Export Community manager emails to Excel

By the Mail → Excel team · Updated 2026-10-20

Four steps, one command, and a completeness check at the end — for escalations and feedback from inbox.

Step 1 — connect read-only

Use an app password, never the main password. The script opens the folder in read-only mode, so nothing is marked as read or deleted.

python mail_to_excel.py --host imap.example.com --user you@example.com --days 31 --fields member,topic,sentiment,action,date --out community-manager.xlsx

Step 2 — filter to one period

A month or a quarter, not «everything». Community problems arrive as direct messages and emails. A weekly table shows patterns before they become a crisis.

Step 3 — keep only the columns that matter

Column	Why it matters
`member`	Community username, not the real name.
`topic`	The subject of the commitment or conversation.
`sentiment`	Fixed three-value scale: negative / neutral / positive.
`action`	What has to happen, in one sentence.
`date`	Message date in ISO 8601; sortable and unambiguous across time zones.

Step 4 — verify completeness

Run the same search in your mail client and note the message count.
Compare it with the row count in the spreadsheet.
If the numbers differ, the filter or the folder is wrong — fix it before using the file.

Example output

member	topic	sentiment	action	date
user_8821	billing bug	negative	escalate	2026-10-16

Pitfalls

Member identities are stored where they should not be — Keep usernames, not real names, and avoid copying message bodies.
Sentiment is guessed inconsistently — Use a fixed 3-value scale (negative/neutral/positive) and define it once.

Provider notes

Discord and Telegram are not IMAP; import their exports separately and merge on username.

Ready-made: the $3 script implements these steps and writes the Excel file with the columns above. Get the script.

FAQ

Can this track NPS?

It can collect the raw signals; NPS calculation belongs in the survey tool.

How do I avoid duplicates?

One row per conversation, keyed by the first message id.

How many messages can it handle?

Thousands per run with a date filter; very large mailboxes are better exported month by month.

Will it change anything in the mailbox?

No. Read-only access is the default and should stay enabled.

Related guides

Community manager: columns and pitfallsThe compact overview for this role.
Universal IMAP guideApp passwords, decoding and Excel output.