imap

Imap utilities

imap.py

Simple command-line tool to download mailboxes from an imap server, or to upload them. Created with the intent of migrating mailboxes from a local system up to an imap server, or to migrate email from one imap server to another. Or to backup your email into local folders. The possibilities are endless! (Actually, I think I've already listed all the possibilities.)

Typical usage:

Figure out where your imap server is

$ ./imap.py -v probe user@example.com
Probing 10 host/security connections, this can take up to 100 seconds
Trying mail.example.com:993, ssl ... success
Trying mail.example.com:143, no ssl ... success
Trying imap.example.com:993, ssl ... failed to connect
Trying imap.example.com:143, no ssl ... failed to connect
Trying imap4.example.com:993, ssl ... failed to connect
Trying imap4.example.com:143, no ssl ... failed to connect
Trying example.com:993, ssl ... failed to connect
Trying example.com:143, no ssl ... failed to connect
Trying pop.example.com:993, ssl ... failed to connect
Trying pop.example.com:143, no ssl ... failed to connect
Success: host = mail.example.com, port = 993, ssl/tls = True
Server capabilities:
  IMAP4REV1
  LITERAL+
  SASL-IR
  LOGIN-REFERRALS
  ID
  ENABLE
  IDLE
  AUTH=PLAIN
  AUTH=LOGIN

See what mailboxes are on your account

(Note that the user's login in this example is user@example.com and the host is mail.example.com, so the -u argument is user@example.com@mail.example.com.)

$ ./imap.py -s -u user@example.com@mail.example.com listboxes
Password:
Deleted Messages
Drafts
INBOX
Junk
Sent
Sent Messages
Trash
Jokes
House
House.Plumbing
House.Electrical
Vacation
Vacation.Schedules
games

List the contents of a mailbox

$ ./imap.py -u user@mail.example.com:993 list games
Password:

games: 3 messages
   1  Re: whither Quake?        Joe Cool <joe@cool>      Thu, 1 Jan 1998 11:35:43 -0800 (PST)
   2  Re: whither Quake?        Joe Cool <joe@cool>      Thu, 1 Jan 1998 11:44:52 -0800 (PST)
   3  Re: whither Quake?        Alan Parson <Alan@Ebay>  Thu, 1 Jan 1998 15:36:36 -0800 (PST)

Download specific mailboxes

$ mkdir LocalMail
$ ./imap.py -d ./LocalMail -u user@mail.example.com:993 download games Jokes House House.Plumbing
Password: 
games: 3 messages
Jokes: 6 messages
House: 25 messages
House.Plumbing: 2 messages

Download all mailboxes

$ mkdir LocalMail
$ ./imap.py -d ./LocalMail -u user@mail.example.com:993 download
Password: 
...

Upload mailboxes

$ ./imap.py -d ./LocalMail -u user@mail.newhost.com:993 upload games jokes
Password: 
...

A note of caution where mailbox names are concerned

IMAP doesn't really have a concept of directory structure (although some servers may include this as an extension). It's very common to use '.' as a seperator, e.g. "House" and "House.Plumbing" as mailbox names. Many email clients recognize this convention and convert to e.g. "House" and "House/Plumbing" on the local system.

This tool does not do this conversion, but you should be aware that some email clients, such as Thunderbird, do.

For this reason, it's probably best to avoid mailbox names such as "Dr.Who" or "sci/fi" as these can cause issues when moving email between remote IMAP servers and your local system. For example, on Unix systems, it's impossible for the files "House" and "House/Plumbing" to both exist.

efalk/imap