PowerShell cmdlet for removing attachments from *.msg files

Remove-MsgAttachment.ps1

function Remove-MsgAttachment
{
    [CmdletBinding()]

    Param
    (
        [Parameter(ParameterSetName="Path", Position=0, Mandatory=$True)]
        [String]$Path,

        [Parameter(ParameterSetName="LiteralPath", Mandatory=$True)]
        [String]$LiteralPath,

        [Parameter(ParameterSetName="FileInfo", Mandatory=$True, ValueFromPipeline=$True)]
        [System.IO.FileInfo]$Item
    )

    Begin
    {
        # OlInspectorClose constants
        $olSave = 0
        $olDiscard = 1
        $olPromptForSave = 2

        # OlSaveAsType constants
        $olTXT = 0
        $olRTF = 1
        $olTemplate = 2
        $olMSG = 3
        $olDoc = 4

        # Load application
        Write-Verbose "Loading Microsoft Outlook..."
        $outlook = New-Object -ComObject Outlook.Application
    }

    Process
    {
        switch ($PSCmdlet.ParameterSetName)
        {
            "Path"        { $files = Get-ChildItem -Path $Path }
            "LiteralPath" { $files = Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath $LiteralPath }
            "FileInfo"    { $files = $Item }
        }

        $files | % {
            # Work out file names
            $msgFn = $_.FullName

            # Skip non-.msg files
            if ($msgFn -notlike "*.msg") {
                Write-Verbose "Skipping $_ (not an .msg file)..."
                return
            }

            # Open the msg file
            $msg = $outlook.Session.OpenSharedItem($msgFn)

            # Do not touch files without attachments
            if ($msg.Attachments.Count -eq 0) {
                Write-Verbose "Skipping $_ (has no attachments)..."
                $msg.Close($olDiscard)
                return
            }

            # Clone message
            $msgCopy = $msg.Copy()
            $msg.Close($olDiscard)

            # Remove attachments from message
            Write-Verbose "Removing attachments from $_..."
            while ($msgCopy.Attachments.Count -gt 0) {
                $msgCopy.Attachments.Remove(1)
            }

            # Save message
            $msgCopy.SaveAs($msgFn, $olMSG)
        }
    }

    End
    {
        Write-Verbose "Done."
    }
}

Hi, this script doesn't seem to do anything. Have any notes on its usage?

This script is ancient. If I remember correctly, it's meant to delete attachments from .msg files:

$ Remove-MsgAttachment "C:\Some\Folder\Email.msg"

It doesn't extract the attachments; it just deletes them. There's a script (which is also ancient) for extracting attachments from .msg files here.

Yeah that’s exactly what I want but my test .msg still has its attachment. I am running the script in the same directory as the file.

I assume there are no error messages?

If you change --

$msgCopy.SaveAs($msgFn, $olMSG)

to --

$msgCopy.SaveAs($msgFn + "_new.msg", $olMSG)

does it create a new .msg file?

Yeah no error message. I’ll try that when I’m home. Thanks!

Doesn't do anything, no error or any kind of feedback.

Hmm. Could you try running it with the -Verbose flag:

$ Remove-MsgAttachment "C:\Some\Folder\Email.msg" -Verbose

Weird. Nothing. Are there any prerequisites or modules I need to have for it to work? I've even tried it with Outlook open. By the way, thanks for your responsiveness on this.

No worries. I'm starting to run out ideas though...

Could you post the exact command that you're running?

I think the only prerequisite should be an installation of Office (or Outlook specifically), but I would expect an error if it's missing.

Yeah, I'm sitting in the same directory as the .msg file I'm testing with and have run the following: .\Remove-MsgAttachment.ps1 .\Remove-MsgAttachment.ps1 message-69-2065097.msg -Verbose .\Remove-MsgAttachment.ps1 "message-69-2065097.msg" -Verbose No feedback from Powershell, though. And I'm running powershell as an admin too.

Ah! I see... You have to first load the .ps1 file as a module to make the Remove-MsgAttachment cmdlet available in the current PowerShell session before running it (rather than running the .ps1 directly)... which I now realize I completely forgot to mention.

$ Import-Module "C:\Some\Folder\Remove-MsgAttachment.ps1"
$ Remove-MsgAttachment "C:\Some\Folder\Email.msg"

That did it! Thanks man. This will be extremely helpful!

No worries. Any time. :)

If you unwrap everything in the .ps1 file so that it's not enclosed in a function, then I think you can run the script directly as you were doing it (without having to Import-Module first).

That is, if you change --

function Remove-MsgAttachment
{
    [CmdletBinding()]
    Param
    (
        # ...
    )

    # ...

    End
    {
        Write-Verbose "Done."
    }
}

to --

[CmdletBinding()]
Param
(
    # ...
)

# ...

End
{
    Write-Verbose "Done."
}

in the Remove-MsgAttachment.ps1 file.