Get message

Namespace: microsoft.graph

Retrieve the properties and relationships of a message object.

You can use the $value parameter to get the MIME content of a message. See also an example below.

There are two scenarios where an app can get a message in another user's mail folder:

  • If the app has application permissions, or,
  • If the app has the appropriate delegated permissions from one user, and another user has shared a mail folder with that user, or, has given delegated access to that user. See details and an example.

Since the message resource supports extensions, you can also use the GET operation to get custom properties and extension data in a message instance.

This API is available in the following national cloud deployments.

Global service US Government L4 US Government L5 (DOD) China operated by 21Vianet

Permissions

One of the following permissions is required to call this API. To learn more, including how to choose permissions, see Permissions.

Permission type Permissions (from least to most privileged)
Delegated (work or school account) Mail.ReadBasic, Mail.Read
Delegated (personal Microsoft account) Mail.ReadBasic, Mail.Read
Application Mail.ReadBasic.All, Mail.Read

HTTP request

To get the specified message:

GET /me/messages/{id}
GET /users/{id | userPrincipalName}/messages/{id}
GET /me/mailFolders/{id}/messages/{id}
GET /users/{id | userPrincipalName}/mailFolders/{id}/messages/{id}

To get the MIME content of the specified message:

GET /me/messages/{id}/$value
GET /users/{id | userPrincipalName}/messages/{id}/$value
GET /me/mailFolders/{id}/messages/{id}/$value
GET /users/{id | userPrincipalName}/mailFolders/{id}/messages/{id}/$value

Optional query parameters

This method supports the OData Query Parameters to help customize the response.

Use the $value parameter to get the MIME content of a message.

Request headers

Name Type Description
Authorization string Bearer {token}. Required. Learn more about authentication and authorization.
Prefer: outlook.body-content-type string The format of the body and uniqueBody properties to be returned in. Values can be "text" or "html". A Preference-Applied header is returned as confirmation if this Prefer header is specified. If the header is not specified, the body and uniqueBody properties are returned in HTML format. Optional.

Request body

Don't supply a request body for this method.

Response

If successful, this method returns a 200 OK response code and message object in the response body.

Specifying the $value parameter returns the message content in MIME format, and not a message resource.

Examples

Example 1: Get a specific message

Request

The following example shows a request.

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me/messages/AAMkAGVmMDEzMTM4LTZmYWUtNDdkNC1hMDZiLTU1OGY5OTZhYmY4OABGAAAAAAAiQ8W967B7TKBjgx9rVEURBwAiIsqMbYjsT5e-T7KzowPTAAAAAAEMAAAiIsqMbYjsT5e-T7KzowPTAASoXUT3AAA=

Response

The following example shows the response. Note: The response object shown here might be shortened for readability.

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-type: application/json

{
    "@odata.context":"https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/$metadata#users('7f180cbb-a5ae-457c-b7e8-6f5b42ba33e7')/messages/$entity",
    "@odata.etag":"W/\"CQAAABYAAAC4ofQHEIqCSbQPot83AFcbAAAnjjuZ\"",
    "id":"AAMkADhMGAAA=",
    "createdDateTime":"2018-09-09T03:15:05Z",
    "lastModifiedDateTime":"2018-09-09T03:15:08Z",
    "changeKey":"CQAAABYAAAC4ofQHEIqCSbQPot83AFcbAAAnjjuZ",
    "categories":[

    ],
    "receivedDateTime":"2018-09-09T03:15:08Z",
    "sentDateTime":"2018-09-09T03:15:06Z",
    "hasAttachments":false,
    "internetMessageId":"<[email protected]>",
    "subject":"9/9/2018: concert",
    "bodyPreview":"The group represents Nevada.",
    "importance":"normal",
    "parentFolderId":"AAMkADcbAAAAAAEJAAA=",
    "conversationId":"AAQkADOUpag6yWs=",
    "isDeliveryReceiptRequested":false,
    "isReadReceiptRequested":false,
    "isRead":true,
    "isDraft":false,
    "webLink":"https://outlook.office365.com/owa/?ItemID=AAMkADMGAAA%3D&exvsurl=1&viewmodel=ReadMessageItem",
    "inferenceClassification":"focused",
    "body":{
        "contentType":"html",
        "content":"<html>\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\">\r\n<meta content=\"text/html; charset=us-ascii\">\r\n</head>\r\n<body>\r\nThe group represents Nevada.\r\n</body>\r\n</html>\r\n"
    },
    "sender":{
        "emailAddress":{
            "name":"Adele Vance",
            "address":"[email protected]"
        }
    },
    "from":{
        "emailAddress":{
            "name":"Adele Vance",
            "address":"[email protected]"
        }
    },
    "toRecipients":[
        {
            "emailAddress":{
                "name":"Alex Wilber",
                "address":"[email protected]"
            }
        }
    ],
    "ccRecipients":[

    ],
    "bccRecipients":[

    ],
    "replyTo":[

    ],
    "flag":{
        "flagStatus":"notFlagged"
    }
}

Example 2: Get Internet message headers

Request

The next example uses a $select query parameter to get the Internet message headers of a message.

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me/messages/AAMkADhAAAW-VPeAAA=/?$select=internetMessageHeaders

Response

The following example shows the response. Note: The set of message headers in the response object is truncated for brevity. All of the headers will be returned from an actual call.

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-type: application/json

{
    "@odata.context":"https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/$metadata#users('7f180cbb-a5ae-457c-b7e8-6f5b42ba33e7')/messages(internetMessageHeaders)/$entity",
    "@odata.etag":"W/\"FwAAABYAAAC4ofQHEIqCSbQPot83AFcbAAAW/0tB\"",
    "id":"AAMkADhAAAW-VPeAAA=",
    "internetMessageHeaders":[
        {
            "name":"MIME-Version",
            "value":"1.0"
        },
        {
            "name":"Content-Type",
            "value":"multipart/report"
        },
        {
            "name":"x-custom-header-group-name",
            "value":"Washington"
        },
        {
            "name":"x-custom-header-group-id",
            "value":"WA001"
        }
    ]
}

Example 3: Get message body in text format

Request

The third example shows how to use a Prefer: outlook.body-content-type="text" header to get the body and uniqueBody of the specified message in text format.

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me/messages/AAMkAGVmMDEzMTM4LTZmYWUtNDdkNC1hMDZiLTU1OGY5OTZhYmY4OABGAAAAAAAiQ8W967B7TKBjgx9rVEURBwAiIsqMbYjsT5e-T7KzowPTAAAAAAEMAAAiIsqMbYjsT5e-T7KzowPTAASoXUT3AAA=/?$select=subject,body,bodyPreview,uniqueBody
Prefer: outlook.body-content-type="text"

Response

The following example shows the response. Note: The response includes a Preference-Applied: outlook.body-content-type header to acknowledge the Prefer: outlook.body-content-type request header.

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-type: application/json
Preference-Applied: outlook.body-content-type="text"

{
    "@odata.context":"https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/$metadata#users('cd209b0b-3f83-4c35-82d2-d88a61820480')/messages(subject,body,bodyPreview,uniqueBody)/$entity",
    "@odata.etag":"W/\"CQAAABYAAABmWdbhEgBXTophjCWt81m9AAAoZYj4\"",
    "id":"AAMkAGI1AAAoZCfHAAA=",
    "subject":"Welcome to our group!",
    "bodyPreview":"Welcome to our group, Dana! Hope you will enjoy working with us !\r\n\r\nWould you like to choose a day for our orientation from the available times below:\r\n\r\n\r\nDate\r\n        Time\r\n\r\nApril 14, 2017\r\n        1-3pm\r\n\r\nApril 21, 2017\r\n        10-12noon\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nTh",
    "body":{
        "contentType":"text",
        "content":"Welcome to our group, Dana! Hope you will enjoy working with us [\ud83d\ude0a] [\ud83d\ude0a] [\ud83d\ude0a] [\ud83d\ude0a] [\ud83d\ude0a] !\r\n\r\nWould you like to choose a day for our orientation from the available times below:\r\n\r\n\r\nDate\r\n        Time\r\n\r\nApril 14, 2017\r\n        1-3pm\r\n\r\nApril 21, 2017\r\n        10-12noon\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThanks!\r\n\r\n"
    },
    "uniqueBody":{
        "contentType":"text",
        "content":"Welcome to our group, Dana! Hope you will enjoy working with us [\ud83d\ude0a] [\ud83d\ude0a] [\ud83d\ude0a] [\ud83d\ude0a] [\ud83d\ude0a] !\r\nWould you like to choose a day for our orientation from the available times below:\r\n\r\nDate\r\n        Time\r\n\r\nApril 14, 2017\r\n        1-3pm\r\n\r\nApril 21, 2017\r\n        10-12noon\r\n\r\n\r\nThanks!\r\n"
    }
}

Example 4: Get MIME content

Request

The fourth example gets the MIME content of a message in the signed-in user's mailbox.

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me/messages/4aade2547798441eab5188a7a2436bc1/$value

Response

The following is the response. The MIME content begins with the MIME-Version header.

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-type: text/plain

Received: from contoso.com (10.194.241.197) by
contoso.com (10.194.241.197) with Microsoft
SMTP Server (version=TLS1_2,
cipher=TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA384_P256) id 15.1.1374.0 via Mailbox
Transport; Mon, 4 Sep 2017 03:00:08 -0700
Received: from contoso.com (10.194.241.197) by
contoso.com (10.194.241.197) with Microsoft
SMTP Server (version=TLS1_2,
cipher=TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA384_P256) id 15.1.1374.0; Mon, 4 Sep
2017 03:00:07 -0700
Received: from contoso.com
(fe80::5bf:5059:4ca0:5017) by contoso.com
(fe80::5bf:5059:4ca0:5017%12) with mapi id 15.01.1374.000; Mon, 4 Sep 2017
03:00:01 -0700
From: Administrator <[email protected]>
To: Administrator <[email protected]>
Subject: This email has attachment.
Thread-Topic: This email has attachment.
Thread-Index: AQHTJWSHSywMzSz8o0OJud48nG50GQ==
Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2017 10:00:00 +0000
Message-ID:
                <[email protected]>
Accept-Language: en-US
Content-Language: en-US
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-AuthAs: Internal
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-AuthMechanism: 04
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-AuthSource:
                contoso.com
X-MS-Has-Attach: yes
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-Network-Message-Id:
                0ffdb402-ec03-42c8-5d32-08d4f37bb517
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-SCL: -1
X-MS-TNEF-Correlator:
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-RecordReviewCfmType: 0

MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
                boundary="_004_4aade2547798441eab5188a7a2436bc1contoso_"

--_004_4aade2547798441eab5188a7a2436bc1contoso_
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
                boundary="_000_4aade2547798441eab5188a7a2436bc1contoso_"

--_000_4aade2547798441eab5188a7a2436bc1contoso_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

The attachment is an email.

--_000_4aade2547798441eab5188a7a2436bc1contoso_
Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv=3D"Content-Type" content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-=
1">
<style type=3D"text/css" style=3D"display:none;"><!-- P {margin-top:0;margi=
n-bottom:0;} --></style>
</head>
<body dir=3D"ltr">
<div id=3D"divtagdefaultwrapper" style=3D"font-size:12pt;color:#000000;font=
-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;" dir=3D"ltr">
<p>The attachment is an email.</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>

--_000_4aade2547798441eab5188a7a2436bc1contoso_--

--_004_4aade2547798441eab5188a7a2436bc1contoso_
Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name="Attachment email.eml"
Content-Description: Attachment email.eml
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="Attachment email.eml"; size=408;
                creation-date="Mon, 04 Sep 2017 09:59:43 GMT";
                modification-date="Mon, 04 Sep 2017 09:59:43 GMT"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64

RnJvbToJQWRtaW5pc3RyYXRvciA8YWRtaW5AdGVuYW50LUVYSEItMTQ3MS5jb20+DQpTZW50OglN
b25kYXksIFNlcHRlbWJlciA0LCAyMDE3IDM6MjYgUE0NClRvOglTcml2YXJkaGFuIEhlYmJhcg0K
U3ViamVjdDoJQXR0YWNobWVudCBlbWFpbA0KDQpJIHdpbGwgYXR0YWNoIHRoaXMgZW1haWwgdG8g
YW5vdGhlciBtYWlsLg0K

--_004_4aade2547798441eab5188a7a2436bc1contoso_--