Outlook using python win32com to iterate subfolders

Question

I have the following code which gets me the inbox of my shared folder, and all of the emails inside. This code works great and will print the subject of the last email.

outlook = win32com.client.Dispatch("Outlook.Application").GetNamespace("MAPI")
recip = outlook.CreateRecipient("[email protected]")
inbox = outlook.GetSharedDefaultFolder(recip, 6)
messages = inbox.Items
message = messages.GetLast()
print (message.Subject)

I can access other parent folders in [email protected]'s mailbox (like Sent), but I can't get any subfolders of a folder within the inbox, or deeper than that. So if I want inbox\subfolder1, how do I access that? Using Outlook 2013 if that matters. My main goal is to do:

message.Move(inbox\subfolder1)

Sir Tesla · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-07 05:37:01Z

23

Yeah its better to write it as the name of the folder instead of writing the folder numbers

Like my folder hierarchy is : Outlook_Mails > Inbox > Important

outlook = win32.com.client.Dispatch("Outlook.Application")
mapi = outlook.GetNamespace("MAPI")

your_folder = mapi.Folders['Outlook_Mails'].Folders['Inbox'].Folders['Important']
for message in your_folder.Items:
    print(message.Subject)

answered Jun 7, 2017 at 5:37

Sir Tesla

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1 Comment

George Joseph Over a year ago

Is there an option to delete mails permanently using this pattern

Jared Goguen · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-28 17:11:26Z

7

This is the code I'm using to do a similar task.

outlook = win32com.client.Dispatch("Outlook.Application")
namespace = outlook.GetNamespace("MAPI")
root_folder = namespace.Folders.Item(1)
subfolder = root_folder.Folders['All'].Folders['Main Folder'].Folders['Subfolder']
messages = subfolder.Items

This finds the messages in the folder "All/Main Folder/Subfolder".

answered Nov 28, 2016 at 17:11

Jared Goguen

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5 Comments

nico Over a year ago

I love the idea for this, but do you know how to get it to work on a shared mailbox? I tried setting root_folder equal to outlook.GetSharedDefaultFolder(recip, 6) from my initial code, but no luck.

Jared Goguen Over a year ago

@nico With that change does root_folder have a Folders property? It seems like that would set the inbox as root_folder so a subfolder would be found with root_folder.Folders['Subfolder']. If not, I have no idea, sorry.

Jared Goguen Over a year ago

Although, GetSharedDefaultFolder should return a Folder who's API can be found here: Folder API.

nico Over a year ago

setting root_folder equal to GetSharedDefaultFolder(recip, 6) does set it equal to the inbox, and printing root_folder prints "Inbox". If it's returning a Folder, shouldn't I be able to access inbox\subfolder? Forgive my ignorance, but I don't understand why. The Folder API shows that it has a Folders attribute.

Matt W. Over a year ago

This is perfect and worked perfectly for me. Thank you!

Dmitry Streblechenko · Accepted Answer · 2022-04-02 17:02:23Z

3

Can't do that - Outlook caches shared default folders in the main OST file The subfolders are not cached. If the mailbox in question is added as a delegate store, you should be able to parse to the folder in question using Namespace.Folders or Namespace.Stores.

Otherwise you can use Redemption (I am its author) and its RDOSession.GetSharedDefaultFolder - the folder will be opened in the online mode with all of its subfolders (RDOFolder.Folders).

edited Apr 2, 2022 at 17:02

answered Nov 28, 2016 at 20:42

Dmitry Streblechenko

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1 Comment

nico Over a year ago

Well darn. That sucks. Thanks for the insight. Unfortunately I'm limited with what tools I can use, so I was trying to find a way to do this with just Python.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-19 16:50:48Z

2

def processfolder(folder):

    ignoredfolders = []
    
    if not folder.Name in ignoredfolders:
        print("processing", folder.Name)
        count=0
        for mail in folder.Items:
               savemsg(mail)
               count += 1

        print(count, "Mails in folder")
        for fld in folder.Folders:
            processfolder(fld)

edited Mar 19, 2021 at 16:50

Anonymous

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answered Mar 19, 2021 at 13:43

Gerry

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Comments

Igor · Accepted Answer · 2023-04-26 20:18:27Z

1

This is the way I did it. Have to add "Folders" attribute to each level down.

import win32com.client as client

outlook = client.Dispatch('Outlook.Application')
namespace = outlook.GetNameSpace('MAPI')
inbox = namespace.GetDefaultFolder(6)

for i in inbox.Folders:
    print('Top Folder is:', i)
    for folder in inbox.Folders[str(i)].Folders:
        print('2nd tier folder is:', folder)
        for nfolder in inbox.Folders[str(i)].Folders[str(folder)].Folders:
            print('3nd tier folder is:', nfolder)

answered Apr 26, 2023 at 20:18

Igor

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Comments

DeVaa · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-23 08:18:31Z

Sir Tesla. Actually, I followed up your code pattern & change it as per my current project. Please find the below specimen code.

import win32com.client
outlook = win32com.client.Dispatch("Outlook.application")
mapi = outlook.GetNamespace("MAPI")
FirstFMB = mapi.Folders['FirstFMB'].Folders['Inbox']
SecondFMB = mapi.Folders['SecondFMB'].Folders['Another_folder']

<Hence other loops & operations as per requirement>

Here I got to know, one thing. When we need to perform with some kind Function Mail Boxes then we just need to put the name under mapi.Folder[] then just go with the flow.

Sir Tesla your code pattern was helpful for me instead of using Folder number.

On another side, this technique helps me to append mail reading & taking action within a certain time frame.

Ding Ming · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-01 06:46:43Z

0

import win32com.client as win32

# new outlook object
outlook = win32.Dispatch("Outlook.Application")

# get user namespace *Important when reading email*
namespace = outlook.GetNamespace("MAPI")

# Default inbox folder either Folders.Item(1/2)
root_folder = namespace.Folders.Item(2)

# Use this function to display subfolders inside the current folder

def menu(outlookFolderItem):
    for i in range(0,20):
        try:
            print(i,outlookFolderItem.Folders(i).Name)
        except:
            pass

# example
menu(root_folder)

# navigate into the subfile by

sub_folder = root_folder.Folders(2).Folders(14)

answered Oct 1, 2020 at 6:46

Ding Ming

1

Comments

cole · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-29 19:49:12Z

-1

I took Jared Goguen's answer and modified it.

outlook = win32com.client.Dispatch("Outlook.Application").GetNamespace("MAPI")
inbox = outlook.GetDefaultFolder(6)
root_folder = inbox.Folders(6)
messages = root_folder.Items

Where inbox.Folders(6) uses the index of my subfolder of interest to identify it. I was able to successfully iterate through the messages in the subfolder using this message.

answered Dec 29, 2016 at 19:49

cole

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