I want to be able to move an email in GMail from the inbox to another folder using Python. I am using imaplib and can't figure out how to do it.
There is no explicit move command for IMAP. You will have to execute a COPY
followed by a STORE
(with suitable flag to indicate deletion) and finally expunge
. The example given below worked for moving messages from one label to the other. You'll probably want to add more error checking though.
import imaplib, getpass, re
pattern_uid = re.compile('\d+ \(UID (?P<uid>\d+)\)')
def connect(email):
imap = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL("imap.gmail.com")
password = getpass.getpass("Enter your password: ")
imap.login(email, password)
return imap
def disconnect(imap):
imap.logout()
def parse_uid(data):
match = pattern_uid.match(data)
return match.group('uid')
if __name__ == '__main__':
imap = connect('<your mail id>')
imap.select(mailbox = '<source folder>', readonly = False)
resp, items = imap.search(None, 'All')
email_ids = items[0].split()
latest_email_id = email_ids[-1] # Assuming that you are moving the latest email.
resp, data = imap.fetch(latest_email_id, "(UID)")
msg_uid = parse_uid(data[0])
result = imap.uid('COPY', msg_uid, '<destination folder>')
if result[0] == 'OK':
mov, data = imap.uid('STORE', msg_uid , '+FLAGS', '(\Deleted)')
imap.expunge()
disconnect(imap)