Integrating POP3 client functionality into a C# application?

Question

I have a web application that requires a server based component to periodically access POP3 email boxes and retrieve emails. The service then needs to process the emails whi

Answer 1

I made my own Mime parser and added it to CodePlex because I kept running into unhandled exceptions with the other ones when it came to strange encodings og weird combinations of attachments. The pop3 client implementation is crude, just made for testing purposes, but handles that ok. The Mime parser part populates the standard MailMessage object, so that you can easily forward it at it is. I can expand/improve it on request, but for now it does the job ok for my needs. Feel free to check it out.

http://www.codeplex.com/mimeParser

Answer 2

Lumisoft is open-source and includes a POP client (among other stuff). It's been around for many years, very stable.

Answer 3

You may want to include Mail.dll .NET mail component in your ranking. It has SSL support, Unicode, and multi-national email support:

using(Pop3 pop3 = new Pop3())
{
    pop3.Connect("mail.host.com");      // Connect to server
    pop3.Login("user", "password");     // Login

    foreach(string uid in pop3.GetAll())
    {
        IMail email = new MailBuilder()
   .CreateFromEml(pop3.GetMessageByUID(uid));

        Console.WriteLine(email.Subject);
    }
    pop3.Close(true);  
}

IMAP protocol is also supported.

Please note that this is a commercial product I've created.

You can download it here: http://www.lesnikowski.com/mail

Answer 4

I am one of the main developers of OpenPop.NET. I just fell over this review, and had to come with some comments regarding the current state of OpenPop.NET as the review seems outdated with the development.

OpenPop.NET is back into active development. SSL has been introduced a half year back. The project had a major refactoring and is now much more stable and easy to use. When I took over the project it had a lot of bugs in it, and as of now I currently know none. A lot of extra features have been implemented, mainly in the MIME parser part. The project is backed by unit tests, and each time a bug is found, a unit test is created to show this bug before fixing it. An accompanying website with examples now exists. There has also been other updates, but I do not want to mention them all.

Also, OpenPop.NET's license has been changed from LGPL to Public Domain (aka, no restrictions). This I think is a major improvement for commercial users.

Answer 5

I did an implementation of OpenPop for a project recently, and was happy with it. It does what it says on the tin. (and it's free.)

Answer 6

C# Mail is available on Codeplex and is pretty easy to use.