IMAP Archiver

A powerful and flexible command-line tool to archive emails from an IMAP server, optionally compressing the results and deleting messages after successful download.

Supports all standard IMAP servers and securely handles SSL connections, date-based filtering, multi-folder operations, and multi-part ZIP file compression.

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Features

✅ Archive emails from one or more IMAP folders
✅ Filter messages by date range
✅ Save emails in .eml format with metadata
✅ Optional permanent deletion of downloaded messages
✅ Compress archive into multi-part ZIP files
✅ Generate summary reports for archiving and compression
✅ Compatible with all IMAP servers and email providers

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Requirements

• Python 3.6+
• Works on Windows, Linux, and macOS
• No external dependencies

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Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/andyg2/ImapArc.git
cd ImapArc

Run the script directly with Python:

python imap_archiver.py --help

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Usage

python imap_archiver.py -s <imap_server> -u <email> --password <password> [OPTIONS...]

Required Parameters

Flag	Description
-s, --server	IMAP server address (e.g., imap.gmail.com)
-u, --username	Email/username to log in
--password	Password for the account (use with care)

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Common Options

Option	Description
--folders FOLDER...	List of folders to archive (default: INBOX)
--all-folders	Archive all available folders on the server
--start-date YYYY-MM-DD	Start date for message filtering
--end-date YYYY-MM-DD	End date for message filtering
--limit N	Limit number of messages per folder
--delete-messages	Permanently delete messages after download
--force-delete	Skip confirmation prompt when deleting
--compress	Create compressed ZIP archive(s)
--max-zip-size MB	Max size for each ZIP file (default: 100MB)
--keep-uncompressed	Keep original extracted files after compression
-o, --output-dir DIR	Output directory (default: email_archive)
--no-ssl	Disable SSL (not recommended)

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Examples

🔐 Download all emails from INBOX (Default)

python imap_archiver.py -s imap.example.com -u user@example.com --password secret

📆 Archive emails between specific dates (Inclusive)

python imap_archiver.py -s imap.example.com -u user@example.com --password secret \
  --start-date 2023-01-01 --end-date 2023-12-31

📁 Archive specific folders, space separated list, use quotes for folders with spaces

python imap_archiver.py -s imap.example.com -u user@example.com --password secret \
  --folders INBOX Sent "Archive 2023"

🧹 Download and delete emails after archiving (with confirmation)

python imap_archiver.py -s imap.example.com -u user@example.com --password secret \
  --all-folders --delete-messages

☠️ Delete without prompt --force-delete (use with caution)

python imap_archiver.py -s imap.example.com -u user@example.com --password secret \
  --all-folders --delete-messages --force-delete

📦 Compress archive to multi-part ZIP files (100MB max each)

python imap_archiver.py -s imap.example.com -u user@example.com --password secret \
  --all-folders --compress --max-zip-size 100

🛡️ Safe backup (no deletions, keeps uncompressed folders)

python imap_archiver.py -s imap.example.com -u user@example.com --password secret \
  --all-folders --compress --keep-uncompressed

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Output Structure

After a run, the output directory contains:

• .eml email files
• *_metadata.json per-email metadata
• archive_summary.json: summary of downloads
• compressed/: ZIP files (if compression enabled)
• compression_summary.json: compression stats

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Security Note

Never hardcode passwords in scripts. Use environment variables or prompt securely if integrating with automation.

For example:

python imap_archiver.py -s imap.example.com -u user@example.com --password "$EMAIL_PASS"

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License

MIT License. Feel free to fork and contribute!

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Contributions

Pull requests and issues welcome. Feature ideas include:

• Progress bar
• Attachment extraction
• Retry on failure
• IOmproved Logging

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Author

Andy Gee

Built to preserve and organize your digital correspondence reliably and efficiently.