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.NET.
Sections:
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 |
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.NET 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.
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.
Imports System.Globalization
Imports System.Text
Imports System.IO
Imports EAGetMail 'imports EAGetMail namespace
Module Module1
Function _generateFileName(ByVal sequence As Integer) As String
Dim currentDateTime As DateTime = DateTime.Now
Return String.Format("{0}-{1:000}-{2:000}.eml",
currentDateTime.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmss", New CultureInfo("en-US")),
currentDateTime.Millisecond,
sequence)
End Function
Sub Main()
Try
' Create a folder named "inbox" under current directory
' to save the email retrieved.
Dim localInbox As String = String.Format("{0}\inbox", Directory.GetCurrentDirectory())
' If the folder is not existed, create it.
If Not Directory.Exists(localInbox) Then
Directory.CreateDirectory(localInbox)
End If
' Hotmail POP3 server is "outlook.office365.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
Dim oServer As New MailServer("outlook.office365.com",
"hotmailid@hotmail.com",
"your password or app password",
ServerProtocol.Pop3)
' Enable SSL/TLS connection, most modern email server require SSL/TLS connection by default.
oServer.SSLConnection = True
' Set 995 POP3 SSL PORT
oServer.Port = 995
Console.WriteLine("Connecting server ...")
Dim oClient As New MailClient("TryIt")
oClient.Connect(oServer)
Dim infos As MailInfo() = oClient.GetMailInfos()
Console.WriteLine("Total {0} email(s)", infos.Length)
For i As Integer = 0 To infos.Length - 1
Dim info As MailInfo = infos(i)
Console.WriteLine("Index: {0}; Size: {1}; UIDL: {2}",
info.Index, info.Size, info.UIDL)
' Retrieve email from POP3 server
Dim oMail As Mail = oClient.GetMail(info)
Console.WriteLine("From: {0}", oMail.From.ToString())
Console.WriteLine("Subject: {0}" & vbCr & vbLf, oMail.Subject)
' Generate an unqiue email file name based on date time.
Dim fileName As String = _generateFileName(i + 1)
Dim fullPath As String = String.Format("{0}\{1}", localInbox, fileName)
' Save email to local disk
oMail.SaveAs(fullPath, True)
' Mark email as deleted from POP3 server.
oClient.Delete(info)
Next
' Quit and expunge emails marked as deleted from POP3 server.
oClient.Quit()
Console.WriteLine("Completed!")
Catch ep As Exception
Console.WriteLine(ep.Message)
End Try
End Sub
End Module
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.
Imports System.Globalization
Imports System.Text
Imports System.IO
Imports EAGetMail 'imports EAGetMail namespace
Module Module1
Function _generateFileName(ByVal sequence As Integer) As String
Dim currentDateTime As DateTime = DateTime.Now
Return String.Format("{0}-{1:000}-{2:000}.eml",
currentDateTime.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmss", New CultureInfo("en-US")),
currentDateTime.Millisecond,
sequence)
End Function
Sub Main()
Try
' Create a folder named "inbox" under current directory
' to save the email retrieved.
Dim localInbox As String = String.Format("{0}\inbox", Directory.GetCurrentDirectory())
' If the folder is not existed, create it.
If Not Directory.Exists(localInbox) Then
Directory.CreateDirectory(localInbox)
End If
' Hotmail IMAP4 server is "outlook.office365.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
Dim oServer As New MailServer("outlook.office365.com",
"hotmailid@hotmail.com",
"your password or app password",
ServerProtocol.Imap4)
' Enable SSL/TLS connection, most modern email server require SSL/TLS connection by default.
oServer.SSLConnection = True
' Set 993 IMAP SSL Port
oServer.Port = 993
Console.WriteLine("Connecting server ...")
Dim oClient As New MailClient("TryIt")
oClient.Connect(oServer)
Dim infos As MailInfo() = oClient.GetMailInfos()
Console.WriteLine("Total {0} email(s)", infos.Length)
For i As Integer = 0 To infos.Length - 1
Dim info As MailInfo = infos(i)
Console.WriteLine("Index: {0}; Size: {1}; UIDL: {2}",
info.Index, info.Size, info.UIDL)
' Retrieve email from IMAP server
Dim oMail As Mail = oClient.GetMail(info)
Console.WriteLine("From: {0}", oMail.From.ToString())
Console.WriteLine("Subject: {0}" & vbCr & vbLf, oMail.Subject)
' Generate an unqiue email file name based on date time.
Dim fileName As String = _generateFileName(i + 1)
Dim fullPath As String = String.Format("{0}\{1}", localInbox, fileName)
' Save email to local disk
oMail.SaveAs(fullPath, True)
' Mark email as deleted from IMAP server.
oClient.Delete(info)
Next
' Quit and expunge emails marked as deleted from IMAP server.
oClient.Quit()
Console.WriteLine("Completed!")
Catch ep As Exception
Console.WriteLine(ep.Message)
End Try
End Sub
End Module
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.
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 |
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.
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.
Imports System.Globalization
Imports System.Text
Imports System.IO
Imports EAGetMail 'imports EAGetMail namespace
Module Module1
Function _generateFileName(ByVal sequence As Integer) As String
Dim currentDateTime As DateTime = DateTime.Now
Return String.Format("{0}-{1:000}-{2:000}.eml",
currentDateTime.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmss", New CultureInfo("en-US")),
currentDateTime.Millisecond,
sequence)
End Function
Sub Main()
Try
' Create a folder named "inbox" under current directory
' to save the email retrieved.
Dim localInbox As String = String.Format("{0}\inbox", Directory.GetCurrentDirectory())
' If the folder is not existed, create it.
If Not Directory.Exists(localInbox) Then
Directory.CreateDirectory(localInbox)
End If
' Office 365 IMAP4 server is "outlook.office365.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
Dim oServer As New MailServer("outlook.office365.com",
"user@domain",
"your password or app password",
ServerProtocol.Imap4)
' Enable SSL/TLS connection, most modern email server require SSL/TLS connection by default.
oServer.SSLConnection = True
' Set 993 IMAP SSL Port
oServer.Port = 993
Console.WriteLine("Connecting server ...")
Dim oClient As New MailClient("TryIt")
oClient.Connect(oServer)
Dim infos As MailInfo() = oClient.GetMailInfos()
Console.WriteLine("Total {0} email(s)", infos.Length)
For i As Integer = 0 To infos.Length - 1
Dim info As MailInfo = infos(i)
Console.WriteLine("Index: {0}; Size: {1}; UIDL: {2}",
info.Index, info.Size, info.UIDL)
' Retrieve email from IMAP server
Dim oMail As Mail = oClient.GetMail(info)
Console.WriteLine("From: {0}", oMail.From.ToString())
Console.WriteLine("Subject: {0}" & vbCr & vbLf, oMail.Subject)
' Generate an unqiue email file name based on date time.
Dim fileName As String = _generateFileName(i + 1)
Dim fullPath As String = String.Format("{0}\{1}", localInbox, fileName)
' Save email to local disk
oMail.SaveAs(fullPath, True)
' Mark email as deleted from IMAP server.
oClient.Delete(info)
Next
' Quit and expunge emails marked as deleted from IMAP server.
oClient.Quit()
Console.WriteLine("Completed!")
Catch ep As Exception
Console.WriteLine(ep.Message)
End Try
End Sub
End Module
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
Imports System.Globalization
Imports System.Text
Imports System.IO
Imports EAGetMail 'imports EAGetMail namespace
Module Module1
Function _generateFileName(ByVal sequence As Integer) As String
Dim currentDateTime As DateTime = DateTime.Now
Return String.Format("{0}-{1:000}-{2:000}.eml",
currentDateTime.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmss", New CultureInfo("en-US")),
currentDateTime.Millisecond,
sequence)
End Function
Sub Main()
Try
' Create a folder named "inbox" under current directory
' to save the email retrieved.
Dim localInbox As String = String.Format("{0}\inbox", Directory.GetCurrentDirectory())
' If the folder is not existed, create it.
If Not Directory.Exists(localInbox) Then
Directory.CreateDirectory(localInbox)
End If
' Hotmail/MSN/Office365 IMAP4 server is "outlook.office365.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
Dim oServer As New MailServer("outlook.office365.com",
"liveid@hotmail.com", "your password or app password", ServerProtocol.Imap4)
' Enable SSL/TLS connection, most modern email server require SSL/TLS connection by default.
oServer.SSLConnection = True
' Set 993 IMAP SSL Port
oServer.Port = 993
Console.WriteLine("Connecting server ...")
Dim oClient As New MailClient("TryIt")
oClient.Connect(oServer)
' retrieve unread/new email only
oClient.GetMailInfosParam.Reset()
oClient.GetMailInfosParam.GetMailInfosOptions = GetMailInfosOptionType.NewOnly
Dim infos As MailInfo() = oClient.GetMailInfos()
Console.WriteLine("Total {0} unread email(s)", infos.Length)
For i As Integer = 0 To infos.Length - 1
Dim info As MailInfo = infos(i)
Console.WriteLine("Index: {0}; Size: {1}; UIDL: {2}",
info.Index, info.Size, info.UIDL)
' Retrieve email from IMAP server
Dim oMail As Mail = oClient.GetMail(info)
Console.WriteLine("From: {0}", oMail.From.ToString())
Console.WriteLine("Subject: {0}" & vbCr & vbLf, oMail.Subject)
' Generate an unqiue email file name based on date time.
Dim fileName As String = _generateFileName(i + 1)
Dim fullPath As String = String.Format("{0}\{1}", localInbox, fileName)
' Save email to local disk
oMail.SaveAs(fullPath, 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 IMAP server.
oClient.Quit()
Console.WriteLine("Completed!")
Catch ep As Exception
Console.WriteLine(ep.Message)
End Try
End Sub
End Module
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 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.