Mail receive



Mail receive is a producer that retrieves email messages from a POP3 and IMAP email server (so that users can access email accounts like Gmail, Hotmail etc) and injects any file attachments into the flow. Please note that Switch only accepts MIME encoded attachments.

Keywords

Keywords can be used with the search function above the Elements pane.

The keywords for the Mail receive element are:


Connections

Mail receive does not allow incoming connections.

Mail receive allows only a single outgoing connection.

Properties

Property

Description

Name

The name of the flow element displayed in the canvas

Server type

The type of server from which to retrieve mail. Choices are "POP3" and "IMAP4"

Server address

The URL or IP address of the server from which to retrieve mail

Port Editors in this property are numbers and it is empty by default

Accounts

A list of accounts (names and corresponding passwords) from which to retrieve mail

Use secure password verification

Defines whether to log in to the mail server using secure password verification

Server requires secure connection (SSL)

Defines whether the mail server requires a secure connection using the SSL protocol

Leave originals on server

If set to "Yes", incoming messages are left untouched on the server

If set to no (the default), incoming messages are removed from the server; see also Leaving originals in place

Check every (minutes)

The frequency of checking the email accounts for new messages

Time-of-day window

If set to "Yes", the tool checks for new arrivals only during a certain time of the day (specified in the subordinate properties)

Allow from (hh:mm)

The time-of-day window during which to check for new arrivals; the values are structured as "hh:mm" (hours, minutes) indicating a time of day on a 24 hour clock; an empty value means midnight; two identical values mean the tool always checks for new arrivals.

Allow to (hh:mm)

Day-of-week window

If set to "Yes", the tool checks for new arrivals only during certain days of the week (specified in the subordinate properties)

Allow from

The days of the week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday) during which to check for new arrivals; two identical values mean the tool only checks for new arrivals on that specific day

Allow to

Day-of-month window

If set to "Yes", the tool checks for new arrivals only during a certain day of the month (specified in the subordinate properties)

Day

The day in the month during which to check for new arrivals, as a number in the range [1 . . 31]; the default value of one means the first or the last day of the month (depending on the following property)

Relative to

Determines whether the day of the month is relative to "Start of month'" or "End of the month"

Attach hierarchy info

If set to "Yes", information about a file's origin (derived from the email message as specified by the next property, see below) is added to its internal job ticket as a location path; see Using hierarchy info for more details

Base info on

Defines how to derive the attached location path from the email message; the path can be based on the contents of one of the following: "Sender's email address", "Email account name", or "Message subject"

Attach email info

If set to "Yes", the sender's address of the incoming email message is added to the email info in the file's internal job ticket; body text from the incoming message is never copied into the email info; see Using Email info for more details

Attach extra email info

If set to "Yes", additional email info is added to the internal job ticket as specified by the next two properties (see below); the information added can vary depending on properties of the incoming email message (see below); see Using Email info for more details

Base map key on

Defines the "key" that is used to select the appropriate email info from the table provided in the next property; the key can be contents of: "Sender's email address", "Email account name", or "Message subject"

Email info map

Email addresses and body text specified with the editor for this property are added to each file's email info as the file is injected in the flow; the value of the key specified in the previous property (for example, the sender's address of the incoming email message) determines which entry of the table is actually added

Scan for nested attachments When set to "Yes", user can scan all nested email until no emails but real assets are found. By default, "No" is selected in this menu
Collect attachments Set to "Yes" to collect all attachments in a folder. Single file attachments will also be stored in a job folder. By default, "No" is selected in this menu
Assemble message and attachments This is a sub property of Collect attachments and is available only when the parent is set to yes. Set to "Yes" to assemble the injected message and the attachment(s) in the same job folder. If there is no message to inject, this property will not affect attachment handling. By default, "No" is selected in this menu
Inject message as file

Determines whether the email message itself (as opposed to its attachments) is injected into the flow as a separate file; choices are:


  • No: only attachments are injected in the flow

  • If no attachments: the mail message is injected as a separate file only if it has no attachments

  • Always: the mail message is always injected as a separate file

The message body is converted to plain text and saved into a ".txt" file with UTF8 encoding and named for the subject line of the email message. However, if the email message does not have a subject line, it is saved into a file named "No subject.txt".

Picking up email metadata

The mail receive tool automatically picks up the contents of incoming email messages as metadata. This behavior cannot be configured or turned off (that is, there are no flow element properties related to this behavior). See Picking up metadata for more background information.

For each incoming message the mail receive tool creates a metadata dataset that contains the relevant components of the message, such as the sender, to, cc, and reply-to addresses and the complete email body text. This dataset is then associated with the job ticket for all files delivered by the message under the standard dataset name "Email".

Refer to Email message schema for details on the format of the generated metadata.