C# MAPI to read exchange server inbox

Question

I want to write C# application which will remotely connect to exchange server and read my inbox! I want to use MAPI for that.

So I got two questions:

1. Can it be done remotely, and is there any requirements(e.g. install outlook client,etc? )
2. I was not able to find any code example in C# which uses MAPI to connect to inbox?

Answer 1

Why do you want to use MAPI so badly ?

Just use EWS:
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/399015/Exchange-Web-Services

Answer 2

1) If I remember correctly Outlook must be installed and a profile must be set up. (In short; you are reading Outlooks data, not Exchange).

2) There are samples for this:

• http://bytes.com/topic/net/insights/795371-accessing-inbox-through-mapi-using-c-net
• http://g8.cx/mapi/ (See 4.7)

Note that MAPI/CDO is not supported in .Net.

Other options is to communicate directly using WebDAV, IMAP, POP3 or WebServices. All will work to retrieve emails. I recommend you try the webservice.

Answer 3

You can access the mailbox of a user from a remote machine.The email account should be configured on that machine and then you can read the mailbox using Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook and this link will provide you more info. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff870566.aspx