Export Project 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 email actions into a project log.

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 project,action,owner,due,status --out project-manager.xlsx

A month or a quarter, not «everything». Action items hide in threads. A weekly export turns «someone said they would» into an owned, dated list.

Column	Why it matters
`project`	Project name or code, used as the filter.
`action`	What has to happen, in one sentence.
`owner`	The person responsible — assignments often happen in Cc.
`due`	Due date in ISO format.
`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.

project	action	owner	due	status
Apollo rollout	Send updated spec	M. Chen	2026-10-24	in progress

Action items are buried in long threads — Filter by subject prefix (e.g. [Apollo]) and export only those threads.
Due dates are missing — Leave the column empty and sort by empty first — that is the real backlog.

Outlook desktop can export PST but not a table; IMAP is the faster path for a weekly log.

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

Can this replace Jira?

No. It is a lightweight log for work agreed in email, not a task tracker with workflow.

How often should I run it?

Weekly is enough; daily runs add noise without new decisions.

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.