Download Email Attachments

Downloads attachments from email messages.

Command availability: IBM RPA SaaS and IBM RPA on premises

Description

Downloads all files attached to an email message, returning a list of the paths where they were saved.

Script syntax

IBM RPA's proprietary script language has a syntax similar to other programming languages. The script syntax defines the command's syntax in the script file. You can work with this syntax in IBM RPA Studio's Script mode.

emailGetAttachment [--filemask(String)] --outputpath(String) [--acceptinlineattachments(Boolean)] --message(EmailMessage) (List<String>)=value

Dependencies

Use the For Each (forEach) command to get email message instances. Otherwise, the command will only return the first result.
Use the following commands to connect to an email server:
- Connect to Exchange Email Server (exchangeConnect)
- Connect to IMAP Email Server (imapConnect)
- Connect to Outlook Server (outlookConnect)

Input parameter

The following table displays the list of input parameters available in this command. In the table, you can see the parameter name when working in IBM RPA Studio's Script mode and its Designer mode equivalent label.

Designer mode label	Script mode name	Required	Accepted variable types	Description
File Extension	`filemask`	`Optional`	`Text`	Filter to be applied when searching for the file, using its name and/or extension as a base. The format must be as follows: `[Name or part of the file name without spaces]`.`[File extension]`. Examples: `*.txt` filters all files with the extension `.txt.` `name` filters all files that have the word "name" as part of the name. `name.txt` gets the file with this exact name and extension.
Directory	`outputpath`	`Required`	`Text`	Full path to the directory where the downloaded files should be saved.
Accept Inline Attachments	`acceptinlineattachments`	`Optional`	`Boolean`	Use to list the attachments that come in the email body.
Message	`message`	`Required`	`Email Message`	Variable of type Email Message that contains the email with the attachment to be downloaded.

Output parameter

Designer mode label	Script mode name	Accepted variable types	Description
Directories List	`value`	`List[Text]`	Returns a list of the paths of files downloaded from Message.

Example

After establishing a connection with an email server, the Download Email Attachments command is used to download the files with the .pdf extension. The Get System Folder Path command is used to obtain the "My Documents" folder to save the files, using the Directory parameter.

defVar --name currentMessage --type EmailMessage
defVar --name emailConnection --type EmailConnection
defVar --name attachmentsDirectory --type List --innertype String
defVar --name myDocumentsDirectory --type String
// Using the "Get System Folder" command allows you to obtain the full path to the "My Documents" folder, so that it can be used later in the "Download Email Attachments" command to save the downloaded files.
getSpecialFolder --folder "MyDocuments" myDocumentsDirectory=value
imapConnect --mailhost "outlook.office365.com" --mailport 993 --usessl  --username "useremail@email.com" --mailusername "useremail@email.com" --mailpassword userpassword --enableLog  emailConnection=value
foreach --collection "${emailConnection}" --variable "${currentMessage}"
	emailGetAttachment --filemask "*.pdf" --outputpath "${myDocumentsDirectory}" --message ${currentMessage} attachmentsDirectory=value
endFor
emailDisconnect --connection ${emailConnection}
logMessage --message "${attachmentsDirectory}" --type "Info"
// Download the attachments and show the paths of the downloaded files.
// Example: [C:\User\Documents\file.pdf].