.. 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('[email protected]', '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 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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: 'Bartö[email protected]'
    msg.to           # tuple: ('[email protected]', '[email protected]', )
    msg.cc           # tuple: ('[email protected]', )
    msg.bcc          # tuple: ('[email protected]', )
    msg.reply_to     # tuple: ('[email protected]', )
    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: '[email protected]'
        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='[email protected]')  # "full" property = 'Ya <[email protected]>'

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

You can pass "criteria" argument to 3 methods of MailBox: fetch, uids, numbers. 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_='[email protected]', text='"the text"'), NOT(OR(A(answered=False), A(new=True))), to='[email protected]')
# python note: you can't do: A(text='two', NOT(subject='one'))
A(NOT(subject='one'), text='two')  # use kwargs after logic classes (args)

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

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

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.

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('[email protected]', '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('[email protected]', '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:

1. Look for answer at: this page, issues, pull requests, examples, source, RFCs, stackoverflow.com, internet.
2. And only then - create merge request or issue.

Reasons

• Excessive low level of imaplib library.
• Other libraries contain various shortcomings or not convenient.
• Open source projects make world better.

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>

Help the project

1. Found a bug or figure out how to improve the library - open issue or merge request 🎯
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