List sender's email addresses from Gmail unread messages

python
powershell

Access Gmail’s Search Functionality:
- In the search bar at the top of your Gmail interface, enter the search operator is:unread to filter all unread emails.
Select All Unread Emails:
- After executing the search, click the checkbox at the top left corner of the email list to select all displayed unread emails.
- If you have multiple pages of unread emails, a prompt will appear allowing you to select all conversations matching the search criteria. Click on this option to ensure all unread emails are selected.
Apply a Label to Selected Emails:
- With all unread emails selected, click on the “Labels” icon (it resembles a tag) and choose “Create new” to assign a new label, such as “Unread_Senders.” This action helps in organizing and retrieving these emails easily.
Export Emails Using Google Takeout:
- Navigate to Google Takeout, Google’s data export tool.
- Deselect all data types, then scroll down to select “Mail.”
- Click on “All Mail data included,” deselect all labels, and select only the “Unread_Senders” label you created.
- Proceed to create the export. Once the export is ready, download the file, which will be in MBOX format.
Extract Sender Email Addresses:

#python

from typing import Set, Optional, Generator
import mailbox
import email.utils
import re
from email.header import decode_header
import logging
from pathlib import Path
import chardet
from email.errors import HeaderParseError
logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
def decode_text(text: bytes, suggested_encoding: Optional[str] = None) -> str:
"""
Decode bytes to string, attempting multiple encodings.
Args:
text: Bytes to decode
suggested_encoding: Optional encoding to try first
Returns:
Decoded string
"""
encodings = [suggested_encoding] if suggested_encoding else []
encodings.extend(['utf-8', 'iso-8859-1', 'ascii'])
for encoding in encodings:
try:
if encoding:
return text.decode(encoding)
except (UnicodeDecodeError, LookupError):
continue
# Last resort: detect encoding
detected = chardet.detect(text)
try:
return text.decode(detected['encoding'] or 'ascii', errors='replace')
except (UnicodeDecodeError, LookupError):
return text.decode('ascii', errors='replace')
def validate_email(email: str) -> bool:
"""
Validate email address format.
Args:
email: Email address to validate
Returns:
True if valid, False otherwise
"""
pattern = r'^[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}$'
return bool(re.match(pattern, email))
def extract_email_streaming(mbox_path: Path) -> Generator[str, None, None]:
"""
Memory-efficient streaming extraction of sender emails.
Args:
mbox_path: Path to MBOX file
Yields:
Extracted email addresses
"""
try:
mbox = mailbox.mbox(str(mbox_path))
for message in mbox:
try:
from_header = message.get('From')
if not from_header:
continue
# Decode header
decoded_parts = decode_header(from_header)
sender_str = ''
for part, encoding in decoded_parts:
if isinstance(part, bytes):
sender_str += decode_text(part, encoding)
else:
sender_str += str(part)
# Extract email
match = re.search(r'<([^>]+)>', sender_str)
email = match.group(1) if match else re.search(r'[\w\.-]+@[\w\.-]+', sender_str).group(0)
if email and validate_email(email):
yield email.lower()
except (HeaderParseError, AttributeError) as e:
logger.warning(f"Error processing message: {e}")
continue
except Exception as e:
logger.error(f"Error processing MBOX file: {e}")
raise
def extract_sender_emails_batch(
mbox_path: Path,
batch_size: int = 1000
) -> Generator[Set[str], None, None]:
"""
Extract sender emails in batches to manage memory usage.
Args:
mbox_path: Path to MBOX file
batch_size: Number of messages to process per batch
Yields:
Sets of unique email addresses
"""
current_batch: Set[str] = set()
processed = 0
for email in extract_email_streaming(mbox_path):
current_batch.add(email)
processed += 1
if processed % batch_size == 0:
yield current_batch
current_batch = set()
if current_batch:
yield current_batch
# Usage example with error handling and progress tracking
def process_mbox_file(mbox_path: str, output_path: str) -> None:
"""
Process MBOX file and save unique sender emails.
Args:
mbox_path: Path to input MBOX file
output_path: Path to output file
"""
mbox_path = Path(mbox_path)
output_path = Path(output_path)
if not mbox_path.exists():
raise FileNotFoundError(f"MBOX file not found: {mbox_path}")
try:
unique_emails: Set[str] = set()
total_processed = 0
logger.info("Starting MBOX processing...")
for batch in extract_sender_emails_batch(mbox_path):
unique_emails.update(batch)
total_processed += len(batch)
logger.info(f"Processed {total_processed} messages...")
logger.info(f"Writing {len(unique_emails)} unique emails to {output_path}")
with output_path.open('w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
for email in sorted(unique_emails):
f.write(f"{email}\n")
logger.info("Processing completed successfully")
except Exception as e:
logger.error(f"Error processing MBOX file: {e}")
raise
if __name__ == "__main__":
import argparse
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Extract sender emails from MBOX file")
parser.add_argument("mbox_path", help="Path to MBOX file")
parser.add_argument("output_path", help="Path to output file")
args = parser.parse_args()
process_mbox_file(args.mbox_path, args.output_path)

a. Create the Script File:

Open a text editor (e.g., Notepad, VS Code) and paste the above script.
Save the file with a .py extension, such as extract_senders.py.

b. Customize the Script:

Replace 'C:\path\to\your\emails.mbox' with the actual path to your MBOX file.
Ensure the path uses raw string notation (r'path') or double backslashes to avoid escape character issues.

c. Execute the Script:

Open Command Prompt:
- Press Win + R, type cmd, and press Enter.
Navigate to the script’s directory:
cd C:\path\to\your\script
Run the script:
python extract_senders.py
Output: A file named senders.txt containing all unique sender email addresses.

#powershell

$mboxPath = 'C:\path\to\your\mboxfile.mbox'
$outputPath = 'C:\path\to\your\senders_powershell.txt'
try {
# Read the MBOX file
$mbox = Get-Content $mboxPath
# Initialize an array to hold sender emails
$senderEmails = @()
foreach ($line in $mbox) {
if ($line -like "From: *") {
# Extract email using regex
if ($line -match '<([\w\.-]+@[\w\.-]+)>') {
$senderEmails += $matches[1]
}
elseif ($line -match '([\w\.-]+@[\w\.-]+)') {
$senderEmails += $matches[1]
}
}
}
# Remove duplicates and sort
$uniqueSenders = $senderEmails | Sort-Object -Unique
# Output to file
$uniqueSenders | Out-File -FilePath $outputPath -Encoding utf8
Write-Host "Sender email addresses have been saved to $outputPath"
}
catch {
Write-Host "An error occurred: $_"
}

Steps to Run the Script:

a. Create the Script File:

Open Notepad or another text editor and paste the above script.
Save the file with a .ps1 extension, e.g., extract_senders.ps1.

b. Customize the Script:

Replace 'C:\path\to\your\mboxfile.mbox' with the path to your MBOX file.
Ensure the output path is correctly specified.

c. Execute the Script:

Open PowerShell with administrative privileges.
Navigate to the script’s directory:
cd C:\path\to\your\script
Run the script:
.\extract_senders.ps1

URL: https://ib.bsb.br/list-senders