SMTP / IMAP / POP3 Email Activities

Version: 1.0.0  ·  ID: zoan-packages-smtp  ·  Author: Zoan Software

This package works with email by connecting directly to a server, without depending on an installed client. Works with any standard server: Gmail, Outlook.com / Microsoft 365, or your company’s corporate server.

SMTP/IMAP or Outlook package?

• This package (SMTP/IMAP/POP3): connects to the server with username and password. Does not need Outlook installed and works perfectly in unattended execution (a server without a screen). It is the recommended option for production bots.
• The Outlook package: Controls the Outlook desktop client already configured on the machine. Useful if you already use Outlook with configured accounts and interactive session.

Tres protocolos, tres usos

Protocolo	for what	Activities
SMTP	Send email	SMTP Send
IMAP	Read and manage mail (folders, read/unread, move, delete) — recommended	IMAP Read, IMAP Save Attachment, IMAP Mark Read, IMAP Move, IMAP Delete
POP3	Read basic (no folders or state) — only if no IMAP	POP3 Read, POP3 Delete

IMAP vs POP3

Use IMAP whenever you can: supports folders, filters, mark as read, move and delete. POP3 is an old and limited protocol (downloads emails without state or folders); use it only if your server does not offer IMAP.

Connection to the server

Since these activities do not maintain a session, each receives connection data from the server. They are the same in all:

Parameter	Description
host	Servidor (e.g. smtp.gmail.com, imap.gmail.com, pop.gmail.com)
port	Puerto. Por defecto: SMTP 587, IMAP 993, POP3 995
username	Username (usually your full email address)
password	Password — uses a credential, see below
security	Encryption: auto · none · ssl · starttls. By default the appropriate one for each protocol

Servidores comunes

Proveedor	SMTP (enviar)	IMAP (read)
Gmail	smtp.gmail.com : 587	imap.gmail.com : 993
Outlook.com / M365	smtp.office365.com : 587	outlook.office365.com : 993

Gmail / Outlook: use an “App Password”, not your normal password

If the account has two-step verification (which is common today), the normal password does not work: you must generate an “App Password” in the account’s security settings and use that. It is a specific key for applications like this.

Security: save the password in a credential

The password field is of type credential. Never write the password in plain text: save it to a Zoan Cloud credential and use it with = credential("correo-bot").ToPlainText(). This way it is not exposed in the playbook or in the logs.

Reading flow: mailId

Just like in Outlook, IMAP Read (and POP3 Read) return a mail list (ZoanMail). Each email has an identifier, its .Id (UID in IMAP, index in POP3), which you pass as mailId to other activities to indicate which email to act on (save attachments, mark, move, delete).

IMAP Read   host = "imap.gmail.com"   username = = credential("bot")["user"]   password = = credential("bot").ToPlainText()
            unreadOnly = true   → output: correos

For Each   items = = correos   itemVariable = correo
 └─ activities:
      IMAP Save Attachment   ...   mailId = = correo.Id   outputPath = "C:/adjuntos"
      IMAP Mark Read         ...   mailId = = correo.Id

The properties of each email (.Subject, .From, .Body, .Attachments…) are in Data types › ZoanMail.

Activities

Enviar (SMTP)

Activity	Type	Output	What it does
SMTP Send	smtp-send	—	Send an email

Read and manage (IMAP)

Activity	Type	Output	What it does
IMAP Read	imap-read	List	Read emails with filters
IMAP Save Attachment	imap-save-attachment	—	Save email attachments
IMAP Mark Read	imap-mark-read	—	Mark an email as read
IMAP Move	imap-move	—	Move an email to another folder
IMAP Delete	imap-delete	—	Delete an email

Read basic (POP3)

Activity	Type	Output	What it does
POP3 Read	pop3-read	List	Read emails (without folders or filters)
POP3 Delete	pop3-delete	—	Delete an email

Next steps

• SMTP Send — send emails.
• IMAP Read — read the filter tray.
• Credential Usage — save the password securely.