Hey everyone! I’m trying to figure out how to get those unique message IDs that Gmail uses in its URLs. You know, the ones that look like a bunch of random letters and numbers?
I want to make a script that logs into my Gmail through IMAP and creates a webpage with links to specific emails. But I can’t seem to find a way to get those special IDs using IMAP.
I’ve tried using the IMAP fetch command with different options like UID and ENVELOPE, but none of them give me the right format. The IDs I’m getting don’t work for making valid Gmail links.
Does anyone know if it’s possible to get these IDs through IMAP? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?
I’m coding in Ruby, by the way. Any help would be awesome! Thanks!
I’ve encountered this issue while working on a similar project. The Gmail-specific message IDs aren’t standard IMAP protocol, so you won’t get them through regular IMAP commands. However, Gmail provides an extension for this purpose.
You need to fetch the X-GM-MSGID attribute using IMAP. In Ruby, you can do this with the net/imap library. Once you have the ID, you’ll need to convert it to hexadecimal format to use in Gmail URLs.
Here’s a quick example of how you might implement this:
hey FlyingStar, IMAP ain’t going to hand out the gmail ids you see in links. you need the x-gm-msgid header via IMAP fetch. convert it to hex for actual url use. hope that helps!
I’ve actually tackled this issue before in a project. The key is using Gmail’s IMAP extensions. You need to fetch the X-GM-MSGID, which is a unique identifier Gmail assigns to each message.
In Ruby, you’d do something like this with the net/imap library:
This gives you a decimal number. To use it in a URL, convert it to hexadecimal. Then your URL would look like:
Remember to handle any IMAP errors and ensure you have the right permissions. It took me a while to figure this out, but it works like a charm now. Good luck with your project!