Clearly documented reading of emails functionality with python win32com outlook
Question:
I’m trying to understand outlook interaction through win32com better. I’ve been unable to find clear documentation that allows me to utilise win32com to read emails effectively, from my current investigation it seems like a fairly regular sentiment by users. Thus comes the following information and request:
Could someone;
1. Give a link to the location of clear documentation (if it exists)
2. Expand on the below
Below is the current functionality I’ve found based on reading other peoples code.
Take the below code:
import win32com
outlook=win32com.client.Dispatch("Outlook.Application").GetNamespace("MAPI")
inbox=outlook.GetDefaultFolder(6)
messages=inbox.Items
for message in messages:
attachments = message.attachments
for attachment in attachments:
pass
The objects used above have the following functionality that I’m aware of:
inbox –
.Folders
.Items
messages –
.GetFirst()
.GetLast()
.GetNext()
.GetPrevious()
.Attachments
message –
.Subject
.Body
.To
.Recipients
.Sender
.Sender.Address
attachments –
.item()
.Count
attachment –
.filename
If you know of any more functionality then please add to this in your answers.
Answers:
The visual basic for applications reference is your friend here. Try starting with this link…
Interop Outlook Mailitem Properties
For instance I can see that message will probably have additional properties than what you listed above. For example.
- message.CC
- message.Importance
- message.LastModificationTime
I thought I’d add something on navigating through folders too – this is all derived from the Microsoft documentation above, but might be helpful to have here, particularly if you’re trying to go anywhere in the Outlook folder structure except the inbox.
You can navigate through the folders collection using folders – note in this case, there’s no GetDefaultFolder after the GetNamespace (otherwise you’ll likely end up with the inbox).
outlook = win32com.client.Dispatch("Outlook.Application").GetNamespace('MAPI')
folder = outlook.Folders[1]
The number is the index of the folder you want to access. To find out how many sub-folders are in there:
folder.Count
If there more sub-folders you can use another Folders to go deeper:
folder.Folders[2]
Folders returns a list of sub-folders, so to get the names of all the folders in the current directory, you can use a quick loop.
for i in range(folder.Count):
print (folder[i].Name)
Each of the sub-folders has a .Items method to get a list of the emails.
For everyone wondering how to reach any default folder not just “Inbox” here’s the list:
3 Deleted Items
4 Outbox
5 Sent Items
6 Inbox
9 Calendar
10 Contacts
11 Journal
12 Notes
13 Tasks
14 Drafts
There are more (Reminders, Sync errors etc.); you can get whole list with this code (inspired by John Cook’s solution to Folders):
import win32com
outlook=win32com.client.Dispatch("Outlook.Application").GetNamespace("MAPI")
for i in range(50):
try:
box = outlook.GetDefaultFolder(i)
name = box.Name
print(i, name)
except:
pass
I’m not pasting the whole list here, because mine is in Polish and wouldn’t be really helpful.
For attachments
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/api/outlook.attachment
(see Properities)
attachment.FileName
attachment.Type
attachment.Position
attachment.BlockLevel
attachment.Class
attachment.DisplayName
attachment.Parent
attachment.Session
attachment.Size
attachment.Index
attachment.Application
This page is definitely the most complete resource for pywin32!
Just one to add on:
message.senton.date() # for received date only
message.senton.time() # for received time only
message.senton # for date and time
Also, just found out the case of the message properties like senton, attachment and all other properties shown in ‘Interop Outlook Mailitem Properties’ shared by Genome above can be write as fully lowercase or fully uppercase or mix.
I’m trying to understand outlook interaction through win32com better. I’ve been unable to find clear documentation that allows me to utilise win32com to read emails effectively, from my current investigation it seems like a fairly regular sentiment by users. Thus comes the following information and request:
Could someone;
1. Give a link to the location of clear documentation (if it exists)
2. Expand on the below
Below is the current functionality I’ve found based on reading other peoples code.
Take the below code:
import win32com
outlook=win32com.client.Dispatch("Outlook.Application").GetNamespace("MAPI")
inbox=outlook.GetDefaultFolder(6)
messages=inbox.Items
for message in messages:
attachments = message.attachments
for attachment in attachments:
pass
The objects used above have the following functionality that I’m aware of:
inbox –
.Folders
.Items
messages –
.GetFirst()
.GetLast()
.GetNext()
.GetPrevious()
.Attachments
message –
.Subject
.Body
.To
.Recipients
.Sender
.Sender.Address
attachments –
.item()
.Count
attachment –
.filename
If you know of any more functionality then please add to this in your answers.
The visual basic for applications reference is your friend here. Try starting with this link…
Interop Outlook Mailitem Properties
For instance I can see that message will probably have additional properties than what you listed above. For example.
- message.CC
- message.Importance
- message.LastModificationTime
I thought I’d add something on navigating through folders too – this is all derived from the Microsoft documentation above, but might be helpful to have here, particularly if you’re trying to go anywhere in the Outlook folder structure except the inbox.
You can navigate through the folders collection using folders – note in this case, there’s no GetDefaultFolder after the GetNamespace (otherwise you’ll likely end up with the inbox).
outlook = win32com.client.Dispatch("Outlook.Application").GetNamespace('MAPI')
folder = outlook.Folders[1]
The number is the index of the folder you want to access. To find out how many sub-folders are in there:
folder.Count
If there more sub-folders you can use another Folders to go deeper:
folder.Folders[2]
Folders returns a list of sub-folders, so to get the names of all the folders in the current directory, you can use a quick loop.
for i in range(folder.Count):
print (folder[i].Name)
Each of the sub-folders has a .Items method to get a list of the emails.
For everyone wondering how to reach any default folder not just “Inbox” here’s the list:
3 Deleted Items
4 Outbox
5 Sent Items
6 Inbox
9 Calendar
10 Contacts
11 Journal
12 Notes
13 Tasks
14 Drafts
There are more (Reminders, Sync errors etc.); you can get whole list with this code (inspired by John Cook’s solution to Folders):
import win32com
outlook=win32com.client.Dispatch("Outlook.Application").GetNamespace("MAPI")
for i in range(50):
try:
box = outlook.GetDefaultFolder(i)
name = box.Name
print(i, name)
except:
pass
I’m not pasting the whole list here, because mine is in Polish and wouldn’t be really helpful.
For attachments
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/api/outlook.attachment
(see Properities)
attachment.FileName
attachment.Type
attachment.Position
attachment.BlockLevel
attachment.Class
attachment.DisplayName
attachment.Parent
attachment.Session
attachment.Size
attachment.Index
attachment.Application
This page is definitely the most complete resource for pywin32!
Just one to add on:
message.senton.date() # for received date only
message.senton.time() # for received time only
message.senton # for date and time
Also, just found out the case of the message properties like senton, attachment and all other properties shown in ‘Interop Outlook Mailitem Properties’ shared by Genome above can be write as fully lowercase or fully uppercase or mix.