How to convert mbox file to .msg file format using python?

Question

i want to convert mbox file to msg format. For that i have done but i am not getting proper format. I am able to read mbox file but i am not getting how to create msg file with that. I have converted mbox file to eml file but same way i want to create msg file, but i am not getting how to do that.

Below is code for converting mbox to eml.

 import os
import mailbox
from email import generator
from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.mime.text import MIMEText

count = 0


def emlGenerator(body, thisemail):
    global count
    msg = MIMEMultipart('alternative')
    msg['Subject'] = thisemail['subject']
    msg['From'] = thisemail['From']
    msg['To'] = thisemail['To']
    msg['Cc'] = thisemail['Cc']
    msg['Bcc'] = thisemail['Bcc']
    msg['Date'] = thisemail['Date']
    name = str(count) + '.eml'
    count += 1
    part = MIMEText(body)
    msg.attach(part)
    outfile_name = os.path.join('xxxxx/test2', name)
    with open(outfile_name, 'w') as outfile:
        gen = generator.Generator(outfile)
        gen.flatten(msg)


def getcharsets(msg):
    charsets = set({})
    for c in msg.get_charsets():
        if c is not None:
            charsets.update([c])
    return charsets


def handleerror(errmsg, emailmsg, cs):
    print()
    print(errmsg)
    print("This error occurred while decoding with ", cs, " charset.")
    print("These charsets were found in the one email.", getcharsets(emailmsg))
    print("This is the subject:", emailmsg['subject'])
    print("This is the sender:", emailmsg['From'])


def getbodyfromemail(msg):
    body = None
    # Walk through the parts of the email to find the text body.
    if msg.is_multipart():
        for part in msg.walk():
            # If part is multipart, walk through the subparts.
            if part.is_multipart():
                for subpart in part.walk():
                    if subpart.get_content_type() == 'text/plain':
                        # Get the subpart payload (i.e the message body)
                        body = subpart.get_payload(decode=True)
                        # charset = subpart.get_charset()
            # Part isn't multipart so get the email body
            elif part.get_content_type() == 'text/plain':
                body = part.get_payload(decode=True)
                # charset = part.get_charset()
    # If this isn't a multi-part message then get the payload (i.e the message body)
    elif msg.get_content_type() == 'text/plain':
        body = msg.get_payload(decode=True)
        # No checking done to match the charset with the correct part.
    charsets = set({})
    for c in msg.get_charsets():
        if c is not None:
            charsets.update([c])
    for charset in charsets:
        try:
            body = body.decode(charset)
        except:
            print("Hit a UnicodeDecodeError or AttributeError. Moving right along.")
    return body


if __name__ == "__main__":
    for thisemail in mailbox.mbox('xxxxxx/topics.mbox'):
        print (thisemail['Message-id'])
        body = getbodyfromemail(thisemail)
        emlGenerator(body, thisemail)
    print("=========== DONE ============")
    print("Total ", count, " File")

Answer 1

To convert .mbox to .msg file format you can use a third-party library Aspose.Email for Python via .NET.

This is a powerful email programming API. The Email API can be used for basic email management features such as message content editing and attachment manipulation, and for its advanced features such as management of the message storage files, sending & receiving emails via several protocols including POP3, IMAP & SMTP.

For example, you can see the code below.

reader = MboxrdStorageReader(dir + "template.mbox", False)
eml = reader.read_next_message()
# Read all messages in a loop
while (eml is not None):
    # show message subject
    print("Subject: " + eml.subject)
    # save message in EML & MSG formats
    eml.save("output.msg", aspose.email.SaveOptions.default_msg_unicode)
    # get the next message
    eml = reader.read_next_message();
reader.dispose();

As for me, this approach can be useful for you.

I am a Developer Evangelist at Aspose.