Read Outlook Email/Attachment in Linux.

cosmokramer has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hello,

I've a mailbox ( Outlook ) to which mails with attachments are sent regularly. There is a legacy process that runs on this windoze box which scrapes those emails to look for attachments ( Excel spreadsheets ) and load them into a database or spit them out as CSV.

I'm trying to couple of things

1. Port this process or rewrite this process to run out of Linux
2. If I could read the same mailbox thro' Sendmail or some other way, I'd prefer that
3. If its not possible, then I'd want to know the procedure to read an Outlook inbox from Linux.
4. Once the inbox is accessible, I'd like to also know how to parse an Excel spreadsheet to get those values out as CSV or down the line use DBI to push them to a database.

I'm a newbie to Perl, please advice.
Thanks.

Comment on Read Outlook Email/Attachment in Linux.

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Re: Read Outlook Email/Attachment in Linux. by MidLifeXis (Monsignor) on Nov 18, 2008 at 21:46 UTC
Is it possible to access the mailbox via POP or IMAP? If so, then you can pull it using many tools. Then search CPAN for tools to use. --MidLifeXis	[reply]
Re^2: Read Outlook Email/Attachment in Linux. by cosmokramer (Initiate) on Nov 18, 2008 at 22:05 UTC
I've not tried to access the mailbox thro' POP or IMAP, except that I do get emails from that box to my inbox ( alerts, notifications etc. ) I am checking whether the exchange server has pop/imap access enabled, I doubt it.	[reply]
Re^2: Read Outlook Email/Attachment in Linux. by cosmokramer (Initiate) on Dec 10, 2008 at 03:13 UTC
After several attempts and tests, I was lucky in using Spreasheet:XLS and Spreadsheet::XLSX to make Linux parse Excel files. On the Email front, while I have a good news that I can access my mail server using IMAP or POP, I am simply unable to install Net::IMAP. I get the following error, please advice. Net::IMAP gave following errors: Manifying blib/man3/Net::IMAP.3pm * ERROR: unterminated C<...> at line 2811 in file Net/IMAP.pm * ERROR: unterminated C<...> at line 2906 in file Net/IMAP.pm * ERROR: unterminated C<...> at line 2911 in file Net/IMAP.pm BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /root/.cpan/build/NetxAP-0.02/bli +b/lib/Net/IMAP.pm line 29. Compilation failed in require at t/01_imap_base.t line 4. BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at t/01_imap_base.t line 4. t/01_imap_base....dubious Test returned status 2 (wstat 512, 0x200) FAILED--1 test script could be run, alas--no output ever seen make: * [test_dynamic] Error 2 /usr/bin/make test -- NOT OK Running make install make test had returned bad status, won't install without force [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Read Outlook Email/Attachment in Linux. by hangon (Deacon) on Nov 19, 2008 at 02:29 UTC
First job as a newbie: get to know CPAN. A lot of your work may have already been done - a CPAN search for outlook brings up a list of modules you may find useful. Update: Change the search selection box from Modules to All for a longer list.	[reply]