It's a simple API meant to easily generate Microsoft Outlook message files (.msg). This library is based on Apache POI and is a 100% Java implementation.
Here the compatibility map of this API:
| Version | JDK | Package |
|---|---|---|
| <= 1.9 | JDK 8 and upwards | javax |
| >= 2.0 | JDK 11 and upwards | jakarta |
| >= 3.0 | JDK 21 and upwards | jakarta |
Simply add the jotlmsg.jar and its dependencies to your classpath.
If you're using maven, then simply add the following dependency:
<dependency>
<groupId>ch.astorm</groupId>
<artifactId>jotlmsg</artifactId>
<version>3.0.1</version>
</dependency>Create a new message:
OutlookMessage message = new OutlookMessage();
message.setSubject("Hello");
//plain text body or html body
message.setPlainTextBody("This is a plain text body.");
message.setHtmlBody("<html><body><p>This is an html body with <strong>bold</strong> and <i>italic</i> styles.</p></body></html>");
//creates a new Outlook Message file
message.writeTo(new File("myMessage.msg"));
//creates a javax.mail MimeMessage
MimeMessage mimeMessage = message.toMimeMessage();Read an existing message:
OutlookMessage message = new OutlookMessage(new File("aMessage.msg"));
System.out.println(message.getSubject());
System.out.println(message.getPlainTextBody());Managing recipients:
OutlookMessage message = new OutlookMessage();
message.addRecipient(Type.TO, "[email protected]");
message.addRecipient(Type.TO, "[email protected]", "Bill");
message.addRecipient(Type.CC, "[email protected]", "Steve");
message.addRecipient(Type.BCC, "[email protected]");
List<OutlookMessageRecipient> toRecipients = message.getRecipients(Type.TO);
List<OutlookMessageRecipient> ccRecipients = message.getRecipients(Type.CC);
List<OutlookMessageRecipient> bccRecipients = message.getRecipients(Type.BCC);
List<OutlookMessageRecipient> allRecipients = message.getAllRecipients();Managing optional replyto recipients:
OutlookMessage message = new OutlookMessage();
message.setReplyTo(List.of("[email protected]", "[email protected]"));
List<String> replyToRecipients = message.getReplyTo();Managing attachments:
OutlookMessage message = new OutlookMessage();
message.addAttachment("aFile.txt", "text/plain", new FileInputStream("data.txt")); //will be stored in memory
message.addAttachment("aDocument.pdf", "application/pdf", new FileInputStream("file.pdf")); //will be stored in memory
message.addAttachment("hugeFile.zip", "application/zip", a -> new FileInputStream("data.zip")); //piped to output stream
List<OutlookMessageAttachment> attachments = message.getAttachments();The APIs allow to generate a message with embedded picture inside an HTML body that
will then be editable directly in Outlook. The inlined attachment can be referenced
by using the cid: prefix in a tag.
//generate a unique content id to be referenced
String contentId = UUID.randomUUID().toString();
OutlookMessage message = new OutlookMessage();
message.setSubject("My HTML message");
message.setFrom("[email protected]");
message.addRecipient(Type.TO, "[email protected]", "Cédric");
//optional alternative plain text message that can be shown if HTML is not displayed
message.setPlainTextBody("Alternative plain text message");
//defines the htmlbody with injected content id reference
String htmlBody = """
<html>
<body>
<div>
Inline attached smiley:
<img src="cid:%s" alt="Smiley">
</div>
</body>
</html>
""";
message.setHtmlBody(String.format(htmlBody, contentId));
//adds the inlined attachment with the referenced content id
OutlookMessageAttachment inlineAttachment = new OutlookMessageAttachment("Face-smile.png", "image/png", a -> OutlookMessageMIMETest.class.getResourceAsStream("Face-smile.png"));
inlineAttachment.setContentId(contentId);
message.addAttachment(inlineAttachment);Note: The inlined attachements are not shown as "real" attachment in Outlook. It's an alternative to external URLs that might be prevented to be loaded by the mail client of the final recipient.
The current implementation allows to create simple msg files with many recipients (up to 2048) and attachments (up to 2048). However, there is no current support of Microsoft Outlook advanced features like appointments or calendar integration, nor embedded messages.
This project is completely developed during my spare time.
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