The following vb.net codes demonstrate how to parse MAPI winmail.dat in email.
When an Outlook user composes and sends a message using either Rich Text Format or HTML Format, Outlook automagically generates a file, winmail.dat, and attaches it to the end of the email. The winmail.dat contains the rich text body and original attachments. To parse winmail.dat (TNEF stream) file, we should use DecodeTNEF method.
Before you can use the following sample codes, you should download the EAGetMail Installer and install it on your machine at first. Full sample projects are included in this installer.
Install from NuGet
You can also install the run-time assembly by NuGet. Run the following command in the NuGet Package Manager Console:
Install-Package EAGetMail
Note
If you install it by NuGet, no sample projects are installed, only .NET assembly is installed.
To use EAGetMail POP3 & IMAP Component in your project, the first step is “Add reference
of EAGetMail to your project”. Please create or open your project with Visual Studio,
then go to menu
-> Project
-> Add Reference
-> .NET
-> Browse...
, and
select Installation path\Lib\[netversion]\EAGetMail.dll
, click Open
-> OK
, the reference
will be added to the project, you can start to use it to
retrieve email and parse email in your project.
Because EAGetMail has separate builds for .Net Framework, please refer to the following table and choose the correct dll.
Separate builds of run-time assembly for .Net Framework 2.0, 4.0, 4.5, 4.6.1, 4.7.2, 4.8.1, .NET 6.0, NET 7.0, .NET 8.0, .NET Standard 2.0 and .Net Compact Framework 2.0, 3.5.
File | .NET Framework Version |
Lib\[net20|40|45|461|472|481]\EAGetMail.dll |
Built with .NET Framework 2.0, 4.0, 4.5, 4.6.1, 4.7.2, 4.8.1
It requires .NET Framework 2.0, 3.5 or later version. |
Lib\[net5.0|6.0|7.0|8.0]\EAGetMail.dll |
Built with .NET 5.0, .NET 6.0, .NET 7.0, .NET 8.0
It requires .NET 5.0 or later version. |
Lib\netstandard2.0\EAGetMail.dll |
Built with .NET Standard 2.0
It requires .NET Standard 2.0 or later version. |
Lib\[net20-cf|net35-cf]\EAGetMail.dll |
Built with .NET Compact Framework 2.0, 3.5
It requires .NET Compact Framework 2.0, 3.5 or later version. |
The following example codes demonstrate parsing winmail.dat - TNEF stream.
In order to run it correctly, please change email server
, user
, password
, folder
, file name
value to yours.
Note
To get full sample projects, please download and install EAGetMail on your machine.
Imports System.Globalization
Imports System.Text
Imports System.IO
Imports EAGetMail 'imports EAGetMail namespace
Module Module1
Private Sub ParseEmail(ByVal emlFile As String)
Dim oMail As New Mail("TryIt")
oMail.Load(emlFile, False)
If oMail.IsEncrypted Then
Try
' This email is encrypted, we decrypt it by user default certificate.
' you can also use specified certificate like this
' Dim oCert As New Certificate()
' oCert.Load("c:\test.pfx", "pfxpassword", _
' Certificate.CertificateKeyLocation.CRYPT_USER_KEYSET)
' oMail = oMail.Decrypt(oCert)
oMail = oMail.Decrypt(Nothing)
Catch ep As Exception
Console.WriteLine(ep.Message)
End Try
End If
If oMail.IsSigned Then
Try
' This email is digital signed.
Dim signerCert As Certificate = oMail.VerifySignature()
' You can add the certificate to your certificate storage like this
' signerCert.AddToStore(
' Certificate.CertificateStoreLocation.CERT_SYSTEM_STORE_CURRENT_USER,
' "addressbook")
' Then you can use send the encrypted email back to this sender.
Console.WriteLine("This email contains a valid digital signature.")
Catch ep As Exception
Console.WriteLine(ep.Message)
End Try
End If
' Decode winmail.dat (TNEF) and RTF body automatically
oMail.DecodeTNEF()
' Parse Mail From/Sender
Console.WriteLine("From: {0}", oMail.From.ToString())
' Parse Mail To/Recipient
Dim addrs As MailAddress() = oMail.[To]
For i As Integer = 0 To addrs.Length - 1
Console.WriteLine("To: {0}", addrs(i).ToString())
Next
' Parse Mail CC
addrs = oMail.Cc
For i As Integer = 0 To addrs.Length - 1
Console.WriteLine("To: {0}", addrs(i).ToString())
Next
' Parse Mail Subject
Console.WriteLine("Subject: {0}", oMail.Subject)
' Parse Mail Text/Plain body
Console.WriteLine("TextBody: {0}", oMail.TextBody)
' Parse Mail Html Body
Console.WriteLine("HtmlBody: {0}", oMail.HtmlBody)
' Parse Attachments
Dim atts As Attachment() = oMail.Attachments
For i As Integer = 0 To atts.Length - 1
Dim att As Attachment = atts(i)
Console.WriteLine("Attachment: {0}", att.Name)
Next
End Sub
Sub Main()
Try
ParseEmail("c:\my folder\test.eml")
Catch ex As Exception
Console.WriteLine(ex.Message)
End Try
End Sub
End Module
Appendix
Comments
If you have any comments or questions about above example codes, please click here to add your comments.