Introduction
In this quick example, we'll show how to read Gmail using Java and javax.mail library. We'll use IMAP since it's more flexible than POP3 in terms of folder and message manipulation. We'll read message headers, and after that, we'll mark it as "seen" that will indicate that message is read.
Read Gmail using Java
Maven dependency:
<dependency>
<groupId>com.sun.mail</groupId>
<artifactId>javax.mail</artifactId>
<version>1.6.2</version>
</dependency>Notice that IMAP uses port 993 instead of 995 reserved for POP3. Change values of username and password variables according to your account. It's very useful to use Google application password (password intended only for API access), you can find out more about it here.
package com.example;
import java.util.Properties;
import javax.mail.Flags;
import javax.mail.Flags.Flag;
import javax.mail.Folder;
import javax.mail.Message;
import javax.mail.MessagingException;
import javax.mail.NoSuchProviderException;
import javax.mail.Session;
import javax.mail.Store;
import javax.mail.search.FlagTerm;
public class ReadMailExample {
public static void check(String host, String storeType, String user, String password) {
try {
// create properties
Properties properties = new Properties();
properties.put("mail.imap.host", host);
properties.put("mail.imap.port", "993");
properties.put("mail.imap.starttls.enable", "true");
properties.put("mail.imap.ssl.trust", host);
Session emailSession = Session.getDefaultInstance(properties);
// create the imap store object and connect to the imap server
Store store = emailSession.getStore("imaps");
store.connect(host, user, password);
// create the inbox object and open it
Folder inbox = store.getFolder("Inbox");
inbox.open(Folder.READ_WRITE);
// retrieve the messages from the folder in an array and print it
Message[] messages = inbox.search(new FlagTerm(new Flags(Flag.SEEN), false));
System.out.println("messages.length---" + messages.length);
for (int i = 0, n = messages.length; i < n; i++) {
Message message = messages[i];
message.setFlag(Flag.SEEN, true);
System.out.println("---------------------------------");
System.out.println("Email Number " + (i + 1));
System.out.println("Subject: " + message.getSubject());
System.out.println("From: " + message.getFrom()[0]);
System.out.println("Text: " + message.getContent().toString());
}
inbox.close(false);
store.close();
} catch (NoSuchProviderException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (MessagingException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
String host = "imap.gmail.com";
String mailStoreType = "imap";
String username = "yourmailaddress@gmail.com";
String password = "yourpassword";
check(host, mailStoreType, username, password);
}
}
After you set params, you'll get a response like this:
messages.length---1
---------------------------------
Email Number 1
Subject: test1
From: John Johnson <john@gmail.com>
Text: javax.mail.internet.MimeMultipart@6a78afa0
Possible issues
In case that you have the following exception while using this code, it is very possible that your antivirus is blocking the application. I was using Avast and after clicking "Disable for 10 minutes" in Avast Shield Control it worked fine. To avoid doing this every time you use your application, try adding Java to antivirus exceptions.
javax.mail.MessagingException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target;
nested exception is:
javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
at com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPStore.protocolConnect(IMAPStore.java:742)
at javax.mail.Service.connect(Service.java:366)
at javax.mail.Service.connect(Service.java:246)
at com.headsoft.cloud.items.service.MailServiceImpl.check(MailServiceImpl.java:37)
at com.headsoft.cloud.items.service.MailServiceImpl.main(MailServiceImpl.java:77)
Caused by: javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
at java.base/sun.security.ssl.Alert.createSSLException(Alert.java:131)
at java.base/sun.security.ssl.TransportContext.fatal(TransportContext.java:324)
at java.base/sun.security.ssl.TransportContext.fatal(TransportContext.java:267)
at java.base/sun.security.ssl.TransportContext.fatal(TransportContext.java:262)
at java.base/sun.security.ssl.CertificateMessage$T12CertificateConsumer.checkServerCerts(CertificateMessage.java:645)
at java.base/sun.security.ssl.CertificateMessage$T12CertificateConsumer.onCertificate(CertificateMessage.java:464)
at java.base/sun.security.ssl.CertificateMessage$T12CertificateConsumer.consume(CertificateMessage.java:360)
at java.base/sun.security.ssl.SSLHandshake.consume(SSLHandshake.java:396)
at java.base/sun.security.ssl.HandshakeContext.dispatch(HandshakeContext.java:444)
at java.base/sun.security.ssl.HandshakeContext.dispatch(HandshakeContext.java:422)
at java.base/sun.security.ssl.TransportContext.dispatch(TransportContext.java:181)
at java.base/sun.security.ssl.SSLTransport.decode(SSLTransport.java:164)
at java.base/sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.decode(SSLSocketImpl.java:1460)
at java.base/sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.readHandshakeRecord(SSLSocketImpl.java:1368)
at java.base/sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.startHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:437)
at com.sun.mail.util.SocketFetcher.configureSSLSocket(SocketFetcher.java:626)
at com.sun.mail.util.SocketFetcher.createSocket(SocketFetcher.java:400)
at com.sun.mail.util.SocketFetcher.getSocket(SocketFetcher.java:238)
at com.sun.mail.iap.Protocol.<init>(Protocol.java:134)
at com.sun.mail.imap.protocol.IMAPProtocol.<init>(IMAPProtocol.java:131)
at com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPStore.newIMAPProtocol(IMAPStore.java:763)
at com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPStore.protocolConnect(IMAPStore.java:698)
... 4 more
Caused by: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
at java.base/sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.doBuild(PKIXValidator.java:438)
at java.base/sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.engineValidate(PKIXValidator.java:305)
at java.base/sun.security.validator.Validator.validate(Validator.java:264)
at java.base/sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkTrusted(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:231)
at java.base/sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkServerTrusted(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:132)
at java.base/sun.security.ssl.CertificateMessage$T12CertificateConsumer.checkServerCerts(CertificateMessage.java:629)
... 21 more