(C#) Download and Save Email Attachments (POP3)

See more POP3 Examples

Downloads emails from a POP3 mailbox and saves all attachments.

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// This example assumes the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
// See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

// The mailman object is used for receiving (POP3) 
// and sending (SMTP) email.
Chilkat.MailMan mailman = new Chilkat.MailMan();

// Set the POP3 server's hostname
mailman.MailHost = "pop.yourserver.com";

// Set the POP3 login/password.
mailman.PopUsername = "***";
mailman.PopPassword = "***";

// Copy the all email from the user's POP3 mailbox 
// into a bundle object.  The email remains on the server.
// CopyMail is a reasonable choice for POP3 maildrops that don't have too many
// emails. For larger mail drops, one might download emails one at a time..
Chilkat.EmailBundle bundle = mailman.CopyMail();
if (mailman.LastMethodSuccess != true) {
    Debug.WriteLine(mailman.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

// The directory path can be relative or absolute.
// This shows a Windows style directory path.  On other operating systems, the path
// would be different..
string dirPath = "c:/myAttachments";

bool success;
int bundleIndex = 0;
int numMessages = bundle.MessageCount;
Chilkat.Email email = null;
while ((bundleIndex < numMessages)) {
    email = bundle.GetEmail(bundleIndex);

    // Save all attachments to the specified directory.
    // The directory is automatically created if it does not yet exist.
    success = email.SaveAllAttachments(dirPath);
    if (success != true) {
        Debug.WriteLine(email.LastErrorText);
        return;
    }

    // The OverwriteExisting property controls whether already-existing files
    // are automatically overwritten.  By default, it is set to true so that existing
    // files will be overwritten.

    // Setting OverwriteExisting = false will cause the attachment-saving methods to generate
    // unique filenames if a file with the same name already exists.  The actual filename(s)
    // saved will be present by calling GetAttachmentFilename for each attachment *after*
    // saving.
    // For example...
    email.OverwriteExisting = false;
    success = email.SaveAllAttachments(dirPath);
    if (success != true) {
        Debug.WriteLine(email.LastErrorText);
        return;
    }

    int numAttachments = email.NumAttachments;
    int attachIndex = 0;
    while ((attachIndex < numAttachments)) {
        // If the attachment filename was changed to prevent overwriting,
        // GetAttachmentFilename will return the new filename.
        Debug.WriteLine(email.GetAttachmentFilename(attachIndex));
        attachIndex = attachIndex + 1;
    }

    // Attachments can also be saved individually.
    attachIndex = 0;
    while ((attachIndex < numAttachments)) {

        Debug.WriteLine("Original Filename: " + email.GetAttachmentFilename(attachIndex));
        success = email.SaveAttachedFile(attachIndex,dirPath);
        if (success != true) {
            Debug.WriteLine(email.LastErrorText);
            return;
        }

        // If OverwriteExisting = true, the saved filename will always equal the original filename,
        // unless there are characters present in the filename that are not allowed by Windows,
        // such as * ? < > | etc.  In those cases the illegal characters are either removed or replaced
        // with underscore characters to allow the file to be saved.
        Debug.WriteLine("Saved Filename: " + email.GetAttachmentFilename(attachIndex));
        attachIndex = attachIndex + 1;
    }

    bundleIndex = bundleIndex + 1;
}