Download spam mail from gmail

gistfile1.py

import email, getpass, imaplib, os

detach_dir = '.' # directory where to save attachments (default: current)
user = raw_input("Enter your GMail username:")
pwd = getpass.getpass("Enter your password: ")

# connecting to the gmail imap server
m = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL("imap.gmail.com")
m.login(user,pwd)
m.select("[Gmail]/Spam") # here you a can choose a mail box like INBOX instead
# use m.list() to get all the mailboxes

resp, items = m.search(None, "ALL") # you could filter using the IMAP rules here (check http://www.example-code.com/csharp/imap-search-critera.asp)
items = items[0].split() # getting the mails id

for emailid in items:
    resp, data = m.fetch(emailid, "(RFC822)") # fetching the mail, "`(RFC822)`" means "get the whole stuff", but you can ask for headers only, etc
    email_body = data[0][1] # getting the mail content
    #Check if its already there
    att_path = "spam/" + emailid + ".txt"
    if not os.path.isfile(att_path) :
        # finally write the stuff
        fp = open(att_path, 'wb')
        fp.write(email_body)
        fp.close()

This was super helpful!

Also wanted to add that while this works for the Spam folder, it sometimes fails for other labels. For example to access my own created label "INFX", I had to remove "[Gmail]" from the m.select() command. I.e. I changed
m.select("[Gmail]/INFX")
to
m.select("INFX")
and it worked for me!

Just sharing in case anyone else faces those issues.

gmail doesnt allow this kind of sign in anymore :(
Any work arounds ??

@asreerama I haven't used this in many years, but one of the requirements is to enable "less secure applications" or something like that on the gmail settings.
Besides this script, it should work with any IMAP client

Hi

Hi

Thank you!! this script was simple and awesome, it totally works when gmail has less secure applications enabled