C# import/export data to Mailclient

Question

I am currently working on a program to export/import data from other mail clients to outlook. So far it seems I have two options available.

1. I learn how to write to a pst file so I can easily import the necessary data.
2. I create a different, self-made connection.

I am not asking which one I should use but rather on some advice because so far while planning I ran across a few things with each method that might turn out to be too much of problem.

1. So far I couldn't find an existing library that allows writing to a .pst file. I am lucky to finally have found a library that allows reading the pst file that is open source.

2. I haven't found a way yet to programmatically create a new mail item in the inbox. I have been able to create a new email that can be sent but no email yet that is "incoming".

Answer 1

have you looked into outlook interop? depending on how your application will function it is a great way to interact with outlook at a high level, you can easily create mailItems, calendar, memos etc.

Answer 2

My recommendation would be to create a temporary IMAP account on whatever IMAP server you like best (whether that be GMail, Yahoo!Mail, some other free IMAP account, or a local Exchange/Dovecot/etc server).

Then, once you've got that setup, export mail from Mail Client X to the IMAP server and then add the temporary IMAP account to Outlook and copy them all into your Outlook folders.