Right-click the folder that contains the file, and then click the Properties to check your permissions for the folder.

If I copy the email message back out of the FileTable I can open it fine.

I read about other issues that may cause problems when opening Outlook messages when using Network Drives but I have tested this and this is not a problem when storing to other network locations and it only occurs when storing it to the FileTable.

Is it possible to store Outlook email messages in a SQL Server 2012 FileTable? I have been unable to find much information on the internet about it or anyone else with this problem.

Any help on how to store Outlook msgs would be much appreciate. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Most likely Outlook uses some file-system functionality that is not implemented in FileTable.

Just found this line here:

But once there is data in the file, attempting to edit with Notepad.exe returns an error, "This request is not supported". This is because Notepad.exe uses memory-mapped files, a win32 feature which isn't supported by FileTable.

and on MSDN:

However you can use these applications from a remote computer to open files that are stored in a FileTable, because in these circumstances the memory-mapping feature is not used.