Reading Unread POP3 Email

The POP3 protocol does not provide the ability to ask the server which emails are "unread". Furthermore, a pure POP3 server does not even keep this information. Some servers, such as Exchange Server, expose both POP3 and IMAP interfaces. In these cases, information about read/unread status exists on the server, but it is only available via the IMAP protocol. Email clients such as Outlook and Thunderbird keep read/unread information on the client computer. This example demonstrates how UIDLs can be saved to track and read "unread" email.

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("***")

#  We're keeping a list of already-seen UIDLs in a text file:
#  If this is the first time you're running this example,
#  create an empty text file named "seenUidls.txt"
saSeenUidls = chilkat.CkStringArray()
success = saSeenUidls.LoadFromFile("seenUidls.txt")
if (success != True):
    print "failed to load seenUidls.txt"
    sys.exit()

#  Get the complete list of UIDLs on the mail server.

saUidls = mailman.GetUidls()

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

#  We don't have set operators (yet) on the StringArray object,
#  so create a new string array object (it's an object, not an actual array)
#  and add the UIDLs from saUidls that aren't already seen.
saUnseenUidls = chilkat.CkStringArray()

n = saUidls.get_Count()
for i in range(0,n):
    if (saSeenUidls.Contains(saUidls.GetString(i)) != True):
        saUnseenUidls.Append(saUidls.GetString(i))

if (saUnseenUidls.get_Count() == 0):
    print "No unseen emails!"

    sys.exit()

#  Download in full the unseen emails:

bundle = mailman.FetchMultiple(saUnseenUidls)
if (bundle == None ):
    print mailman.lastErrorText()

    sys.exit()

for i in range(0,bundle.get_MessageCount()):
    email = bundle.GetEmail(i)
    print email.ck_from()
    print email.subject()
    print "----"

#  We've seen all the emails, save saUidls to "seenUidls.txt"
saUidls.SaveToFile("seenUidls.txt")