Download/Retrieve Email from Yahoo account in Visual C++

In previous section, I introduced how to download emails from Gmail account. In this section, I will introduce how to download emails from your Yahoo account in Visual C++.

Introduction

Yahoo POP3 server address is pop.mail.yahoo.com. It requires SSL connection on 995 port; Yahoo IMAP4 server address is imap.mail.yahoo.com . It requires SSL connection on 993 port. You should use your Yahoo email address as the user name for user authentication. For example: your email is myid@yahoo.com, and then the user name should be myid@yahoo.com.

Server Port SSL Protocol
pop.mail.yahoo.com 995 SSL required Pop3
imap.mail.yahoo.com 993 SSL required Imap4

App Password

If you got authentication error, you need to enable Allowing less secure apps in your Yahoo account. Or you can generate an App Passwords and use this app password instead of the user password.

Although Yahoo supports OAUTH, but it doesn’t provide mail permission, so OAUTH is not a solution for Yahoo mail.

Note

Remarks: All of examples in this section are based on first section: A simple Visual C++ 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.

[Visual C++ Example - Retrieve emails from Yahoo account using POP3]

The following example codes demonstrate how to download emails from Yahoo account using POP3 protocol.

Note

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

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <Windows.h>

#include "EAGetMailobj.tlh"
using namespace EAGetMailObjLib;

DWORD  _getCurrentPath(LPTSTR lpPath, DWORD nSize)
{
    DWORD dwSize = ::GetModuleFileName(NULL, lpPath, nSize);
    if (dwSize == 0 || dwSize == nSize)
    {
        return 0;
    }

    // Change file name to current full path
    LPCTSTR psz = _tcsrchr(lpPath, _T('\\'));
    if (psz != NULL)
    {
        lpPath[psz - lpPath] = _T('\0');
        return _tcslen(lpPath);
    }

    return 0;
}

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
    const int MailServerPop3 = 0;
    const int MailServerImap4 = 1;
    const int MailServerEWS = 2;
    const int MailServerDAV = 3;
    const int MailServerMsGraph = 4;

    // Initialize COM environment
    ::CoInitialize(NULL);

    // Create a folder named "inbox" under current exe file directory
    // to save the emails retrieved.

    TCHAR szPath[MAX_PATH + 1];
    _getCurrentPath(szPath, MAX_PATH);

    TCHAR szMailBox[MAX_PATH + 1];
    wsprintf(szMailBox, _T("%s\\inbox"), szPath);

    // Create a folder to store emails
    ::CreateDirectory(szMailBox, NULL);

    try
    {
        IMailServerPtr oServer = NULL;
        oServer.CreateInstance(__uuidof(EAGetMailObjLib::MailServer));

        // Yahoo POP3 server address
        oServer->Server = _T("pop.mail.yahoo.com");
        oServer->User = _T("yahooid@yahoo.com");
        oServer->Password = _T("testpassword");
        oServer->Protocol = MailServerPop3;

        // Enable SSL connection
        oServer->SSLConnection = VARIANT_TRUE;

        // Set 995 POP3 SSL port
        oServer->Port = 995;

        IMailClientPtr oClient = NULL;
        oClient.CreateInstance(__uuidof(EAGetMailObjLib::MailClient));
        oClient->LicenseCode = _T("TryIt");

        oClient->Connect(oServer);
        _tprintf(_T("Connected\r\n"));

        IMailInfoCollectionPtr infos = oClient->GetMailInfoList();
        _tprintf(_T("Total %d emails\r\n"), infos->Count);

        for (long i = 0; i < infos->Count; i++)
        {
            IMailInfoPtr pInfo = infos->GetItem(i);

            TCHAR szFile[MAX_PATH + 1];
            // Generate a random file name by current local datetime,
            // You can use your method to generate the filename if you do not like it
            SYSTEMTIME curtm;
            ::GetLocalTime(&curtm);
            ::wsprintf(szFile, _T("%s\\%04d%02d%02d%02d%02d%02d%03d%d.eml"),
                szMailBox,
                curtm.wYear,
                curtm.wMonth,
                curtm.wDay,
                curtm.wHour,
                curtm.wMinute,
                curtm.wSecond,
                curtm.wMilliseconds,
                i);

            // Receive email from POP3 server
            IMailPtr oMail = oClient->GetMail(pInfo);

            // Save email to local disk
            oMail->SaveAs(szFile, VARIANT_TRUE);

            // Mark email as deleted from POP3 server.
            oClient->Delete(pInfo);
        }

        // Delete method just mark the email as deleted,
        // Quit method expunge the emails from server exactly.
        oClient->Quit();
    }
    catch (_com_error &ep)
    {
        _tprintf(_T("Error: %s"), (const TCHAR*)ep.Description());
    }

    return 0;
}

[Visual C++ Example - Retrieve emails from Yahoo account using IMAP4]

The following example codes demonstrate how to download emails from Yahoo account using IMAP4 protocol.

Note

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

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <Windows.h>

#include "EAGetMailobj.tlh"
using namespace EAGetMailObjLib;

DWORD  _getCurrentPath(LPTSTR lpPath, DWORD nSize)
{
    DWORD dwSize = ::GetModuleFileName(NULL, lpPath, nSize);
    if (dwSize == 0 || dwSize == nSize)
    {
        return 0;
    }

    // Change file name to current full path
    LPCTSTR psz = _tcsrchr(lpPath, _T('\\'));
    if (psz != NULL)
    {
        lpPath[psz - lpPath] = _T('\0');
        return _tcslen(lpPath);
    }

    return 0;
}

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
    const int MailServerPop3 = 0;
    const int MailServerImap4 = 1;
    const int MailServerEWS = 2;
    const int MailServerDAV = 3;
    const int MailServerMsGraph = 4;

    // Initialize COM environment
    ::CoInitialize(NULL);

    // Create a folder named "inbox" under current exe file directory
    // to save the emails retrieved.

    TCHAR szPath[MAX_PATH + 1];
    _getCurrentPath(szPath, MAX_PATH);

    TCHAR szMailBox[MAX_PATH + 1];
    wsprintf(szMailBox, _T("%s\\inbox"), szPath);

    // Create a folder to store emails
    ::CreateDirectory(szMailBox, NULL);

    try
    {
        IMailServerPtr oServer = NULL;
        oServer.CreateInstance(__uuidof(EAGetMailObjLib::MailServer));

        // Yahoo IMAP4 server address
        oServer->Server = _T("imap.mail.yahoo.com");
        oServer->User = _T("yahooid@yahoo.com");
        oServer->Password = _T("testpassword");
        oServer->Protocol = MailServerImap4;

        // Enable SSL connection
        oServer->SSLConnection = VARIANT_TRUE;

        // Set 993 IMAP4 SSL port
        oServer->Port = 993;

        IMailClientPtr oClient = NULL;
        oClient.CreateInstance(__uuidof(EAGetMailObjLib::MailClient));
        oClient->LicenseCode = _T("TryIt");

        oClient->Connect(oServer);
        _tprintf(_T("Connected\r\n"));

        IMailInfoCollectionPtr infos = oClient->GetMailInfoList();
        _tprintf(_T("Total %d emails\r\n"), infos->Count);

        for (long i = 0; i < infos->Count; i++)
        {
            IMailInfoPtr pInfo = infos->GetItem(i);

            TCHAR szFile[MAX_PATH + 1];
            // Generate a random file name by current local datetime,
            // You can use your method to generate the filename if you do not like it
            SYSTEMTIME curtm;
            ::GetLocalTime(&curtm);
            ::wsprintf(szFile, _T("%s\\%04d%02d%02d%02d%02d%02d%03d%d.eml"),
                szMailBox,
                curtm.wYear,
                curtm.wMonth,
                curtm.wDay,
                curtm.wHour,
                curtm.wMinute,
                curtm.wSecond,
                curtm.wMilliseconds,
                i);

            // Receive email from POP3 server
            IMailPtr oMail = oClient->GetMail(pInfo);

            // Save email to local disk
            oMail->SaveAs(szFile, VARIANT_TRUE);

            // Mark email as deleted from POP3 server.
            oClient->Delete(pInfo);
        }

        // Delete method just mark the email as deleted,
        // Quit method expunge the emails from server exactly.
        oClient->Quit();
    }
    catch (_com_error &ep)
    {
        _tprintf(_T("Error: %s"), (const TCHAR*)ep.Description());
    }

    return 0;
}

[Visual C++ Example - Retrieve Unread/New Email from Yahoo Account]

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

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <Windows.h>

#include "EAGetMailobj.tlh"
using namespace EAGetMailObjLib;

DWORD  _getCurrentPath(LPTSTR lpPath, DWORD nSize)
{
    DWORD dwSize = ::GetModuleFileName(NULL, lpPath, nSize);
    if (dwSize == 0 || dwSize == nSize)
    {
        return 0;
    }

    // Change file name to current full path
    LPCTSTR psz = _tcsrchr(lpPath, _T('\\'));
    if (psz != NULL)
    {
        lpPath[psz - lpPath] = _T('\0');
        return _tcslen(lpPath);
    }

    return 0;
}

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
    const int MailServerPop3 = 0;
    const int MailServerImap4 = 1;
    const int MailServerEWS = 2;
    const int MailServerDAV = 3;
    const int MailServerMsGraph = 4;

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

    // Initialize COM environment
    ::CoInitialize(NULL);

    // Create a folder named "inbox" under current exe file directory
    // to save the emails retrieved.

    TCHAR szPath[MAX_PATH + 1];
    _getCurrentPath(szPath, MAX_PATH);

    TCHAR szMailBox[MAX_PATH + 1];
    wsprintf(szMailBox, _T("%s\\inbox"), szPath);

    // Create a folder to store emails
    ::CreateDirectory(szMailBox, NULL);

    try
    {
        IMailServerPtr oServer = NULL;
        oServer.CreateInstance(__uuidof(EAGetMailObjLib::MailServer));

        // Yahoo IMAP4 server address
        oServer->Server = _T("imap.mail.yahoo.com");
        oServer->User = _T("yahooid@yahoo.com");
        oServer->Password = _T("testpassword");
        oServer->Protocol = MailServerImap4;

        // Enable SSL connection
        oServer->SSLConnection = VARIANT_TRUE;

        // Set 993 IMAP4 SSL port
        oServer->Port = 993;

        IMailClientPtr oClient = NULL;
        oClient.CreateInstance(__uuidof(EAGetMailObjLib::MailClient));
        oClient->LicenseCode = _T("TryIt");

        oClient->Connect(oServer);
        _tprintf(_T("Connected\r\n"));

        // retrieve unread/new email only
        oClient->GetMailInfosParam->Reset();
        oClient->GetMailInfosParam->GetMailInfosOptions = GetMailInfos_NewOnly;

        IMailInfoCollectionPtr infos = oClient->GetMailInfoList();
        _tprintf(_T("Total %d unread emails\r\n"), infos->Count);

        for (long i = 0; i < infos->Count; i++)
        {
            IMailInfoPtr pInfo = infos->GetItem(i);

            TCHAR szFile[MAX_PATH + 1];
            // Generate a random file name by current local datetime,
            // You can use your method to generate the filename if you do not like it
            SYSTEMTIME curtm;
            ::GetLocalTime(&curtm);
            ::wsprintf(szFile, _T("%s\\%04d%02d%02d%02d%02d%02d%03d%d.eml"),
                szMailBox,
                curtm.wYear,
                curtm.wMonth,
                curtm.wDay,
                curtm.wHour,
                curtm.wMinute,
                curtm.wSecond,
                curtm.wMilliseconds,
                i);

            // Receive email from POP3 server
            IMailPtr oMail = oClient->GetMail(pInfo);

            // Save email to local disk
            oMail->SaveAs(szFile, VARIANT_TRUE);

            // mark unread email as read, next time this email won't be retrieved again
            if( pInfo->Read == VARIANT_FALSE)
            {
                oClient->MarkAsRead(pInfo, VARIANT_TRUE);
            }

            // if you don't want to leave a copy on server, please use
            // oClient->Delete(pInfo);
            // instead of MarkAsRead
        }

        // Delete method just mark the email as deleted,
        // Quit method expunge the emails from server exactly.
        oClient->Quit();
    }
    catch (_com_error &ep)
    {
        _tprintf(_T("Error: %s"), (const TCHAR*)ep.Description());
    }

    return 0;
}

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 download emails from Hotmail/MSN Live/Office 365 account.

Appendix

Comments

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