Move an email in GMail with Python and imaplib

Question

I want to be able to move an email in GMail from the inbox to another folder using Python. I am using imaplib and can't figure out how to do it.

Answer 1

There is no explicit move command for IMAP. You will have to execute a COPY followed by a STORE (with suitable flag to indicate deletion) and finally expunge. The example given below worked for moving messages from one label to the other. You'll probably want to add more error checking though.

import imaplib, getpass, re
pattern_uid = re.compile('\d+ \(UID (?P<uid>\d+)\)')

def connect(email):
    imap = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL("imap.gmail.com")
    password = getpass.getpass("Enter your password: ")
    imap.login(email, password)
    return imap

def disconnect(imap):
    imap.logout()

def parse_uid(data):
    match = pattern_uid.match(data)
    return match.group('uid')

if __name__ == '__main__':
    imap = connect('<your mail id>')
    imap.select(mailbox = '<source folder>', readonly = False)
    resp, items = imap.search(None, 'All')
    email_ids  = items[0].split()
    latest_email_id = email_ids[-1] # Assuming that you are moving the latest email.

    resp, data = imap.fetch(latest_email_id, "(UID)")
    msg_uid = parse_uid(data[0])

    result = imap.uid('COPY', msg_uid, '<destination folder>')

    if result[0] == 'OK':
        mov, data = imap.uid('STORE', msg_uid , '+FLAGS', '(\Deleted)')
        imap.expunge()

    disconnect(imap)

Answer 2

I suppose one has a uid of the email which is going to be moved.

import imaplib
obj = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL('imap.gmail.com', 993)
obj.login('username', 'password')
obj.select(src_folder_name)
apply_lbl_msg = obj.uid('COPY', msg_uid, desti_folder_name)
if apply_lbl_msg[0] == 'OK':
    mov, data = obj.uid('STORE', msg_uid , '+FLAGS', '(\Deleted)')
    obj.expunge()

Answer 3

I know that this is a very old question, but any way. The proposed solution by Manoj Govindan probably works perfectly (I have not tested it but it looks like it. The problem that I encounter and I had to solve is how to copy/move more than one email!!!

So I came up with solution, maybe someone else in the future might have the same problem.

The steps are simple, I connect to my email (GMAIL) account choose folder to process (e.g. INBOX) fetch all uids, instead of email(s) list number. This is a crucial point to notice here. If we fetched the list number of emails and then we processed the list we would end up with a problem. When we move an email the process is simple (copy at the destination folder and delete email from each current location). The problem appears if you have a list of emails e.g. 4 emails inside the inbox and we process the 2nd email in inside the list then number 3 and 4 are different, they are not the emails that we thought that they would be, which will result into an error because list item number 4 it will not exist since the list moved one position down because 2 position was empty.

So the only possible solution to this problem was to use UIDs. Which are unique numbers for each email. So no matter how the email will change this number will be binded with the email.

So in the example below, I fetch the UIDs on the first step,check if folder is empty no point of processing the folder else iterate for all emails found in the folder. Next fetch each email Header. The headers will help us to fetch the Subject and compare the subject of the email with the one that we are searching. If the subject matches, then continue to copy and delete the email. Then you are done. Simple as that.

#!/usr/bin/env python

import email
import pprint
import imaplib

__author__ = 'author'


def initialization_process(user_name, user_password, folder):
    imap4 = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL('imap.gmail.com')  # Connects over an SSL encrypted socket
    imap4.login(user_name, user_password)
    imap4.list()  # List of "folders" aka labels in gmail
    imap4.select(folder)  # Default INBOX folder alternative select('FOLDER')
    return imap4


def logout_process(imap4):
    imap4.close()
    imap4.logout()
    return


def main(user_email, user_pass, scan_folder, subject_match, destination_folder):
    try:
        imap4 = initialization_process(user_email, user_pass, scan_folder)
        result, items = imap4.uid('search', None, "ALL")  # search and return uids
        dictionary = {}
        if items == ['']:
            dictionary[scan_folder] = 'Is Empty'
        else:
            for uid in items[0].split():  # Each uid is a space separated string
                dictionary[uid] = {'MESSAGE BODY': None, 'BOOKING': None, 'SUBJECT': None, 'RESULT': None}
                result, header = imap4.uid('fetch', uid, '(UID BODY[HEADER])')
                if result != 'OK':
                    raise Exception('Can not retrieve "Header" from EMAIL: {}'.format(uid))
                subject = email.message_from_string(header[0][1])
                subject = subject['Subject']
                if subject is None:
                    dictionary[uid]['SUBJECT'] = '(no subject)'
                else:
                    dictionary[uid]['SUBJECT'] = subject
                if subject_match in dictionary[uid]['SUBJECT']:
                    result, body = imap4.uid('fetch', uid, '(UID BODY[TEXT])')
                    if result != 'OK':
                        raise Exception('Can not retrieve "Body" from EMAIL: {}'.format(uid))
                    dictionary[uid]['MESSAGE BODY'] = body[0][1]
                    list_body = dictionary[uid]['MESSAGE BODY'].splitlines()
                    result, copy = imap4.uid('COPY', uid, destination_folder)
                    if result == 'OK':
                        dictionary[uid]['RESULT'] = 'COPIED'
                        result, delete = imap4.uid('STORE', uid, '+FLAGS', '(\Deleted)')
                        imap4.expunge()
                        if result == 'OK':
                            dictionary[uid]['RESULT'] = 'COPIED/DELETED'
                        elif result != 'OK':
                            dictionary[uid]['RESULT'] = 'ERROR'
                            continue
                    elif result != 'OK':
                        dictionary[uid]['RESULT'] = 'ERROR'
                        continue
                else:
                    print "Do something with not matching emails"
                    # do something else instead of copy
            dictionary = {scan_folder: dictionary}
    except imaplib.IMAP4.error as e:
        print("Error, {}".format(e))
    except Exception as e:
        print("Error, {}".format(e))
    finally:
        logout_process(imap4)
        return dictionary

if __name__ == "__main__":
    username = '[e-mail]'
    password = 'examplePassword'
    main_dictionary = main(username, password, 'INBOX', 'BOKNING', 'TMP_FOLDER')
    pprint.pprint(main_dictionary)
    exit(0)

Useful information regarding imaplib Python — imaplib IMAP example with Gmail and the imaplib documentation.

Answer 4

None of the previous solutions worked for me. I was unable to delete a message from the selected folder, and unable to remove the label for the folder when the label was the selected folder. Here's what ended up working for me:

import email, getpass, imaplib, os, sys, re

user = "[e-mail]"
pwd = "password" #getpass.getpass("Enter your password: ")

m = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL("imap.gmail.com")
m.login(user,pwd)

from_folder = "Notes"
to_folder = "food"

m.select(from_folder, readonly = False)

response, emailids = imap.search(None, 'All')
assert response == 'OK'

emailids = emailids[0].split()

errors = []
labeled = []
for emailid in emailids:
    result = m.fetch(emailid, '(X-GM-MSGID)')
    if result[0] != 'OK':
        errors.append(emailid)
        continue

    gm_msgid = re.findall(r"X-GM-MSGID (\d+)", result[1][0])[0]

    result = m.store(emailid, '+X-GM-LABELS', to_folder)

    if result[0] != 'OK':
        errors.append(emailid)
        continue

    labeled.append(gm_msgid)

m.close()
m.select(to_folder, readonly = False)

errors2 = []

for gm_msgid in labeled:
    result = m.search(None, '(X-GM-MSGID "%s")' % gm_msgid)

    if result[0] != 'OK':
        errors2.append(gm_msgid)
        continue

    emailid = result[1][0]
    result = m.store(emailid, '-X-GM-LABELS', from_folder)

    if result[0] != 'OK':
        errors2.append(gm_msgid)
        continue

m.close()
m.logout()

if errors: print >>sys.stderr, len(errors), "failed to add label", to_folder
if errors2: print >>sys.stderr, len(errors2), "failed to remove label", from_folder

Answer 5

As for Gmail, based on its api working with labels, the only thing for you to do is adding dest label and deleting src label:

import imaplib
obj = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL('imap.gmail.com', 993)
obj.login('username', 'password')
obj.select(src_folder_name)
typ, data = obj.uid('STORE', msg_uid, '+X-GM-LABELS', desti_folder_name)
typ, data = obj.uid('STORE', msg_uid, '-X-GM-LABELS', src_folder_name)