IMAP - Microsoft .NET Library for C#

Sujan Christo 1

Hi Team,

Would like to know whether there is any Managed Microsoft .NET Library for IMAP for integrating the mail management features into a C# Windows Forms Application.

When check on the web, could find articles noting that Microsoft one is NOT available and recommending to use 3rd party libraries.

We would like to go with Microsoft Libraries and so, any pointers on the implementation methodology would be greatly appreciated.

Looking forward for your thoughts!

Many thanks,

WIth Warm Regards,
Sujan

2 answers

Michael Taylor 48,576 Reputation points

2021-06-09T13:58:40.067+00:00

MS does not provide any IMAP support libraries. You'll have to use a third party library as was recommended. You're already using third party libraries anyway so whether it comes directly from MS or not shouldn't matter. A quick search on Nuget for IMAP reveals over 100 packages related to it. Scan the more popular ones and find one that fits your needs and budget.
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Sujan Christo 1 Reputation point

2021-06-09T19:25:27.76+00:00

Thanks for the reply Michael Taylor!

We do have some constraint of NOT using 3rd party libraries.

If you have pointers from msdn or docs, kindly share so that we can take it further...

Thanks a lot for your time and sharing the thoughts!

Many thanks,

WIth Warm Regards,
Sujan

Daniel Zhang-MSFT 9,616 Reputation points

2021-06-11T08:46:10.477+00:00

Hi SujanChristo-7103,
As cooldadtx said, there is no .NET framework support for IMAP. You'll need to use some third party component.
The following link can also explain it.
.Net and IMAP
Microsoft IMAP Library
Is there any Native Support for IMAP in .NET Framework in latest updates?
[using c# .net libraries to check for IMAP messages from gmail servers closed
Best Regards,
Daniel Zhang

Sujan Christo 1 Reputation point

2021-06-11T11:04:44.98+00:00

Hi Daniel Zhang,

Thanks for the additional pointers / thoughts.

I would like to whether there is any later updates which does have the IMAP support and now it is clear that it is not there.

Thanks again for your time,

WIth Warm Regards,
Sujan

Jeffrey Stedfast 1 Reputation point

2021-06-28T02:53:15.327+00:00

Hi SujanChristo-7103,

I am the author of MimeKit and MailKit which will likely meet your needs.

These are the Open Source libraries that are recommended in the docs at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.net.mail.smtpclient?view=net-5.0

These are my side-projects, but I keep them well-maintained and they are VERY widely used.

You can find them on NuGet.org:

https://www.nuget.org/packages/MimeKit/ and https://www.nuget.org/packages/MailKit/

Maybe some day I'll be able to convince Microsoft to let me implement IMAP support in their core .NET libraries... we'll see ;-)
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David 146 Reputation points

2021-09-15T07:00:16.907+00:00

Anyone who's allowed to use or interested in the 3rd party IMAP library could try Spire.Email (available on NuGet).

It offers easy interfaces for developer to receive, send and manipulate emails on any .NET platform via IMAP, SMTP, or SMTP protocols.

Here is one code example: Send Email with HTML Body in C#, VB.NET
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