Alibaba Mail IMAP scenario example: Permanently delete emails in a specified folder

Python code examples

Scenario 1: Permanently delete all emails from a specified folder.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import imaplib

# Set mailbox information
# Configure the IMAP server
imap_server = 'imap.qiye.aliyun.com'  # IMAP server address
username = 'test@example.com'  # Username
password = '********'  # Password
port = 993  # Port number
source_folder = 'folder2'

# Connect to the IMAP server
mail = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL(imap_server, port)
mail.login(username, password)
# Select the source folder
mail.select(source_folder)

# Search for the UIDs of all emails in the mailbox. This method is recommended.
result, uid_data = mail.uid('search', None, 'ALL')
print('Search result:', result, uid_data)

# If emails are found
if result == 'OK':
    for uid in uid_data[0].split():
        result, data = mail.uid('STORE', uid, '+FLAGS', '(\\Deleted)')
        if result == 'OK':
            print(f'{uid} deleted successfully')
# Log out
mail.close()
mail.logout()

Execution results

Scenario 2: Permanently delete an email with a specified UID.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import imaplib


def before_after_move_email(source_folder, destination_folder):
    # Select a folder
    mail.select(source_folder)
    # UID
    result, data = mail.uid('search', None, 'UNSEEN')
    print(f'{source_folder} search result UID: {result}, {data}')

    # Select a folder
    mail.select(destination_folder)
    # UID
    result, data = mail.uid('search', None, 'UNSEEN')
    print(f'{destination_folder} search result UID: {result}, {data}')


# Set mailbox information
# Configure the IMAP server
imap_server = 'imap.qiye.aliyun.com'  # IMAP server address
username = 'test@example.com'  # Username
password = '********'  # Password
port = 993  # Port number
source_folder = 'folder1'
destination_folder = 'folder2'

# Connect to the IMAP server
mail = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL(imap_server, port)
mail.login(username, password)

print('Before deletion:')
before_after_move_email(source_folder, destination_folder)

mail.select(source_folder)
# Delete the specified UID
result, delete_data = mail.uid('STORE', '14', '+FLAGS', '(\\Deleted)')
mail.expunge()

print('After deletion:')
before_after_move_email(source_folder, destination_folder)

Execution results