Queries an IMAP server to retrieve and manage mails within multiple folders.

Communications Tags Internet Protocol Tags

cfftp cfhttp cfldap cfmailparam cfmailpart cfpop wrap

New tag introduced in ColdFusion 9.

<cfimap 
  action ="DELETE|DELETEFOLDER|CREATEFOLDER|OPEN|CLOSE|RENAMEFOLDER|LISTALLFOLDERS| MARKREAD|MOVEMAIL|GETALL|GETHEADERONLY"     
  attachmentpath = "string"  
  connection = "string" 
  folder = "string" 
  generateuniquefilenames = "yes|no" 
  maxrows = "integer" 
  messagenumber ="integer" 
  name = "string" 
  newfolder = "string" 
  password = "string" 
  port = "integer" 
  recurse = "true|false" 
  secure = "yes|no"  
  server = "IMAP server address" 
  startrow = "integer" 
  secure = "yes|no"  
  stoponerror = "true|false" 
  uid = "integer or comma-delimited list of integers" 
  username = "SMTP user ID">

Open a session or connection with an IMAP server. To open a session, define the server, user name, and password attributes. You can open a connection with an IMAP server by specifying values for the server, user name, password, and connection attributes. For a secure connection, specify secure="true". You can reuse the connection attribute in subsequent CFIMAP tags, without having to specify the server, user name, or password attributes. Once you have established a connection, you can perform the following actions:
Retrieve mail: Retrieve mail using the GetHeaderOnly or GetAll attributes and store the information in a query object. Use the cfdump command to display the content of the query object. You can also download attachments in temporary ColdFusion folder or a new folder as defined by the AttachmentPath attribute.
Delete any unnecessary mail or delete folders. You can delete any user-created folders. Standard folders, such as INBOX, OUTBOX, SEND, cannot be deleted.
Mark multiple mail as read.
Manage mail folders by creating folders, renaming them or moving mail across folders. If you are using sub folders, then use periods (.) to specify the exact path.
Once you have performed all actions, close the session or connection with the IMAP server. For example, mail from your e-mail account in Gmail can be retrieved by setting a connection to the Gmail IMAP server. You can define the login (user name) and set a secure connection. Next, you can quickly retrieve a top-level snapshot of e-mails using the GetHeaderOnly attribute or access full information about e-mails using the GetAll attribute. Note: Gmail is not a complete IMAP implementation so some of the features of a regular IMAP server may not work with Gmail.

The following table lists the query information (column names) returned by various cfimap attributes.
Values for “action” attribute
Columns
GetHeaderOnly
ANSWERED, CC, DELETED, DRAFT, FLAGGED, FROM, HEADER, LINES, MESSAGEID, MESSAGENUMBER, RECENT, REPLYTO, RXDDATE, SEEN, SENTDATE, SIZE, SUBJECT, TO, UID
GetAll
ANSWERED, ATTACHMENTFILES, ATTACHMENTS, BODY, CC, CIDS, DELETED, DRAFT, FLAGGED, FROM, HEADER, HTMLBODY, LINES, MESSAGEID, MESSAGENUMBER, RECENT, REPLYTO, RXDDATE, SEEN,SENTDATE, SIZE, SUBJECT, TEXTBODY, TO, UID.
CID is used to find the correct place of an image in an HTML e-mail message that the CFIMAP tag retrieves. If the e-mail message contains more than one embedded image, only the last embedded image is available.
ListAllFolders
FULLNAME (specifies the entire directory structure), NAME, NEW, TOTALMESSAGES, and UNREAD


Note: The cfimap command works best on IMAP4 revision1. IMAP4 revision1 is backwards compatible with IMAP2 and IMAP2bis versions. Any previous versions are no more actively used.

You can get errors in following scenarios:
Accessing an invalid server connection is established. Check the network conditions and whether you are using appropriate server IP address and domain names. Use valid e-mail user names and passwords.
Accessing non-existent folders: Check whether the folder you are accessing exists. Create or rename folders with valid names. You cannot rename core folders. Move mail within existing folders.
Slow network: Verify if the timeout attribute needs a higher value. Actions such as CreateFolder may need longer time to execute. In such cases, adjust the value of the timeout attribute.
Incorrect usage of cfimap attributes: Check if you are using the correct attribute. For example, if you have 15 e-mails in a folder and if the startrow or maxrow attribute has value of 18 then ColdFusion returns an error.
The e-mail client does not recognize IMAP access. Verify whether your e-mail is set up to allow IMAP access. Complete the necessary IMAP access in connection settings section of your e-mail client.
Using incorrect syntax for attributes: Verify that all attributes are defined per syntax.