Python, IMAP and GMail. Mark messages as SEEN

Question

I have a python script that has to fetch unseen messages, process it, and mark as seen (or read)

I do this after login in:

    typ, data = self.server.imap_server.search(None, '(UNSEEN)')

    for num in data[0].split():
        print "Mensage " + str(num) + " mark"
        self.server.imap_server.store(num, '+FLAGS', '(SEEN)')

The first problem is that, the search returns ALL messages, and not only the UNSEEN. The second problem is that messages are not marked as SEEN.

Can anybody give me a hand with this?

Thanks!

Answer 1

import imaplib
obj = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL('imap.gmail.com', '993')
obj.login('user', 'password')
obj.select('Inbox')   <--- it will select inbox
typ ,data = obj.search(None,'UnSeen')
obj.store(data[0].replace(' ',','),'+FLAGS','\Seen')

Answer 2

I think the flag names need to start with a backslash, eg: \SEEN

Answer 3

I am not so familiar with the imaplib but I implement this well with the imapclient module

import imapclient,pyzmail,html2text
from backports import ssl
context=ssl.SSLContext(ssl.PROTOCOL_TLSv1_2)

iobj=imapclient.IMAPClient('outlook.office365.com', ssl=True, ssl_context=context)
iobj.login(uname,pwd)# provide your username and password
iobj.select_folder('INBOX',readonly=True)# Selecting Inbox.

unread=iobj.search('UNSEEN')# Selecting Unread messages, you can add more search criteria here to suit your purpose.'FROM', 'SINCE' etc.
print('There are: ',len(unread),' UNREAD emails')

for i in unread:

    mail=iobj.fetch(i,['BODY[]'])#I'm fetching the body of the email here.
    mcontent=pyzmail.PyzMessage.factory(mail[i][b'BODY[]'])#This returns the email content in HTML format
    subject=mcontent.get_subject()# You might not need this             
    receiver_name,receiver_email=mcontent.get_address('from')
    mail_body=html2text.html2text(mcontent.html_part.get_payload().decode(mcontent.html_part.charset))# This returns the email content as text that you can easily relate with.

Let's say I want to just go through the unread emails, reply the sender and mark the email as read. I'd call the smtp function from here to compose and send a reply.

import smtplib
smtpobj=smtplib.SMTP('smtp.office365.com',587)
smtpobj.starttls()
smtpobj.login(uname,pwd)# Your username and password goes here.
sub='Subject: '+str(subject)+'\n\n'# Subject of your reply
msg='Thanks for your email! You're qualified for the next round' #Some random reply :(
fullmsg=sub+new_result
smtpobj.sendmail(uname,test,fullmsg)# This sends the email. 
iobj.set_flags(i,['\\Seen','\\Answered'])# This marks the email as read and adds the answered flag
iobj.append('Sent Items', fullmsg)# This puts a copy of your reply in your Sent Items.

iobj.logout()
smtpobj.logout()

I hope this helps