Python Crashes when I am trying to access any date related fields in MailItem COM

Question

I am trying to print emails from Outlook using win32com. The only issue is when I am trying to access MailItem.SentOn or MailItem.ReceivedTime, Python crashes with windows showing "Python has stopped working" dialog window. What can be the cause of this issue?

Here is my code:

import win32com
import win32com.client
import os
import sys
import re
from datetime import datetime

outlook = win32com.client.Dispatch("Outlook.Application").GetNamespace("MAPI")
accounts = win32com.client.Dispatch("Outlook.Application").Session.Accounts

inbox = outlook.Folders(accounts[0].DeliveryStore.DisplayName)
folders = inbox.Folders

inbox_messages = folders("Inbox").Items
msg = inbox_messages.GetFirst()

while msg:
    print(msg.SenderEmailAddress)
    print(msg.Subject)
    print (msg.SentOn)
    msg = inbox_messages.GetNext()

I am using Office 365 and Python 3.7.0 on Windows 10.

Error Window

Hi welcome to SO. Can you update your question with any error logs? — stacksonstacks, Aug 16 '18 at 21:46
Hi. There are no errors. There is a windows error window with two options. Close the program or Debug the program. — user10236586, Aug 16 '18 at 21:49
Are you running the code from the a command line? if not do so, you should get a stack trace. i.e. `python myscript.py` — stacksonstacks, Aug 16 '18 at 22:01
Yes I am running it from command line and this error window appears when it tries to print the 3rd line for the first email. When I comment out that line it works perfectly. — user10236586, Aug 16 '18 at 22:06
Ok. Wrap your code in a `try catch` block and print the exception. — stacksonstacks, Aug 16 '18 at 22:12
It does not raise any exceptions. It shows the error window again. It is really strange. — user10236586, Aug 16 '18 at 22:21
This means a C-level error. You need Visual Studio and Python debug symbols to diagnose it. — ivan_pozdeev, Aug 16 '18 at 22:34
Possible duplicate of [How to debug python script that is crashing python](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25678978/how-to-debug-python-script-that-is-crashing-python) — ivan_pozdeev, Aug 16 '18 at 22:34
I will try Visual Studio. PDB did not show anything and python just crashed like before. — user10236586, Aug 16 '18 at 22:48

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 04 '18 at 19:58

1

I have this same issue. My script works fine in Python 3.6.5, but fails in 3.7.0

answered Sep 04 '18 at 19:58

user3303984

48
4

You are awesome!!! Basically the issue is only with 3.7.0. I have tried Python 3.6.6 and it is working fine. – user10236586 Sep 05 '18 at 15:33
Glad to help. I hope this information makes its way back to the developers, but I don't quite know how to make that happen. – user3303984 Sep 06 '18 at 18:12
1

The issue is fixed in the new release of pywin32. – user10236586 Oct 18 '18 at 18:50

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 17 '18 at 20:12

so not all mails will have SenderEmailAddress and SentOn. I tried your program on my inbox and it seems to crash on a mail that was generated by outlook - a undeliverable mail generated by outlook:

Your message to xxxx@xxxx.com couldn't be delivered.
A custom mail flow rule created by an admin at xxx.onmicrosoft.com has blocked your message.

.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "xxxx\outl.py", line 24, in <module>
    print (msg.SentOn)
  File "xxx\lib\site-packages\win32com\client\dynamic.py", line 527, in __getattr__
    raise AttributeError("%s.%s" % (self._username_, attr))
AttributeError: GetNext.SentOn

not sure why it crashes python for you but a crash with stack for me but i think you should handle the case where the attributes can be missing.

Hi hmad. Thank you for your response, I think in your case it actually went over some other emails before giving you this message. Actually in my original code, there is a line to check the subject which makes sure that the email will have a sender and SentOn property attached to it. In my case, the first email that is read by the code, will crash python on accessing SentOn property. Just commenting that line fixes everything. — user10236586, Aug 20 '18 at 15:00

Python Crashes when I am trying to access any date related fields in MailItem COM

2 Answers2