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Download/Retrieve Email from Hotmail/Outlook/Live/Office 365 in VB 6.0

In previous section, I introduced how to download email from Yahoo account. In this section, I will introduce how to download email from Hotmail/MSN Live/Outlook.com/Office 365 account in VB 6.0.

Introduction

Hotmail/Outlook POP3 server address is outlook.office365.com. It requires SSL connection on 995 port; Hotmail/Outlook IMAP4 server address is outlook.office365.com. It requires SSL connection on 993 port;

You should use your Hotmail/Outlook email address as the user name for user authentication. For example: your email is liveid@hotmail.com, and then the user name should be liveid@hotmail.com.

Server Port SSL Protocol
outlook.office365.com 995 SSL required Pop3
outlook.office365.com 993 SSL required Imap4

App Password with Microsoft Account

If your account enabled two-factor authentication, you cannot login your account by normal user authentication, you should create an App Passwords and use this App Password instead of the user password.

Another solution is using OAUH, please see Hotmail IMAP OAUTH section.

Note

Remarks: All of examples in this section are based on first section: A simple VB 6.0 project. To compile and run the following example codes successfully, please click here to learn how to create the test project and add reference to your project.

[VB 6.0 Example - Retrieve emails from Hotmail/MSN Live/Outlook account using POP3]

The following example codes demonstrate how to download email from Hotmail/MSN Live/Outlook account using POP3 protocol.

Note

To get the full sample projects, please refer to Samples section.

Option Explicit

Const MailServerPop3 = 0
Const MailServerImap4 = 1
Const MailServerEWS = 2
Const MailServerDAV = 3
Const MailServerMsGraph = 4

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Dim curpath As String
    Dim mailbox As String
    Dim oTools As New EAGetMailObjLib.Tools

    ' Create a folder named "inbox" under current directory
    ' to save the email retrieved.
    curpath = App.Path
    mailbox = curpath & "\inbox"
    oTools.CreateFolder mailbox

    Dim oServer As New EAGetMailObjLib.MailServer
    ' Hotmail/MSN Live POP3 server address is "outlook.office365.com"
    oServer.Server = "outlook.office365.com"
    oServer.User = "hotmailid@hotmail.com"

    ' If you got authentication error, try to create an app password instead of your user password.
    ' https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/account-billing/using-app-passwords-with-apps-that-don-t-support-two-step-verification-5896ed9b-4263-e681-128a-a6f2979a7944
    oServer.Password = "your password or app password"
    oServer.Protocol = MailServerPop3

    ' Enable SSL Connection
    oServer.SSLConnection = True

    ' Set 995 SSL Port
    oServer.Port = 995

On Error GoTo ErrorHandle:
    Dim oClient As New EAGetMailObjLib.MailClient
    oClient.LicenseCode = "TryIt"

    oClient.Connect oServer
    MsgBox "Connected"

    Dim infos As EAGetMailObjLib.MailInfoCollection
    Set infos = oClient.GetMailInfoList()
    MsgBox infos.Count & " emails"

    Dim i As Long
    For i = 0 To infos.Count - 1
        Dim info As EAGetMailObjLib.MailInfo
        Set info = infos.Item(i)

        MsgBox "Index: " & info.Index & "; Size: " & info.Size & _
        "; UIDL: " & info.UIDL

        ' Receive email from Hotmail/MSN Live POP3 server
        Dim oMail As EAGetMailObjLib.Mail
        Set oMail = oClient.GetMail(info)

        MsgBox "From: " & oMail.From.Address & _
            vbCrLf & "Subject: " & oMail.Subject

        Dim fileName As String
        ' Generate a random file name by current local datetime,
        ' You can use your method to generate the filename if you do not like it
        fileName = mailbox & "\" & oTools.GenFileName(i) & ".eml"

        ' Save email to local disk
        oMail.SaveAs fileName, True

        ' Mark email as deleted from Hotmail/MSN Live server.
        oClient.Delete info
    Next

    ' Quit and expunge emails marked as deleted from Hotmail/MSN Live POP3 server.
    oClient.Quit
    Exit Sub

ErrorHandle:
    MsgBox Err.Description
End Sub

[VB 6.0 Example - Retrieve emails from Hotmail/MSN Live/Outlook account using IMAP4]

The following example codes demonstrate how to download email from Hotmail/MSN Live/Outlook account using IMAP4 protocol.

Note

To get the full sample projects, please refer to Samples section.

Option Explicit

Const MailServerPop3 = 0
Const MailServerImap4 = 1
Const MailServerEWS = 2
Const MailServerDAV = 3
Const MailServerMsGraph = 4

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Dim curpath As String
    Dim mailbox As String
    Dim oTools As New EAGetMailObjLib.Tools

    ' Create a folder named "inbox" under current directory
    ' to save the email retrieved.
    curpath = App.Path
    mailbox = curpath & "\inbox"
    oTools.CreateFolder mailbox

    Dim oServer As New EAGetMailObjLib.MailServer
    ' Hotmail/MSN Live IMAP4 server address is "outlook.office365.com"
    oServer.Server = "outlook.office365.com"
    oServer.User = "hotmailid@hotmail.com"

    ' If you got authentication error, try to create an app password instead of your user password.
    ' https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/account-billing/using-app-passwords-with-apps-that-don-t-support-two-step-verification-5896ed9b-4263-e681-128a-a6f2979a7944
    oServer.Password = "your password or app password"
    oServer.Protocol = MailServerImap4

    ' Enable SSL Connection
    oServer.SSLConnection = True

    ' Set 993 IMAP4 SSL Port
    oServer.Port = 993

On Error GoTo ErrorHandle:
    Dim oClient As New EAGetMailObjLib.MailClient
    oClient.LicenseCode = "TryIt"

    oClient.Connect oServer
    MsgBox "Connected"

    Dim infos As EAGetMailObjLib.MailInfoCollection
    Set infos = oClient.GetMailInfoList()
    MsgBox infos.Count & " emails"

    Dim i As Long
    For i = 0 To infos.Count - 1
        Dim info As EAGetMailObjLib.MailInfo
        Set info = infos.Item(i)

        MsgBox "Index: " & info.Index & "; Size: " & info.Size & _
        "; UIDL: " & info.UIDL

        ' Receive email from Hotmail/MSN Live IMAP4 server
        Dim oMail As EAGetMailObjLib.Mail
        Set oMail = oClient.GetMail(info)

        MsgBox "From: " & oMail.From.Address & _
            vbCrLf & "Subject: " & oMail.Subject

        Dim fileName As String
        ' Generate a random file name by current local datetime,
        ' You can use your method to generate the filename if you do not like it
        fileName = mailbox & "\" & oTools.GenFileName(i) & ".eml"

        ' Save email to local disk
        oMail.SaveAs fileName, True

        ' Mark email as deleted from Hotmail/MSN Live server.
        oClient.Delete info
    Next

    ' Quit and expunge emails marked as deleted from Hotmail/MSN Live IMAP4 server.
    oClient.Quit
    Exit Sub

ErrorHandle:
    MsgBox Err.Description
End Sub

Hotmail IMAP OAUTH

Microsoft Live SMTP servers (Hotmail, Oultook personal account) have been extended to support authorization via the industry-standard OAuth 2.0 protocol. Using OAUTH protocol, user can do authentication by Microsoft Web OAuth instead of inputting user and password directly in application.

Microsoft will disable traditional user authentication in the future, switching to Microsoft OAuth (Modern Authentication) is strongly recommended now.

Or you can generate App Passwords and use this app password instead of your user password.

Retrieve Email from Office 365

First of all, you should go to Office 365 Outlook -> Options -> See All Options -> Account -> My Account -> Settings for POP, IMAP, and SMTP access. You will get your Office 365 POP3/IMAP4 server address and port. The default POP3 server is outlook.office365.com on SSL 995 port; IMAP4 server is outlook.office365.com on SSL 993 port.

Important

Office 365 has started to disable user login in POP/IMAP protocol, you should use Office365 POP/IMAP/EWS OAUTH instead of traditional user/password login.

Server Port SSL Protocol
outlook.office365.com 995 SSL required Pop3
outlook.office365.com 993 SSL required Imap4

App Password and Office 365 OAUTH

If your account enabled two-factor authentication, you cannot login your account by normal user authentication, you should create an App Passwords and use this App Password instead of the user password.

Office 365 has started to disable user login in POP/IMAP protocol, if basic authentication has been disabled in your tenant, you have to use Office365 POP/IMAP/EWS OAUTH.

[VB 6.0 Example - Retrieve emails from Office 365 account using IMAP4]

The following example codes demonstrate how to download email from Offic 365 account using IMAP4 protocol.

Note

To get the full sample projects, please refer to Samples section.

Option Explicit

Const MailServerPop3 = 0
Const MailServerImap4 = 1
Const MailServerEWS = 2
Const MailServerDAV = 3
Const MailServerMsGraph = 4

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Dim curpath As String
    Dim mailbox As String
    Dim oTools As New EAGetMailObjLib.Tools

    ' Create a folder named "inbox" under current directory
    ' to save the email retrieved.
    curpath = App.Path
    mailbox = curpath & "\inbox"
    oTools.CreateFolder mailbox

    Dim oServer As New EAGetMailObjLib.MailServer
    ' Office 365 IMAP4 server address is "outlook.office365.com"
    oServer.Server = "outlook.office365.com"
    oServer.User = "user@domain"

    ' If you got authentication error, try to create an app password instead of your user password.
    ' https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/account-billing/using-app-passwords-with-apps-that-don-t-support-two-step-verification-5896ed9b-4263-e681-128a-a6f2979a7944
    oServer.Password = "your password or app password"
    oServer.Protocol = MailServerImap4

    ' Enable SSL Connection
    oServer.SSLConnection = True

    ' Set 993 IMAP4 SSL Port
    oServer.Port = 993

On Error GoTo ErrorHandle:
    Dim oClient As New EAGetMailObjLib.MailClient
    oClient.LicenseCode = "TryIt"

    oClient.Connect oServer
    MsgBox "Connected"

    Dim infos As EAGetMailObjLib.MailInfoCollection
    Set infos = oClient.GetMailInfoList()
    MsgBox infos.Count & " emails"

    Dim i As Long
    For i = 0 To infos.Count - 1
        Dim info As EAGetMailObjLib.MailInfo
        Set info = infos.Item(i)

        MsgBox "Index: " & info.Index & "; Size: " & info.Size & _
        "; UIDL: " & info.UIDL

        ' Receive email from Office 365 server
        Dim oMail As EAGetMailObjLib.Mail
        Set oMail = oClient.GetMail(info)

        MsgBox "From: " & oMail.From.Address & _
            vbCrLf & "Subject: " & oMail.Subject

        Dim fileName As String
        ' Generate a random file name by current local datetime,
        ' You can use your method to generate the filename if you do not like it
        fileName = mailbox & "\" & oTools.GenFileName(i) & ".eml"

        ' Save email to local disk
        oMail.SaveAs fileName, True

        ' Mark email as deleted from Office 365 server.
        oClient.Delete info
    Next

    ' Quit and expunge emails marked as deleted from Office 365 IMAP4 server.
    oClient.Quit
    Exit Sub

ErrorHandle:
    MsgBox Err.Description
End Sub

[VB 6.0 Example - Retrieve Unread/New Email from Hotmail/Outlook/Office 365]

Because IMAP/EWS/WebDAV support read mail flag, with this feature, we can also retrieve unread/new email only from Hotmail/Outlook/Office 365 like this

Option Explicit

Const MailServerPop3 = 0
Const MailServerImap4 = 1
Const MailServerEWS = 2
Const MailServerDAV = 3
Const MailServerMsGraph = 4

Const GetMailInfos_All = 1
Const GetMailInfos_NewOnly = 2
Const GetMailInfos_ReadOnly = 4
Const GetMailInfos_SeqRange = 8
Const GetMailInfos_UIDRange = 16
Const GetMailInfos_PR_ENTRYID = 32
Const GetMailInfos_DateRange = 64
Const GetMailInfos_OrderByDateTime = 128

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Dim curpath As String
    Dim mailbox As String
    Dim oTools As New EAGetMailObjLib.Tools

    ' Create a folder named "inbox" under current directory
    ' to save the email retrieved.
    curpath = App.Path
    mailbox = curpath & "\inbox"
    oTools.CreateFolder mailbox

    Dim oServer As New EAGetMailObjLib.MailServer

    ' Hotmail/Outlook Live/Office365 IMAP4 server address is "outlook.office365.com"
    oServer.Server = "outlook.office365.com"
    oServer.User = "hotmailid@hotmail.com"

    ' If you got authentication error, try to create an app password instead of your user password.
    ' https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/account-billing/using-app-passwords-with-apps-that-don-t-support-two-step-verification-5896ed9b-4263-e681-128a-a6f2979a7944
    oServer.Password = "your password or app password"
    oServer.Protocol = MailServerImap4

    ' Enable SSL Connection
    oServer.SSLConnection = True

    ' Set 993 SSL Port
    oServer.Port = 993

On Error GoTo ErrorHandle:
    Dim oClient As New EAGetMailObjLib.MailClient
    oClient.LicenseCode = "TryIt"

    oClient.Connect oServer
    MsgBox "Connected"

    ' retrieve unread/new email only
    oClient.GetMailInfosParam.Reset
    oClient.GetMailInfosParam.GetMailInfosOptions = GetMailInfos_NewOnly

    Dim infos As EAGetMailObjLib.MailInfoCollection
    Set infos = oClient.GetMailInfoList()
    MsgBox infos.Count & " unread emails"

    Dim i As Long
    For i = 0 To infos.Count - 1
        Dim info As EAGetMailObjLib.MailInfo
        Set info = infos.Item(i)

        MsgBox "Index: " & info.Index & "; Size: " & info.Size & _
        "; UIDL: " & info.UIDL

        ' Receive email from Hotmail/MSN Live POP3 server
        Dim oMail As EAGetMailObjLib.Mail
        Set oMail = oClient.GetMail(info)

        MsgBox "From: " & oMail.From.Address & _
            vbCrLf & "Subject: " & oMail.Subject

        Dim fileName As String
        ' Generate a random file name by current local datetime,
        ' You can use your method to generate the filename if you do not like it
        fileName = mailbox & "\" & oTools.GenFileName(i) & ".eml"

        ' Save email to local disk
        oMail.SaveAs fileName, True

        ' mark unread email as read, next time this email won't be retrieved again
        If Not info.Read Then
            oClient.MarkAsRead info, True
        End If

        ' if you don't want to leave a copy on server, please use
        ' oClient.Delete info
        ' instead of MarkAsRead
    Next

    ' Quit and expunge emails marked as deleted from Hotmail/MSN Live POP3 server.
    oClient.Quit
    Exit Sub

ErrorHandle:
    MsgBox Err.Description
End Sub

Office365 POP/IMAP/EWS OAUTH

Microsoft Office365 servers have been extended to support authorization via the industry-standard OAuth 2.0 protocol. Using OAUTH protocol, user can do authentication by Microsoft Web OAuth instead of inputting user and password directly in application.

Microsoft will disable traditional user authentication in the future, switching to Microsoft OAuth (Modern Authentication) is strongly recommended now.

TLS 1.2

TLS is the successor of SSL, more and more Email servers require TLS 1.2 encryption now.

If your operating system is Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7/Windows 2003/2008/2008 R2/2012/2012 R2, and you got connection error with SSL/TLS connection, you need to enable TLS 1.2 protocol in your operating system like this:

Enable TLS 1.2 on Windows XP/Vista/7/10/Windows 2008/2008 R2/2012

Next Section

At next section I will introduce how to retrieve email with event handler.

Appendix

Comments

If you have any comments or questions about above example codes, please click here to add your comments.

See Also