Export Virtual assistant emails to Excel

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

Four steps, one command, and a completeness check at the end — for inbox cleanup and daily reporting.

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 sender,priority,task,deadline,folder --out virtual-assistant.xlsx

Step 2 — filter to one period

A month or a quarter, not «everything». Assistants triage other people’s inboxes. A daily table turns «I think I saw it» into a tracked task list.

Step 3 — keep only the columns that matter

Column	Why it matters
`sender`	Who wrote in; used for triage and routing.
`priority`	A fixed scale (high/normal/low) that you define once.
`task`	The one-line action extracted from the message.
`deadline`	ISO date — empty means «no deadline», which is itself information.
`folder`	Source folder or label, so every row has a traceable origin.

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

sender	priority	task	deadline	folder
billing@vendor.com	high	Renew domain	2026-10-22	Admin

Pitfalls

The client’s mailbox gets marked as read — Open the folder read-only in the script — this is the default and must stay that way.
Deadlines are missed because dates are text — Store dates in ISO 8601 and sort the column in the spreadsheet.

Provider notes

Shared mailboxes may need delegated access, which IMAP does not always support; check with the mailbox owner first.

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

FAQ

Will this work with a shared inbox?

Only if the provider exposes it over IMAP with your own credentials. Otherwise export per-user and merge.

Can I schedule the report?

Yes — run the script from cron or Task Scheduler every morning and email the file to yourself.

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

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