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Get MIME content of a message

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MIME is an industry email standard. Many email applications create messages in MIME format and save them in files with the .EML extension.

Even though Outlook does not save messages in MIME format, there are two ways you can get an Outlook message body in MIME format:

  • You can append a $value segment to a get-message operation on that message.
  • If the message is attached to an Outlook item or group post, you can append a $value segment to a get-attachment operation on that item or group post.

In either case, your app must have the appropriate permissions to access the Outlook item or group post in order to apply the get-message or get-attachment operation.

You can then save the message body content in a .EML file and attach the file to records in business systems, such as those for CRM, ERP, and bug tracking.

What is MIME?

MIME is a standard used by internet email to transmit the following types of content via SMTP:

  • Plain text message
  • Message with alternative content (i.e., in both plain text and HTML)
  • Reply message with the original message attached
  • Text message with attachments of image, audio, video, or application files
  • Other message constructs

The following are typical MIME headers in a message. For more information, see RFC 2045.

  • MIME-Version - Indicates the message is MIME-formatted.
  • Content-Type - Indicates the media type of the message or a part of the message, represented by a type and subtype. It also includes a boundary field which specifies a string as the MIME boundary or as the encapsulation boundary, depending on the location of Content-Type.
  • Content-Disposition - Provides details of an attachment such as its presentation style (inline or attachment), filenames, and creation and last modification dates.
  • Content-Transfer-Encoding - Specifies the encoding method to represent binary data.

Get MIME content of an Outlook message

You can get the MIME representation of a message by appending the $value segment when getting the message:

GET /users/{id}/messages/{id}/$value

Example

The following is an example that requests a message in the signed-in user's mailbox to be returned with its MIME content.

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

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

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
x-ms-publictraffictype: Emai

```http
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_--

Get MIME content of an Outlook message attached to an Outlook item or group post

You can also get the MIME representation of an Outlook message, if the message has been attached to an Outlook event, message, task, or group post that your app can access.

To do that, identify the message attachment, and append the $value segment when getting that attachment. The following shows a few common ways to access an attachment. See get attachment for more information.

If the message is attached to an event in the user's default calendar:

GET /users/{id}/events/{id}/attachments/{id}/$value

If the message is attached to another message in the user's mailbox:

GET /users/{id}/messages/{id}/attachments/{id}/$value

If the message is attached to an Outlook task in the user's default task folder:

GET /users/{id}/outlook/tasks/{id}/attachments/{id}/$value

If the message is attached to the specified group post:

GET /groups/{id}/threads/{id}/posts/{id}/attachments/{id}/$value

Example

The following is an example that gets a message that has been attached to another message, and returns the body in MIME format.

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me/messages/AAMkAGUAAA7XW-lAAA=/attachments/AAMkAGUAAA7XW-lAAABEgAQAFBZJBq4EN5FlCSvNV-M-FI=/$value

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

Received: from MWHPR22MB0302.namprd22.prod.outlook.com (2603:10b6:104:5::23)
 by MWHPR2201MB1053.namprd22.prod.outlook.com with HTTPS via
 CO2PR04CA0193.NAMPRD04.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM; Mon, 22 Apr 2019 19:48:20 +0000
Received: from MWHPR22MB1007.namprd22.prod.outlook.com (10.172.167.21) by
 MWHPR22MB0302.namprd22.prod.outlook.com (10.173.53.146) with Microsoft SMTP
 Server (version=TLS1_2, cipher=TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384) id
 15.20.1813.12; Mon, 22 Apr 2019 19:48:16 +0000
Received: from MWHPR22MB1007.namprd22.prod.outlook.com
 ([fe80::1d05:c2d3:92a:f8dc]) by MWHPR22MB1007.namprd22.prod.outlook.com
 ([fe80::1d05:c2d3:92a:f8dc%9]) with mapi id 15.20.1813.017; Mon, 22 Apr 2019
 19:48:16 +0000
From: Adele Vance <[email protected]>
To: Megan Bowen <[email protected]>
Subject: Press conference
Thread-Topic: Press conference
Thread-Index: AQHU+UQNzFWFTilRjECtpiWorLYxqA==
Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2019 19:48:16 +0000
Message-ID:
	<MWHPR22MB100769D1513B3DC0F007B2ECD4220@MWHPR22MB1007.namprd22.prod.outlook.com>
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: MWHPR22MB1007.namprd22.prod.outlook.com
X-MS-Has-Attach:
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-Network-Message-Id:
	88bed46b-a860-40fb-591e-08d6c75b76c1
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-SCL: -1
X-MS-TNEF-Correlator:
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-RecordReviewCfmType: 0
x-ms-publictraffictype: Email
authentication-results: contoso.com; dkim=none (message not
 signed) header.d=none;contoso.com; dmarc=none action=none
 header.from=contoso.com;
x-originating-ip: [2001:4898:80e8:9:9607:7cf8:4576:961c]
x-ms-office365-filtering-correlation-id: 88bed46b-a860-40fb-591e-08d6c75b76c1
x-microsoft-antispam:
	BCL:0;PCL:0;RULEID:(2390118)(7020095)(4652040)(7021145)(8989299)(4534185)(7022145)(4603075)(4627221)(201702281549075)(8990200)(5600141)(711020)(4605104)(2017052603328)(7177060)(7171020)(7173020)(7193020);SRVR:MWHPR22MB0302;
x-ms-traffictypediagnostic: MWHPR22MB0302:
X-Microsoft-Antispam-Mailbox-Delivery:
	ucf:0;jmr:0;ex:0;auth:0;dest:I;ENG:(750119)(520011016)(706158)(944506303)(944626516);
X-Microsoft-Antispam-Message-Info:
	twccJ5SmB7ZvueSjaTBdmtD3489zlRiHPqiO3DBEil1jBx5xhl/5G/fK2GLgdH0klkE2uoUAAvdvpmxiJezwxCtmn11Nq3kvaOuypDL2TDVdYvWkTfSt4SYfVTp34iBoDlvOEbTh8LTl5J/dz98cgvoRdiE7TUJBXTGvUyVTQX1LG7Xg1hNXMu6XLng6Axdn/ka2NUhmzOa3hEl9yoUI8g3G66Vq3zzVRQFpS+P5+/d1LcbKHsuYMgZNBzBeM6dLnMnwOH9rKXqjV+d72YDnQw4SkbULkoEsQs2Vq0e4URDtkzQwHqcoPv1W2HE4pypmiqkl4M6lJtBccF3MWPP/xNxl6NL5gLSpZCILbg8gQ1UxxX8Kdhd4KWbDa3ayHLHBr11hMNFbGftcUZbZ6jrAtiIGYtGzaAxHqlYC3lUHXZIMdygT76enIJJwklQ1VIp4
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
	boundary="_000_MWHPR22MB100769D1513B3DC0F007B2ECD4220MWHPR22MB1007namp_"
MIME-Version: 1.0

--_000_MWHPR22MB100769D1513B3DC0F007B2ECD4220MWHPR22MB1007namp_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

The press conference will be on May 15. We arranged to have the press gathe=
r at 2pm outside the main entrance.

--_000_MWHPR22MB100769D1513B3DC0F007B2ECD4220MWHPR22MB1007namp_
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 style=3D"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0">The press conference will be on M=
ay 15. We arranged to have the press gather at 2pm outside the main entranc=
e.</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>

--_000_MWHPR22MB100769D1513B3DC0F007B2ECD4220MWHPR22MB1007namp_--

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