how to read latest unread emails from outlook till the point i have read mail

1
votes

i am trying to read unread mails from my outlook mailbox using powershell and displaying subject. i want to read latest unread emails till the point i have any read email. i may have unread emails after read mails but that should not be included.

  $outlook = New-Object -ComObject Outlook.Application
  $namespace = $outlook.GetNameSpace("MAPI")
  $folder=$namespace.GetDefaultFolder(6)
  $folder.Items|ForEach-Object { 
  if($_.Unread -eq $true){
    $_.subject
 }else{
break;
}  
 }

Since my inbox is full of mails(11011+ )mails so the above script is getting stuck.

2
powershellemailoutlook

2 Answers

0
votes

You need to use the Find/FindNext or Restrict methods of the Items class if you need to find only unread items in the folder.

Find/FindNext

using System.Text;
using System.Diagnostics;
// ...
private void FindAllUnreadEmails(Outlook.MAPIFolder folder)
{
    string searchCriteria = "[UnRead] = true";
    StringBuilder strBuilder = null;
    int counter = default(int);
    Outlook._MailItem mail = null;
    Outlook.Items folderItems = null;
    object resultItem = null;
    try
    {
        if (folder.UnReadItemCount > 0)
        {
            strBuilder = new StringBuilder();
            folderItems = folder.Items;
            resultItem = folderItems.Find(searchCriteria);
            while (resultItem != null)
            {
                if (resultItem is Outlook._MailItem)
                {
                    counter++;
                    mail = resultItem as Outlook._MailItem;
                    strBuilder.AppendLine("#" + counter.ToString() + 
                                          "\tSubject: " + mail.Subject);
                }
                Marshal.ReleaseComObject(resultItem);
                resultItem = folderItems.FindNext();
            }
            if (strBuilder != null)
                Debug.WriteLine(strBuilder.ToString());
        }
        else
            Debug.WriteLine("There is no match in the " 
                                 + folder.Name + " folder.");
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
    }
    finally
    {
        if (folderItems != null) Marshal.ReleaseComObject(folderItems);
    }
}

Restrict

using System.Text;
using System.Diagnostics;
// ...
private void RestrictUnreadItems(Outlook.MAPIFolder folder)
{
    string restrictCriteria = "[UnRead] = true";
    StringBuilder strBuilder = null;
    Outlook.Items folderItems = null;
    Outlook.Items resultItems = null;
    Outlook._MailItem mail = null;
    int counter = default(int);
    object item = null;
    try
    {
        strBuilder = new StringBuilder();
        folderItems = folder.Items;
        resultItems = folderItems.Restrict(restrictCriteria);
        item = resultItems.GetFirst();
        while (item != null)
        {
            if (item is Outlook._MailItem)
            {
                counter++;
                mail = item as Outlook._MailItem;
                strBuilder.AppendLine("#" + counter.ToString() +
                                   "\tSubject: " + mail.Subject);
            }
            Marshal.ReleaseComObject(item);
            item = resultItems.GetNext();
        }
        if (strBuilder.Length > 0)
            Debug.WriteLine(strBuilder.ToString());
        else
            Debug.WriteLine("There is no match in the "
                             + folder.Name + " folder.");
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
    }
    finally
    {
        if (folderItems != null) Marshal.ReleaseComObject(folderItems);
        if (resultItems != null) Marshal.ReleaseComObject(resultItems);
    }
}

You can read more about these methods in the following articles:

0
votes

You can Pre-filter within Outlook with Restrict():

...
$folder=$namespace.GetDefaultFolder(6)
$folder.Items.Restrict('[UnRead] = True')|ForEach-Object { 
  $_.subject
}