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Search an IMAP Mailbox

Demonstrates the Chilkat Imap.QueryMbx method, which searches the selected mailbox using IMAP search criteria and stores the matching message identifiers in a MessageSet. If bUid is true, the identifiers are UIDs; otherwise they are sequence numbers. This example finds unseen messages and lists their UIDs.

Background: IMAP search runs on the server, so you can find matching messages without downloading them. The criteria string is standard IMAP search syntax — for example UNSEEN, FROM "alice@example.com", SUBJECT "invoice", or SINCE 1-Jan-2026 — and terms can be combined. The result is a MessageSet of identifiers you then fetch, flag, copy, or move. Requesting UIDs (bUid = true) is preferred because UIDs remain valid across sessions.

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Add-Type -Path "C:\chilkat\ChilkatDotNet47-x64\ChilkatDotNet47.dll"

$success = $false

#  Demonstrates the Imap.QueryMbx method, which searches the selected mailbox using IMAP
#  search criteria and stores the matching message identifiers in a MessageSet.  If bUid is
#  $true, the identifiers are UIDs; otherwise they are sequence numbers.

$imap = New-Object Chilkat.Imap

$imap.Ssl = $true
$imap.Port = 993

$success = $imap.Connect("imap.example.com")
if ($success -eq $false) {
    $($imap.LastErrorText)
    exit
}

$success = $imap.Login("user@example.com","myPassword")
if ($success -eq $false) {
    $($imap.LastErrorText)
    exit
}

$success = $imap.SelectMailbox("Inbox")
if ($success -eq $false) {
    $($imap.LastErrorText)
    exit
}

#  Search for unseen (unread) messages, returning their UIDs.
$msgSet = New-Object Chilkat.MessageSet
$success = $imap.QueryMbx("UNSEEN",$true,$msgSet)
if ($success -eq $false) {
    $($imap.LastErrorText)
    exit
}

#  Iterate the matching message identifiers.
$n = $msgSet.Count
$("Matching messages: " + $n)

for ($i = 0; $i -le $n - 1; $i++) {
    $("UID: " + $msgSet.GetId($i))
}

$success = $imap.Disconnect()
if ($success -eq $false) {
    $($imap.LastErrorText)
    exit
}