(Perl) Download and Save Email Attachments (POP3)

See more POP3 Examples

Downloads emails from a POP3 mailbox and saves all attachments.

Chilkat Perl Downloads Perl Module for Windows, MacOS, Linux, Alpine Linux, Solaris

use chilkat();

# 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.
$mailman = chilkat::CkMailMan->new();

# Set the POP3 server's hostname
$mailman->put_MailHost("pop.yourserver.com");

# Set the POP3 login/password.
$mailman->put_PopUsername("***");
$mailman->put_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..
# bundle is a EmailBundle
$bundle = $mailman->CopyMail();
if ($mailman->get_LastMethodSuccess() != 1) {
    print $mailman->lastErrorText() . "\r\n";
    exit;
}

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

$bundleIndex = 0;
$numMessages = $bundle->get_MessageCount();

while (($bundleIndex < $numMessages)) {
    # email is a Email
    $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 != 1) {
        print $email->lastErrorText() . "\r\n";
        exit;
    }

    # The OverwriteExisting property controls whether already-existing files
    # are automatically overwritten.  By default, it is set to 1 so that existing
    # files will be overwritten.

    # Setting OverwriteExisting = 0 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->put_OverwriteExisting(0);
    $success = $email->SaveAllAttachments($dirPath);
    if ($success != 1) {
        print $email->lastErrorText() . "\r\n";
        exit;
    }

    $numAttachments = $email->get_NumAttachments();
    $attachIndex = 0;
    while (($attachIndex < $numAttachments)) {
        # If the attachment filename was changed to prevent overwriting,
        # GetAttachmentFilename will return the new filename.
        print $email->getAttachmentFilename($attachIndex) . "\r\n";
        $attachIndex = $attachIndex + 1;
    }

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

        print "Original Filename: " . $email->getAttachmentFilename($attachIndex) . "\r\n";
        $success = $email->SaveAttachedFile($attachIndex,$dirPath);
        if ($success != 1) {
            print $email->lastErrorText() . "\r\n";
            exit;
        }

        # If OverwriteExisting = 1, 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.
        print "Saved Filename: " . $email->getAttachmentFilename($attachIndex) . "\r\n";
        $attachIndex = $attachIndex + 1;
    }

    $bundleIndex = $bundleIndex + 1;
}