.. http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/user/rst/quickref.html

.. |nbsp| unicode:: 0xA0 :trim:

imap_tools 📧

High level lib for work with email by IMAP:

Basic message operations: fetch, uids, numbers
Parsed email message attributes
Query builder for search criteria
Actions with emails: copy, delete, flag, move, append
Actions with folders: list, set, get, create, exists, rename, subscribe, delete, status
IDLE commands: start, poll, stop, wait
Exceptions on failed IMAP operations
No external dependencies, tested

.. image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/dm/imap_tools.svg?style=social

=============== ================================================================================================ Python version 3.5+ License Apache-2.0 PyPI https://pypi.python.org/pypi/imap_tools/ RFC IMAP4.1 <https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3501>, EMAIL <https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822>, IMAP related RFCs <https://github.com/ikvk/imap_tools/blob/master/docs/IMAP_related_RFCs.txt>_ Repo mirror https://gitflic.ru/project/ikvk/imap-tools =============== ================================================================================================

.. contents::

Installation

$ pip install imap-tools

Guide

Basic ^^^^^

Info about lib are at: this page, docstrings, issues, pull requests, examples, source, stackoverflow.com

.. code-block:: python

from imap_tools import MailBox, AND

# Get date, subject and body len of all emails from INBOX folder
with MailBox('imap.mail.com').login('test@mail.com', 'pwd') as mailbox:
    for msg in mailbox.fetch():
        print(msg.date, msg.subject, len(msg.text or msg.html))

Description of this^ example <https://github.com/ikvk/imap_tools/blob/master/examples/basic.py>_.

MailBox, MailBoxTls, MailBoxUnencrypted - for create mailbox client. TLS example <https://github.com/ikvk/imap_tools/blob/master/examples/tls.py>_.

BaseMailBox. - login, login_utf8, xoauth2, logout - authentication functions, they support context manager.

BaseMailBox.fetch - first searches email uids by criteria in current folder, then fetch and yields MailMessage <#email-attributes>_, args:

criteria = 'ALL', message search criteria, query builder <#search-criteria>_
charset = 'US-ASCII', indicates charset of the strings that appear in the search criteria. See rfc2978
limit = None, limit on the number of read emails, useful for actions with a large number of messages, like "move". May be int or slice.
mark_seen = True, mark emails as seen on fetch
reverse = False, in order from the larger date to the smaller
headers_only = False, get only email headers (without text, html, attachments)
bulk = False, False - fetch each message separately per N commands - low memory consumption, slow; True - fetch all messages per 1 command - high memory consumption, fast; int - fetch all messages by bulks of the specified size, for 20 messages and bulk=5 -> 4 commands
sort = None, criteria for sort messages on server, use SortCriteria constants. Charset arg is important for sort

BaseMailBox.uids - search mailbox for matching message uids in current folder, returns [str | None], None when MailMessage.from_bytes used, args:

criteria = 'ALL', message search criteria, query builder <#search-criteria>_
charset = 'US-ASCII', indicates charset of the strings that appear in the search criteria. See rfc2978
sort = None, criteria for sort messages on server, use SortCriteria constants. Charset arg is important for sort

BaseMailBox. - copy, move, delete, flag, append <#actions-with-emails>_

BaseMailBox.folder - folder manager <#actions-with-folders>_

BaseMailBox.idle - idle manager <#idle-workflow>_

BaseMailBox.numbers - search mailbox for matching message numbers in current folder, returns [str]

BaseMailBox.client - imaplib.IMAP4/IMAP4_SSL client instance.

Email attributes ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Email has 2 basic body variants: text and html. Sender can choose to include: one, other, both or neither(rare).

MailMessage and MailAttachment public attributes are cached by functools.lru_cache

.. code-block:: python

for msg in mailbox.fetch():  # generator: imap_tools.MailMessage
    msg.uid          # str | None: '123'
    msg.subject      # str: 'some subject 你 привет'
    msg.from_        # str: 'Bartölke@ya.ru'
    msg.to           # tuple: ('iam@goo.ru', 'friend@ya.ru', )
    msg.cc           # tuple: ('cc@mail.ru', )
    msg.bcc          # tuple: ('bcc@mail.ru', )
    msg.reply_to     # tuple: ('reply_to@mail.ru', )
    msg.date         # datetime.datetime: 1900-1-1 for unparsed, may be naive or with tzinfo
    msg.date_str     # str: original date - 'Tue, 03 Jan 2017 22:26:59 +0500'
    msg.text         # str: 'Hello 你 Привет'
    msg.html         # str: '<b>Hello 你 Привет</b>'
    msg.flags        # tuple: ('\\Seen', '\\Flagged', 'ENCRYPTED')
    msg.headers      # dict: {'received': ('from 1.m.ru', 'from 2.m.ru'), 'anti-virus': ('Clean',)}
    msg.size_rfc822  # int: 20664 bytes - size info from server (*useful with headers_only arg)
    msg.size         # int: 20377 bytes - size of received message

    for att in msg.attachments:  # list: imap_tools.MailAttachment
        att.filename             # str: 'cat.jpg'
        att.payload              # bytes: b'\xff\xd8\xff\xe0\'
        att.content_id           # str: 'part45.06020801.00060008@mail.ru'
        att.content_type         # str: 'image/jpeg'
        att.content_disposition  # str: 'inline'
        att.part                 # email.message.Message: original object
        att.size                 # int: 17361 bytes

    msg.obj              # email.message.Message: original object
    msg.from_values      # imap_tools.EmailAddress | None
    msg.to_values        # tuple: (imap_tools.EmailAddress,)
    msg.cc_values        # tuple: (imap_tools.EmailAddress,)
    msg.bcc_values       # tuple: (imap_tools.EmailAddress,)
    msg.reply_to_values  # tuple: (imap_tools.EmailAddress,)
    # EmailAddress(name='Ya', email='im@ya.ru')  # "full" property = 'Ya <im@ya.ru>'

Search criteria ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The "criteria" argument is used at fetch, uids, numbers methods of MailBox. Criteria can be of three types:

.. code-block:: python

from imap_tools import AND

mailbox.fetch(AND(subject='weather'))  # query, the str-like object
mailbox.fetch('TEXT "hello"')          # str
mailbox.fetch(b'TEXT "\xd1\x8f"')      # bytes

Use "charset" argument for encode criteria to the desired encoding. If criteria is bytes - encoding will be ignored.

.. code-block:: python

mailbox.uids(A(subject='жёлтый'), charset='utf8')

Query builder implements all search logic described in rfc3501 <https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3501#section-6.4.4>_. It uses this classes:

======== ===== ========================================== ====================================== Class Alias Description Arguments ======== ===== ========================================== ====================================== AND A Combine conditions by logical "AND" Search keys (see table below) | str OR O Combine conditions by logical "OR" Search keys (see table below) | str NOT N Invert the result of a logical expression AND/OR instances | str Header H Header value for search by header key name: str, value: str UidRange U UID range value for search by uid key start: str, end: str ======== ===== ========================================== ======================================

See query examples <https://github.com/ikvk/imap_tools/blob/master/examples/search.py>_. A few examples:

.. code-block:: python

from imap_tools import A, AND, OR, NOT
# AND
A(text='hello', new=True)  # '(TEXT "hello" NEW)'
# OR
OR(text='hello', date=datetime.date(2000, 3, 15))  # '(OR TEXT "hello" ON 15-Mar-2000)'
# NOT
NOT(text='hello', new=True)  # 'NOT (TEXT "hello" NEW)'
# complex
A(OR(from_='from@ya.ru', text='"the text"'), NOT(OR(A(answered=False), A(new=True))), to='to@ya.ru')
# python note: you can't do: A(text='two', NOT(subject='one'))
A(NOT(subject='one'), text='two')  # use kwargs after logic classes (args)

Server side search notes:

For string search keys a message matches if the string is a substring of the field. The matching is case-insensitive.
When searching by dates - email's time and timezone are disregarding.

Search key table. Key types marked with * can accepts a sequence of values like list, tuple, set or generator.

============= Key Types ============= answered bool seen bool flagged bool draft bool deleted bool keyword str no_keyword str from_ to str subject str body str text str bcc str cc str date date_gte date_lt sent_date sent_date_gte datetime.date sent_date_lt size_gt int >= 0 size_lt int >= 0 new True old True recent True all True uid header H(str, str) gmail_label str* ============= =============== ====================== ================================================================ Results Description =============== ====================== ================================================================ ANSWERED/UNANSWERED with/without the Answered flag SEEN/UNSEEN with/without the Seen flag FLAGGED/UNFLAGGED with/without the Flagged flag DRAFT/UNDRAFT with/without the Draft flag DELETED/UNDELETED with/without the Deleted flag KEYWORD KEY with the specified keyword flag UNKEYWORD KEY without the specified keyword flag str FROM "from@ya.ru" contain specified str in envelope struct's FROM field TO "to@ya.ru" contain specified str in envelope struct's TO field SUBJECT "hello" contain specified str in envelope struct's SUBJECT field BODY "some_key" contain specified str in body of the message TEXT "some_key" contain specified str in header or body of the message BCC "bcc@ya.ru" contain specified str in envelope struct's BCC field CC "cc@ya.ru" contain specified str in envelope struct's CC field datetime.date ON 15-Mar-2000 internal date is within specified date datetime.date SINCE 15-Mar-2000 internal date is within or later than the specified date datetime.date BEFORE 15-Mar-2000 internal date is earlier than the specified date datetime.date SENTON 15-Mar-2000 rfc2822 Date: header is within the specified date SENTSINCE 15-Mar-2000 rfc2822 Date: header is within or later than the specified date datetime.date SENTBEFORE 1-Mar-2000 rfc2822 Date: header is earlier than the specified date LARGER 1024 rfc2822 size larger than specified number of octets SMALLER 512 rfc2822 size smaller than specified number of octets NEW have the Recent flag set but not the Seen flag OLD do not have the Recent flag set RECENT have the Recent flag set ALL all, criteria by default iter(str)/str/U UID 1,2,17 corresponding to the specified unique identifier set HEADER "A-Spam" "5.8" have a header that contains the specified str in the text X-GM-LABELS "label1" have this gmail label =============== ====================== ================================================================

Actions with emails ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

First of all read about UID at rfc3501 <https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3501#section-2.3.1.1>_.

Action's uid_list arg may takes:

str, that is comma separated uids

Sequence, that contains str uids

To get uids, use the maibox methods: uids, fetch.

For actions with a large number of messages imap command may be too large and will cause exception at server side, use 'limit' argument for fetch in this case.

.. code-block:: python

with MailBox('imap.mail.com').login('test@mail.com', 'pwd', initial_folder='INBOX') as mailbox: # COPY messages with uid in 23,27 from current folder to folder1 mailbox.copy('23,27', 'folder1') # MOVE all messages from current folder to INBOX/folder2 mailbox.move(mailbox.uids(), 'INBOX/folder2') # DELETE messages with 'cat' word in its html from current folder mailbox.delete([msg.uid for msg in mailbox.fetch() if 'cat' in msg.html]) # FLAG unseen messages in current folder as \Seen, \Flagged and TAG1 flags = (imap_tools.MailMessageFlags.SEEN, imap_tools.MailMessageFlags.FLAGGED, 'TAG1') mailbox.flag(mailbox.uids(AND(seen=False)), flags, True) # APPEND: add message to mailbox directly, to INBOX folder with \Seen flag and now date with open('/tmp/message.eml', 'rb') as f: msg = imap_tools.MailMessage.from_bytes(f.read()) # *or use bytes instead MailMessage mailbox.append(msg, 'INBOX', dt=None, flag_set=[imap_tools.MailMessageFlags.SEEN])

Actions with folders ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

BaseMailBox.login/xoauth2 has initial_folder arg, that is "INBOX" by default, use None for not set folder on login.

.. code-block:: python

with MailBox('imap.mail.com').login('test@mail.com', 'pwd') as mailbox: # LIST: get all subfolders of the specified folder (root by default) for f in mailbox.folder.list('INBOX'): print(f) # FolderInfo(name='INBOX|cats', delim='|', flags=('\\Unmarked', '\\HasChildren')) # SET: select folder for work mailbox.folder.set('INBOX') # GET: get selected folder current_folder = mailbox.folder.get() # CREATE: create new folder mailbox.folder.create('INBOX|folder1') # EXISTS: check is folder exists (shortcut for list) is_exists = mailbox.folder.exists('INBOX|folder1') # RENAME: set new name to folder mailbox.folder.rename('folder3', 'folder4') # SUBSCRIBE: subscribe/unsubscribe to folder mailbox.folder.subscribe('INBOX|папка два', True) # DELETE: delete folder mailbox.folder.delete('folder4') # STATUS: get folder status info stat = mailbox.folder.status('some_folder') print(stat) # {'MESSAGES': 41, 'RECENT': 0, 'UIDNEXT': 11996, 'UIDVALIDITY': 1, 'UNSEEN': 5}

IDLE workflow ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

IDLE logic are in mailbox.idle manager, its methods are in the table below:

======== ============================================================================== ================================ Method Description Arguments ======== ============================================================================== ================================ start Switch on mailbox IDLE mode poll Poll for IDLE responses timeout: |nbsp| Optional[float] stop Switch off mailbox IDLE mode wait Switch on IDLE, poll responses, switch off IDLE on response, return responses timeout: |nbsp| Optional[float] ======== ============================================================================== ================================

.. code-block:: python

from imap_tools import MailBox, A # waiting for updates 60 sec, print unseen immediately if any update with MailBox('imap.my.moon').login('acc', 'pwd', 'INBOX') as mailbox: responses = mailbox.idle.wait(timeout=60) if responses: for msg in mailbox.fetch(A(seen=False)): print(msg.date, msg.subject) else: print('no updates in 60 sec')

Read docstrings and see detailed examples <https://github.com/ikvk/imap_tools/blob/master/examples/idle.py>_.

Exceptions ^^^^^^^^^^

Most lib server actions raises exception if result is marked as not success.

Custom lib exceptions here: errors.py <https://github.com/ikvk/imap_tools/blob/master/imap_tools/errors.py>_.

Release notes

History of important changes: release_notes.rst <https://github.com/ikvk/imap_tools/blob/master/docs/release_notes.rst>_

Contribute

If you found a bug or have a question, then:

Look for answer at: this page, issues, pull requests, examples, source, RFCs, stackoverflow.com, internet.

And only then - create merge request or issue.

Reasons

Excessive low level of imaplib library.

Other libraries contain various shortcomings or not convenient.

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Thanks

Big thanks to people who helped develop this library:

shilkazx <https://github.com/shilkazx>, somepad <https://github.com/somepad>, 0xThiebaut <https://github.com/0xThiebaut>, TpyoKnig <https://github.com/TpyoKnig>, parchd-1 <https://github.com/parchd-1>, dojasoncom <https://github.com/dojasoncom>, RandomStrangerOnTheInternet <https://github.com/RandomStrangerOnTheInternet>, jonnyarnold <https://github.com/jonnyarnold>, Mitrich3000 <https://github.com/Mitrich3000>, audemed44 <https://github.com/audemed44>, mkalioby <https://github.com/mkalioby>, atlas0fd00m <https://github.com/atlas0fd00m>, unqx <https://github.com/unqx>, daitangio <https://github.com/daitangio>, upils <https://github.com/upils>, Foosec <https://github.com/Foosec>, frispete <https://github.com/frispete>, PH89 <https://github.com/PH89>, amarkham09 <https://github.com/amarkham09>, nixCodeX <https://github.com/nixCodeX>, backelj <https://github.com/backelj>, ohayak <https://github.com/ohayak>, mwherman95926 <https://github.com/mwherman95926>, andyfensham <https://github.com/andyfensham>, mike-code <https://github.com/mike-code>, aknrdureegaesr <https://github.com/aknrdureegaesr>, ktulinger <https://github.com/ktulinger>, SamGenTLEManKaka <https://github.com/SamGenTLEManKaka>, devkral <https://github.com/devkral>, tnusraddinov <https://github.com/tnusraddinov>, thepeshka <https://github.com/thepeshka>, shofstet <https://github.com/shofstet>, the7erm <https://github.com/the7erm>, c0da <https://github.com/c0da>, dev4max <https://github.com/dev4max>, ascheucher <https://github.com/ascheucher>, Borutia <https://github.com/Borutia>, nathan30 <https://github.com/nathan30>, daniel55411 <https://github.com/daniel55411>, rcarmo <https://github.com/rcarmo>, bhernacki <https://github.com/bhernacki>, ilep <https://github.com/ilep>, ThKue <https://github.com/ThKue>, repodiac <https://github.com/repodiac>, tiuub <https://github.com/tiuub>, Yannik <https://github.com/Yannik>, pete312 <https://github.com/pete312>, edkedk99 <https://github.com/edkedk99>, UlisseMini <https://github.com/UlisseMini>, Nicarex <https://github.com/Nicarex>, RanjithNair1980 <https://github.com/RanjithNair1980>, NickC-NZ <https://github.com/NickC-NZ>, mweinelt <https://github.com/mweinelt>, lucbouge <https://github.com/lucbouge>, JacquelinCharbonnel <https://github.com/JacquelinCharbonnel>, stumpylog <https://github.com/stumpylog>, dimitrisstr <https://github.com/dimitrisstr>, abionics <https://github.com/abionics>, link2xt <https://github.com/link2xt>, Docpart <https://github.com/Docpart>, meetttttt <https://github.com/meetttttt>, sapristi <https://github.com/sapristi>, thomwiggers <https://github.com/thomwiggers>, histogal <https://github.com/histogal>, K900 <https://github.com/K900>, homoLudenus <https://github.com/homoLudenus>

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ikvk / imap_tools

readme

imap_tools 📧

Installation

Guide

Release notes

Contribute

Reasons

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Help the project