IMAP to MBOX Converter

Download and archive your entire IMAP mailbox with ease.
This robust Python tool connects to your IMAP email account, downloads all messages (even from 100GB+ mailboxes), and optionally converts them into the standard mbox format for backup or migration purposes.

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📦 Features

• ✅ Download emails from any IMAP server (e.g., Gmail, Outlook, self-hosted)
• 📂 Select specific folders, or download all folders including custom ones
• 🧠 Smart metadata tracking to avoid re-downloading emails
• ⚡ Batch processing for optimal performance on large mailboxes
• 🔐 Secure password prompt using getpass
• 🔄 MBOX conversion from downloaded .eml files
• 🧪 Debug mode for verbose logging
• 🧰 CLI with many useful options for full control

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🚀 Quick Installation

Make sure you have Python 3.6+ installed.

git clone https://github.com/BeforeMyCompileFails/imaptombox.git
cd imaptombox
pip install -r requirements.txt

All other dependencies are part of the Python standard library.

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🛠 Usage

Download and convert in one step:

python3 imaptombox.py --host imap.example.com --username user@example.com --convert

Download only:

python3 imaptombox.py --host imap.example.com --username user@example.com

Convert previously downloaded emails to mbox:

python3 imaptombox.py --convert --skip-download --output-dir emails/

🔧 CLI Options

Option	Description
--host	IMAP server hostname (required)
--port	IMAP port (default: 993)
--username	IMAP account username (required)
--no-ssl	Disable SSL (not recommended)
--output-dir	Where to save downloaded emails
--folders	Download from specific folders
--inbox-only	Download only from INBOX
--max-emails	Limit emails per folder
--download-all	Re-download all emails
--start-message	Message index to start from
--batch-size	Emails per batch (default: 1000)
--convert	Convert .eml files to .mbox
--convert-folder	Only convert a specific folder
--mbox-file	Set output .mbox filename
--skip-download	Only run the converter
--debug	Enable debug logging

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📁 Output Structure

emails/
├── INBOX/
│   ├── 12345_Hello_World.eml
│   └── ...
├── Sent/
│   ├── 12346_Sent_Message.eml
│   └── ...
├── metadata.json
└── your_backup.mbox

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📌 Requirements

Dependencies are managed via requirements.txt:

email-validator>=1.1.3
python-dateutil>=2.8.2
tqdm>=4.62.3

Install with:

pip install -r requirements.txt

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✍️ Author

Denis (BeforeMyCompileFails)
🗓️ 2025