Filtering emails by date using the Get Exchange Mail Messages

[A_K]

Issue Summary

I am experiencing an issue with filtering emails by date using the Get Exchange Mail Messages activity in UiPath. Specifically, I want to retrieve emails from a specific day only. However, the filtering does not seem to work as expected, and emails from different dates are being retrieved.

Problem Description

I am using the following filter to retrieve emails from a specific day:

"received:" + DateTime.Today.AddDays(-5).ToString("yyyy-MM-dd")

For example, if today’s date is August 12, 2024, the filter should retrieve emails from August 7, 2024. However, emails from August 9, 2024, are being retrieved instead. This suggests that the filter is not correctly limiting the emails to those received on the specified date.

Previous Working Approach

In a previous implementation using the Get Outlook Mail Messages activity, I successfully used the following filter, which worked as expected:

"[ReceivedTime] >= '" + DateTime.Today.AddDays(-IntDniStart).ToString("d") + " 00:00AM' AND [ReceivedTime] < '"+ DateTime.Today.AddDays(-IntDniEnd).ToString("d") + " 00:00AM'"

This filter correctly retrieved emails within the specified date range when used with the Outlook activity.

Tested Solutions

1. Simple Date Filter (Initial Approach)

   • Filter Used:

     "received:" + DateTime.Today.AddDays(-5).ToString("yyyy-MM-dd")
     

   • Result: Emails from outside the specified date (e.g., emails from August 9, 2024) are being retrieved. This filter does not seem to work correctly, possibly due to incorrect interpretation of the date range or timezone issues.

2. Exact Date and Time Range Filter

   • Filter Used:

     "received>= " + DateTime.Today.AddDays(-5).ToString("yyyy-MM-ddT00:00:00Z") + " AND received< " + DateTime.Today.AddDays(-4).ToString("yyyy-MM-ddT00:00:00Z")
     

   • Result: Even with a more precise time range, the issue persists. Emails from unintended dates are still being retrieved. This suggests that the server might be interpreting the filter differently, possibly due to time zone differences or incorrect date handling.

3. Consideration of Timezone Differences

   • Adjustments Tested:
     • Tried shifting the filter range to account for possible timezone differences between the server and local time.
     • Used UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) format to eliminate timezone discrepancies.
   • Result: Despite these adjustments, the problem persists, and the filter does not limit the emails to the exact date range specified.

Request for Support

Given the tests conducted and the continued issues with incorrect email retrieval, it appears there might be an underlying issue with how the Get Exchange Mail Messages activity or the server interprets date filters. This is especially perplexing because a similar filter worked perfectly in the Get Outlook Mail Messages activity. I need assistance in diagnosing and resolving this problem to ensure that emails are correctly filtered by the specified date.

[ashokkarale]

@A_K,

Can you try filtering the emails after retrieving the emails. Refer this.

Get Exchange Mail Message Date Filter

Hi @atarantino welcome to forum you can try different ways for to get filtering the mails. The method is selected based on amount of emails u need to process etc example is , if you had to check through 100 of emails to filter out the mails with today’s received date, then using a if condition would take certain time to filter out. [image] while @Divyanshu_Divyanshu method is quick way, it quickly helps to filter the mails quickly too.

Thanks,
Ashok

[A_K]

Thank you very much for your answer, unfortunately this solution is not optimal when dealing with a large number of emails

[A_K]

** My Solution**

The issue was resolved by changing the date format to dd.MM.yyyy:

vb

Skopiuj kod

"received:" + DateTime.Today.AddDays(-5).ToString("dd.MM.yyyy")

By using this date format, the filter correctly retrieved emails from the specific date (e.g., August 7, 2024) without including emails from other dates.

Conclusion

Changing the date format to dd.MM.yyyy resolved the filtering issue. This format allowed the Get Exchange Mail Messages activity to correctly interpret and filter emails based on the specified date.