Email Importer

An Obsidian plugin that imports emails from an IMAP mailbox into your vault as Markdown notes. Unread emails are fetched, converted to Markdown with YAML frontmatter, and saved alongside their attachments.

Features

• Connect to any IMAP server (SSL/TLS or STARTTLS)
• Import unread emails as Markdown notes with YAML frontmatter
• Convert HTML emails to Markdown (tables, headings, lists preserved)
• Save attachments and inline images locally, linked in the note
• Automatic sync on a configurable interval
• Manual sync via ribbon icon or command palette
• Duplicate filename handling with automatic numbering
• Status bar progress indicator during sync

Installation

Manual Installation

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release.
2. Create a folder in your vault: <YourVault>/.obsidian/plugins/obsidian-mail-importer/
3. Copy the three files into that folder.
4. Restart Obsidian or reload plugins.
5. Go to Settings → Community plugins, find "Email Importer", and enable it.

Configuration

Open Settings → Community plugins → Email Importer to configure the plugin.

IMAP Connection

Setting	Description	Default
Host	IMAP server hostname	(empty)
Port	IMAP server port	993
Security	SSL/TLS (port 993) or STARTTLS (port 143)	SSL/TLS
Username	Your email account username	(empty)
Password	Your email account password	(empty)

Mailbox

Setting	Description	Default
Folder	IMAP folder to monitor	INBOX

Import

Setting	Description	Default
Vault folder	Folder in your vault where emails are saved	Emails
Interval	Auto-sync interval in minutes (0 = manual only)	0

Use the Test connection button to verify your IMAP settings. Use Sync now to trigger an immediate import.

Usage

Manual Sync

• Click the mail icon in the ribbon (left sidebar), or
• Open the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd + P) and run Email Importer: Sync now

Automatic Sync

Set the sync interval to a value greater than 0 in the plugin settings. The plugin will check for new emails at that interval (in minutes).

What Happens During Sync

1. The plugin connects to your IMAP server.
2. All unread emails in the configured mailbox are fetched.
3. Each email is converted to a Markdown file with YAML frontmatter.
4. Attachments and inline images are saved to a subfolder.
5. Successfully imported emails are marked as read on the server.
6. The connection is closed.

If an email fails to import, it remains unread and will be retried on the next sync.

File Format

Each imported email is saved as a Markdown file with the following structure:

Filename

YYYY-MM-DD HH-mm <Subject>.md

Special characters in the subject (/ \ : * ? " < > |) are replaced with -. If a file with the same name already exists, a counter is appended: (2), (3), etc.

Frontmatter

---
date: 2025-05-10T09:15:00+02:00
from: sender@example.com
to: recipient@example.com
cc: ""
subject: Invoice May 2025
messageId: <abc123@mail.example.com>
attachments:
  - invoice.pdf
  - logo.png
---

Body

The HTML body is converted to Markdown. Inline images are embedded as ![filename](path). File attachments are listed at the end as Obsidian wiki-links: [[path]].

Attachments

Attachments are stored in:

<ImportFolder>/attachments/<email-filename>/

Security Notice

⚠️ Password is stored in plaintext. Your IMAP password is saved unencrypted in Obsidian's data.json file within the plugin folder. This is a known limitation. Take appropriate precautions:

• Use an app-specific password if your email provider supports it.
• Be aware that anyone with access to your vault files can read the password.
• Do not sync the .obsidian/plugins/obsidian-mail-importer/data.json file to untrusted locations.

The plugin disables IMAP client logging to prevent credentials from appearing in console output.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
Connection timeout	Verify host/port are correct. The plugin has a fixed 30-second timeout. Check firewall settings.
No emails imported	Ensure there are unread emails in the configured mailbox folder.
Plugin not loading	Confirm main.js and manifest.json are in the plugin folder. Restart Obsidian.
Sync button does nothing	A sync may already be in progress. Wait for it to complete.
Garbled text	The plugin handles standard MIME encodings. Severely malformed emails may not parse correctly.

Requirements

• Obsidian Desktop (v1.0.0+)
• This plugin is desktop only — it requires Node.js APIs for IMAP connections.

License

0-BSD