How to Parse and view Outlook .msg Files programmatically

This article shows that how can you parse and view Outlook .msg files using your own code in C# applications where Microsoft Office Outlook is not required for it. A separate Outlook msg Viewer Demo (attached with this article) is also available to guide you for parsing and reading Outlook .msg files using Aspose.Network library.

How to Parse and View Msg File contents Programmatically

In this section, we will present the code that we used in the demo to show the msg file contents.

Loading an Msg File

Aspose.Network library provides MapiMessage class for loading and parsing msg files. You can load the msg file using a single line of code by calling FromFile() static method and passing the path of the msg file.

[C#]MapiMessage msg = MapiMessage.FromFile(“C:\\SomeFolder\\SomeMsgFile.msg”);

[VB.NET]Dim msg As MapiMessage = MapiMessage.FromFile(“C:\\SomeFolder\\SomeMsgFile.msg”)

Getting the From, To, Cc and Subject from Msg File

MapiMessage class exposes properties and collections for getting subject, to, cc and from. Following is the sample code for getting these properties.

[C#]// subjectif (msg.Subject != null)Console.WriteLine(msg.Subject);elseConsole.WriteLine("no subject");// senderif (msg.SenderEmailAddress != null)Console.WriteLine(msg.SenderEmailAddress);elseConsole.WriteLine("No sender");// toif (msg.DisplayTo != null)Console.WriteLine(msg.DisplayTo);elseConsole.WriteLine("No one in To");// ccif (msg.DisplayCc != null)Console.WriteLine(msg.DisplayCc);elseConsole.WriteLine("No one in cc");

[VB.NET]' subjectIf Not msg.Subject Is Nothing ThenConsole.WriteLine(msg.Subject)ElseConsole.WriteLine("no subject")End If' senderIf Not msg.SenderEmailAddress Is Nothing ThenConsole.WriteLine(msg.SenderEmailAddress)ElseConsole.WriteLine("No sender")End If' toIf Not msg.DisplayTo Is Nothing ThenConsole.WriteLine(msg.DisplayTo)ElseConsole.WriteLine("No one in To")End If' ccIf Not msg.DisplayCc Is Nothing ThenConsole.WriteLine(msg.DisplayCc)ElseConsole.WriteLine("No one in cc")End If

Getting the Text Body and Rtf Body of the Message

We can get Text and Rtf body of the message by using properties of MapiMessage class. Following the sample code to get these.

[C#]// text bodyif (msg.Body != null)Console.WriteLine(msg.Body);elseConsole.WriteLine("no text body.");// rtf bodyif (msg.BodyRtf != null)Console.WriteLine(msg.BodyRtf);elseConsole.WriteLine("No Rtf body.");

[VB.NET]' text bodyIf Not msg.Body Is Nothing ThenConsole.WriteLine(msg.Body)ElseConsole.WriteLine("no text body.")End If' rtf bodyIf Not msg.BodyRtf Is Nothing ThenConsole.WriteLine(msg.BodyRtf)ElseConsole.WriteLine("No Rtf body.")End If

Getting the Attachments From Msg File and Saving to Disk

MapiMessage class provides the Attachments collection for getting all the attachments in the message (msg) file. MapiMessage.Attachments property returns the object of type MapiAttachmentCollection. You can use a foreach loop to iterate through the attachments collection and list the attachments. Attachment class contains the Save() method for saving the individual attachment to the disk. Following is the sample code to get the list of attachments and saving to disk.

[C#]

// iterate through the Attachments collection
foreach (MapiAttachment att in msg.Attachments)
{

try
{
// show attachment name on screen
Console.WriteLine(att.LongFileName);

// save in local drive/folder
att.Save(att.LongFileName);

}

catch (Exception ex) { Console.WriteLine(ex.Message;) }

}

[VB.NET]' iterate through the Attachments collectionFor Each att As MapiAttachment In msg.AttachmentsTry' show attachment name on screenConsole.WriteLine(att.LongFileName)' save in local drive/folderatt.Save(att.LongFileName)Catch ex As ExceptionConsole.WriteLine(ex.Message;)End TryNext att

Getting the MAPI Properties of the Msg File

You can get the MAPI Properties from the Msg file using the “Properties” collection of the MapiMessage class. Following is the sample code to get all the MAPI properties present in the message file.

[C#]try{Aspose.Network.Outlook.MapiProperty mapi = Aspose.Network.Outlook.MapiProperty)dictionaryEntry.Value;if (mapi.Name.Trim().Length > 0){// display name of MAPI propertyConsole.WriteLine(mapi.Name);// display value of the MAPI propertyConsole.WriteLine(mapi.ToString());}}catch (Exception e){Console.WriteLine(e.Message);}

[VB.NET]TryDim mapi As Aspose.Network.Outlook.MapiProperty = Aspose.Network.Outlook.MapiProperty)dictionaryEntry.ValueIf mapi.Name.Trim().Length > 0 Then' display name of MAPI propertyConsole.WriteLine(mapi.Name)' display value of the MAPI propertyConsole.WriteLine(mapi.ToString())End IfCatch e As ExceptionConsole.WriteLine(e.Message)End Try

More about Aspose.Network for .NET

Aspose.Network is a suite of .NET components for network programming with support for .NET logging framework, Microsoft Exchange Server and allows parsing an Outlook document with drag & drop features. It provides new iCalendar engine and SSL support for SMTP, POP3 & IMAP protocols with other mail merge features. You can import & export emails in MHT & EML formats. It supports all the features of SMTP, MIME, S/MIME, POP3, FTP, WhoIs, DNS, ICMP, IMAP, HTTP, SOCKS 4/4A & SOCKS 5 components.