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The Email Receive connector supports retrieving messages from an IMAP mail server.

Key Capabilities

  • IMAP-based email polling with OAuth 2.0 support for modern providers
  • Advanced filtering with IMAP RFC compliant search filters
  • Support for downloading full messages or attachments only
  • Configurable message retention and deletion policies

Overview

The Email Receive connector provides a simple way to automate the process of receiving emails. The connector connects to an IMAP server and polls a specified mailbox for new messages to process. By default the connector only receives messages that have not yet been processed, and it supports additional IMAP filters. The connector supports receiving entire messages in EML format or only downloading attachments on the emails being processed.
OAuth 2.0 configuration for Outlook and Gmail mail servers are the two most common connection configurations made in the Email Receive connector. You can access additional guides and resources for these two mail servers in the CData Community. See Using OAuth 2.0 in the Email Send and Receive Connectors.

Connector Configuration

This section contains all of the configurable connector properties.

Settings Tab

Email Receive Configuration

Settings related to establishing the connection.
SettingDescription
Connector IdThe static, unique identifier for the connector.
Connector TypeDisplays the connector name and a description of what it does.
Connector DescriptionAn optional field to provide a free-form description of the connector and its role in the flow.

IMAP Connection

Settings related to establishing the connection to the IMAP server.

Authentication

Settings related to authenticating the connection.

Download

Settings related to processing messages.

Automation Tab

Automation Settings

Settings related to the automatic processing of files by the connector.

Automation Status

Alerts Tab

SLAs Tab

Advanced Tab

Proxy Settings

These are a collection of settings that identify and authenticate to the proxy through which the connection should be routed. By default, this section uses the global settings on the Proxy Settings portion of the Security Settings page. Clear the checkbox to supply settings specific to your connector.

SettingDescription
Proxy TypeThe protocol used by a proxy-based firewall.
Proxy HostThe name or IP address of a proxy-based firewall.
Proxy PortThe TCP port for a proxy-based firewall.
Proxy UserThe user name to use to authenticate with a proxy-based firewall.
Proxy PasswordA password used to authenticate to a proxy-based firewall.
Authentication SchemeLeave the default None or choose from one of the following authentication schemes: Basic, Digest, Proprietary, or NTLM.

Advanced Settings

Settings not included in the previous categories.

Message

Message settings determine how the connector searches for messages and manages them after processing.

Note: The settings below are deprecated and hidden by default. They appear only on connectors where they were previously enabled or configured to a non-default value. To retain copies of successfully processed files, right-click the connector in the flow, choose Show Success Path, and connect the success path to a File connector.

SettingDescription
Save to Sent Folder (Deprecated)Copies files processed by the connector to the Sent folder. Disabled by default. Files saved to the Sent folder are not covered by Encryption at Rest.
Sent Folder Scheme (Deprecated)Groups files in the Sent folder by the selected time interval. Only relevant when Save to Sent Folder is enabled.

Logging

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous settings are for specific use cases.

SettingDescription
Other SettingsEnables you to configure hidden connector settings in a semicolon-separated list (for example, setting1=value1;setting2=value2). Normal connector use cases and functionality should not require the use of these settings.

Establishing a Connection

The following settings are required to establish a network-level connection to the IMAP server:
  • Host
  • Port
  • TLS Type
Use the Test Connection button to verify that the connector can reach the server. Once network-level connectivity has been established, the following settings are required to access the messages stored on the IMAP server:
  • User
  • Password or OAuth 2.0 authentication credentials
  • Mailbox

Receiving Emails

If Receive Automation is enabled, the Email Receive connector automatically polls the configured IMAP mailbox for messages to download. By default, the connector only receives messages it has not already downloaded. The first time the connector receives messages, use the Days to Search setting in the Download configuration section to specify the range of messages to download. Messages can also be manually retrieved by clicking the Receive button on the Output tab of the connector. The Download Type setting determines whether full messages or just message attachments are downloaded. Downloaded files are placed in the Output Folder or passed along to the next connector in the flow. When Download Type is set to Attachments, the connector adds two headers to each message:
  • EmailReceive-Attachment-Index: The attachment number for each attachment
  • EmailReceive-Attachment-Count: The total number of attachments on the email

Search Filters

The IMAP Search Filter setting allows for further customization of the range of messages to retrieve. This field accepts standard IMAP protocol filters and only downloads messages that match the configured filters. The following filters are supported:

Macros

Examples