IMPORTANT: No additional bug fixes or documentation updates will be released for this version. For the latest information, see the current release documentation.

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Imap input plugin

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Imap input plugin

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Plugin version: v3.2.1
Released on: 2023-10-03
Changelog

For other versions, see the Versioned plugin docs.

Getting help

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For questions about the plugin, open a topic in the Discuss forums. For bugs or feature requests, open an issue in Github. For the list of Elastic supported plugins, please consult the Elastic Support Matrix.

Description

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Read mails from IMAP server

Periodically scan an IMAP folder (INBOX by default) and move any read messages to the trash.

Compatibility with the Elastic Common Schema (ECS)

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The plugin includes sensible defaults that change based on ECS compatibility mode. When ECS compatibility is disabled, mail headers and attachments are targeted at the root level. When targeting an ECS version, headers and attachments target @metadata sub-fields unless configured otherwise in order to avoid conflict with ECS fields. See headers_target, and attachments_target.

Imap Input Configuration Options

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This plugin supports the following configuration options plus the Common options described later.

Setting	Input type	Required
`attachments_target`	string	No
`check_interval`	number	No
`content_type`	string	No
`delete`	boolean	No
`ecs_compatibility`	string	No
`expunge`	boolean	No
`fetch_count`	number	No
`folder`	string	No
`headers_target`	string	No
`host`	string	Yes
`lowercase_headers`	boolean	No
`password`	password	Yes
`port`	number	No
`save_attachments`	boolean	No
`secure`	boolean	No
`sincedb_path`	string	No
`strip_attachments`	boolean	No
`uid_tracking`	boolean	No
`user`	string	Yes
`verify_cert`	boolean	No

Also see Common options for a list of options supported by all input plugins.

`attachments_target`

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Value type is string
Default value depends on whether ecs_compatibility is enabled:
- ECS Compatibility disabled: "[attachments]"
- ECS Compatibility enabled: `"[@metadata][input][imap][attachments]"

The name of the field under which mail attachments information will be added, if save_attachments is set.

`check_interval`

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Value type is number
Default value is 300

`content_type`

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Value type is string
Default value is "text/plain"

For multipart messages, use the first part that has this content-type as the event message.

`delete`

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Value type is boolean
Default value is false

`ecs_compatibility`

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Value type is string
Supported values are:
- disabled: does not use ECS-compatible field names (for example, From header field is added to the event)
- v1, v8: avoids field names that might conflict with Elastic Common Schema (for example, the From header is added as metadata)
Default value depends on which version of Logstash is running:
- When Logstash provides a pipeline.ecs_compatibility setting, its value is used as the default
- Otherwise, the default value is disabled.

Controls this plugin’s compatibility with the Elastic Common Schema (ECS). The value of this setting affects the default value of headers_target and attachments_target.

`expunge`

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Value type is boolean
Default value is false

`fetch_count`

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Value type is number
Default value is 50

`folder`

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Value type is string
Default value is "INBOX"

`headers_target`

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Value type is string
Default value depends on whether ecs_compatibility is enabled:
- ECS Compatibility disabled: no default value (for example, the subject header is stored under the "subject" name)
- ECS Compatibility enabled: "[@metadata][input][imap][headers]"

The name of the field under which mail headers will be added.

Setting headers_target => '' skips headers processing and no header is added to the event. Except the date header, if present, which is always used as the event’s @timestamp.

`host`

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This is a required setting.
Value type is string
There is no default value for this setting.

`lowercase_headers`

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Value type is boolean
Default value is true

`password`

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This is a required setting.
Value type is password
There is no default value for this setting.

`port`

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Value type is number
There is no default value for this setting.

`save_attachments`

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Value type is boolean
Default value is false

When set to true the content of attachments will be included in the attachments.data field.

`secure`

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Value type is boolean
Default value is true

`sincedb_path`

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Value type is string
There is no default value for this setting.

Path of the sincedb database file (keeps track of the UID of the last processed mail) that will be written to disk. The default will write sincedb file to <path.data>/plugins/inputs/imap directory. NOTE: it must be a file path and not a directory path.

`strip_attachments`

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Value type is boolean
Default value is false

`uid_tracking`

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Value type is boolean
Default value is false

When the IMAP input plugin connects to the mailbox for the first time and the UID of the last processed mail is not yet known, the unread mails are first downloaded and the UID of the last processed mail is saved. From this point on, if uid_tracking is set to true, all new mail will be downloaded regardless of whether they are marked as read or unread. This allows users or other services to use the mailbox simultaneously with the IMAP input plugin. UID of the last processed mail is always saved regardles of the uid_tracking value, so you can switch its value as needed. In transition from the previous IMAP input plugin version, first process at least one mail with uid_tracking set to false to save the UID of the last processed mail and then switch uid_tracking to true.

`user`

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This is a required setting.
Value type is string
There is no default value for this setting.

`verify_cert`

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Value type is boolean
Default value is true

Common options

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These configuration options are supported by all input plugins:

Setting	Input type	Required
`add_field`	hash	No
`codec`	codec	No
`enable_metric`	boolean	No
`id`	string	No
`tags`	array	No
`type`	string	No

`add_field`

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Value type is hash
Default value is {}

Add a field to an event

`codec`

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Value type is codec
Default value is "plain"

The codec used for input data. Input codecs are a convenient method for decoding your data before it enters the input, without needing a separate filter in your Logstash pipeline.

`enable_metric`

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Value type is boolean
Default value is true

Disable or enable metric logging for this specific plugin instance by default we record all the metrics we can, but you can disable metrics collection for a specific plugin.

`id`

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Value type is string
There is no default value for this setting.

Add a unique ID to the plugin configuration. If no ID is specified, Logstash will generate one. It is strongly recommended to set this ID in your configuration. This is particularly useful when you have two or more plugins of the same type, for example, if you have 2 imap inputs. Adding a named ID in this case will help in monitoring Logstash when using the monitoring APIs.

input {
  imap {
    id => "my_plugin_id"
  }
}

Variable substitution in the id field only supports environment variables and does not support the use of values from the secret store.

`tags`

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Value type is array
There is no default value for this setting.

Add any number of arbitrary tags to your event.

This can help with processing later.

`type`

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Value type is string
There is no default value for this setting.

Add a type field to all events handled by this input.

Types are used mainly for filter activation.

The type is stored as part of the event itself, so you can also use the type to search for it in Kibana.

If you try to set a type on an event that already has one (for example when you send an event from a shipper to an indexer) then a new input will not override the existing type. A type set at the shipper stays with that event for its life even when sent to another Logstash server.

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