Table of Contents
Setting Up Your Node.js Environment for Email Parsing
Before diving into email parsing, ensure you have Node.js installed. Begin by creating a new Node.js project and installing the required dependencies.
mkdir email-parser
cd email-parser
npm init -y
npm install nodemailer mailparser
Receiving and Parsing Emails
To parse emails, you need to fetch them from a mail server. IMAP and POP3 are popular protocols for this. For this guide, we will use node-imap
and mailparser
packages.
First, install the necessary packages:
npm install node-imap
Then, create a script to connect to the mail server and fetch emails.
const Imap = require('node-imap');
const { simpleParser } = require('mailparser');
const imapConfig = {
user: '[email protected]',
password: 'your-email-password',
host: 'imap.example.com',
port: 993,
tls: true
};
const imap = new Imap(imapConfig);
imap.once('ready', () => {
imap.openBox('INBOX', true, (err, box) => {
if (err) throw err;
imap.search(['UNSEEN'], (err, results) => {
if (err) throw err;
const f = imap.fetch(results, { bodies: '' });
f.on('message', msg => {
msg.on('body', stream => {
simpleParser(stream, (err, parsed) => {
if (err) throw err;
console.log('Subject:', parsed.subject);
console.log('From:', parsed.from.text);
console.log('Body:', parsed.text);
});
});
});
f.once('end', () => {
console.log('Done fetching all messages!');
imap.end();
});
});
});
});
imap.once('error', err => {
console.log(err);
});
imap.once('end', () => {
console.log('Connection ended');
});
imap.connect();
Parsing Email Content
Using the simpleParser
function from mailparser
, the script above processes the raw email data. The parsed object contains key elements like the subject, sender, and body of the email. Customize the console.log
statements to handle the parsed data as per your requirements.
Managing Attachments
To handle attachments, inspect the parsed object for the attachments
array. Here’s how you can manage and save attachments:
const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');
// Inside simpleParser callback
if (parsed.attachments.length > 0) {
parsed.attachments.forEach(attachment => {
const filePath = path.join(__dirname, attachment.filename);
fs.writeFileSync(filePath, attachment.content);
console.log(`Saved attachment: ${attachment.filename}`);
});
}
Automating Email Parsing
For continuous monitoring, consider running your script periodically or setting up a webhook to trigger email parsing whenever a new email arrives.
Alternative: Email Parser for Google Workspace
For a simpler approach, especially if you’re already using Google Workspace, the Email Parser for Google Workspace offers an intuitive and efficient solution. This tool streamlines email extraction without requiring extensive coding or server management.