Email to CSV (not Excel)

By the Mail → Excel team · Updated 2026-10-18

CSV is the right output when the file has to be imported somewhere: CRM, BI, a script. Excel adds formatting you do not need.

Field mapping that avoids pain later

Working export to CSV

import csv, email, imaplib

imap = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL("imap.example.com")
imap.login("user@example.com", "APP_PASSWORD")
imap.select("INBOX", readonly=True)
status, data = imap.search(None, "(SINCE 01-Sep-2026)")

with open("mail.csv", "w", newline="", encoding="utf-8-sig") as f:
    writer = csv.writer(f)
    writer.writerow(["date", "from_email", "subject", "folder", "has_attachments"])
    for num in data[0].split():
        status, msg_data = imap.fetch(num, "(RFC822)")
        msg = email.message_from_bytes(msg_data[0][1])
        writer.writerow([
            msg["Date"],
            email.utils.parseaddr(msg["From"])[1].lower(),
            msg["Subject"],
            "INBOX",
            int(any(p.get_filename() for p in msg.walk())),
        ])

Encoding rules

• Use UTF-8 with BOM (utf-8-sig) if the file will be opened in Excel.
• Quote every field containing commas, quotes or newlines.
• Normalize line breaks inside message text before writing.

Excel vs CSV

If you need both, generate CSV and XLSX from the same data in one pass.