Export Founder emails to Excel

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

Four steps, one command, and a completeness check at the end — for investor and partner correspondence.

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 contact,topic,commitment,deadline,status --out founder.xlsx

A month or a quarter, not «everything». Commitments made in email are the ones that get forgotten. One table per fundraise keeps the process moving.

Column	Why it matters
`contact`	Who you are talking to (person or fund).
`topic`	The subject of the commitment or conversation.
`commitment`	What was promised, in concrete terms.
`deadline`	ISO date — empty means «no deadline», which is itself information.
`status`	Fixed vocabulary: open / in progress / done / blocked.

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.

contact	topic	commitment	deadline	status
VC Fund X	term sheet	share cap table	2026-10-30	waiting

Sensitive documents end up in a shared export — Keep fundraising exports separate and encrypted; never merge with the general inbox export.
Commitments lack dates — Write the date in the commitment text itself — «share cap table by 30 Oct».

iCloud requires an app-specific password; two-factor accounts cannot use the main password.

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

Is it safe to export investor threads?

Treat the file as confidential: local storage, encryption, no cloud converters.

Can the team share it?

Only with explicit access rules; prefer a per-person export over one shared file.

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.