Download and Save Email Attachments (POP3)

Downloads emails from a POP3 mailbox and saves all attachments.

Download Chilkat Python Library

import sys
import chilkat

#  The mailman object is used for receiving (POP3)
#  and sending (SMTP) email.
mailman = chilkat.CkMailMan()

#  Any string argument automatically begins the 30-day trial.
success = mailman.UnlockComponent("30-day trial")
if (success != True):
    print "Component unlock failed"
    sys.exit()

#  Set the POP3 server's hostname
mailman.put_MailHost("mail.chilkatsoft.com")

#  Set the POP3 login/password.
mailman.put_PopUsername("***")
mailman.put_PopPassword("***")

#  Copy the all email from the user's POP3 mailbox
#  into a bundle object.  The email remains on the server.
bundle = mailman.CopyMail()

if (bundle == None ):
    print mailman.lastErrorText()
    sys.exit()

dirPath = "c:/myAttachments"

for i in range(0,bundle.get_MessageCount()):
    email = bundle.GetEmail(i)

    #  You may save all the attachments to the specified directory
    #  by calling SaveAllAttachments.
    #  The SaveAllAttachments method will automatically create the directory
    #  if it does not already exist.
    success = email.SaveAllAttachments(dirPath)
    if (success != True):
        print email.lastErrorText()
        sys.exit()

    #  The OverwriteExisting property controls whether already-existing files
    #  are automatically overwritten.  By default, it is set to True so that existing
    #  files will be overwritten.

    #  Setting OverwriteExisting = False will cause the attachment-saving methods to generate
    #  unique filenames if a file with the same name already exists.  The actual filename(s)
    #  saved will be present by calling GetAttachmentFilename for each attachment *after*
    #  saving.
    #  For example...
    email.put_OverwriteExisting(False)
    success = email.SaveAllAttachments(dirPath)
    if (success != True):
        print email.lastErrorText()
        sys.exit()

    n = email.get_NumAttachments()

    for j in range(0,n):
        #  If the attachment filename was changed to prevent overwriting,
        #  GetAttachmentFilename will return the new filename.
        print email.getAttachmentFilename(j)

    #  You may also save individual attachments:
    for j in range(0,n):

        print "Original Filename: " + email.getAttachmentFilename(j)
        success = email.SaveAttachedFile(j,dirPath)
        if (success != True):
            print email.lastErrorText()
            sys.exit()

        #  If OverwriteExisting = True, the saved filename will always equal the original filename,
        #  unless there are characters present in the filename that are not allowed by Windows,
        #  such as * ? < > | etc.  In those cases the illegal characters are either removed or replaced
        #  with underscore characters to allow the file to be saved.
        print "Saved Filename: " + email.getAttachmentFilename(j)