IMAP Save Attachment

IMAP Save Attachment

Type: imap-save-attachment  ·  Package: SMTP / IMAP Email Activities v1.0.5  ·  Output: List<string>

Downloads and saves the attachments of an email to a local folder, with their original names. Key in processes that receive documents by email (invoices, spreadsheets) to process them afterwards, without loading the bytes into memory with IMAP Read.

How it works

Given the mailId of an email (the .Id returned by IMAP Read), it opens folder in read-only mode, downloads the message and saves its attachments to outputPath:

• If outputPath does not exist, it is created.
• If you set attachmentName, only attachments with that exact name (case-insensitive) are saved; if you omit it, all are saved.
• Each file keeps its original name (without paths); an attachment with no name is saved as attachment_N. If a file with that name already exists, it is overwritten.
• It does not change the email’s state (it stays unread if it was).

Use the same folder you read the email from: the UID is only valid within its folder.

Required parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
host	string	—	IMAP server.
username	string	—	Username.
password	credential	—	Password or App Password. Use credential("name")["password"].
mailId	string	—	Email UID (from email.Id). Must be numeric.
outputPath	string	—	Local folder where attachments are saved. Created if missing.

Optional parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
port	int	993	IMAP port.
folder	string	"INBOX"	Folder that holds the email.
attachmentName	string	—	Exact name of the attachment to save. If omitted, all are saved.
security	string	"ssl"	Encryption: auto, none, ssl or starttls.

Output

Returns a List<string> with the full path of each saved attachment, in the order they appear in the email. If none was saved, the list is empty. The log says how many attachments were saved; if you set attachmentName and it is not in the email, it warns The requested attachment was not found in the email. Since version 1.0.5 the output is declared and the Designer offers where to store it.

Common errors

Message	Cause and fix
Invalid 'mailId'. It must be the numeric UID returned by imap-read.	mailId is not a number (for example, an Outlook .Id or empty text). Pass email.Id from IMAP Read.
'mailId' is required. / 'outputPath' is required.	The parameter is missing or the expression returned null.
Message not found error	The email is no longer in folder (it was moved or deleted) or was read from another folder.
Authentication or connection error	Same as in IMAP Read.

Example

Save each email’s attachments in its own folder and check what arrived:

IMAP Read   host = "imap.gmail.com"   username = credential("mail-bot")["user"]   password = credential("mail-bot")["password"]
            subject = "Invoice"   hasAttachments = true   → output: emails
For Each   items = emails   itemVariable = email
 └─ activities:
      IMAP Save Attachment
        host = "imap.gmail.com"   username = credential("mail-bot")["user"]   password = credential("mail-bot")["password"]
        mailId = email.Id   outputPath = "C:/invoices/" + email.Id   → output: files
      Log   message = count(files) + " file(s) from " + email.From

Does the email have attachments?

To avoid unnecessary work, filter in IMAP Read with hasAttachments = true. If you read with includeAttachments = true, you can also check email.Attachments.Length > 0.

Related activities

• IMAP Read — get the emails (and their mailId).
• List Files — check what ended up in the folder.