IMAP4 Email Logger: Pull Mailbox Messages Into a Database and Attachments Into Folders, on a Schedule
IMAP4 Email Logger is a $100-a-year server application for Windows and Linux from DB Software Laboratory that checks any IMAP4 mailbox on a schedule, records each matching message in a database, and saves the message files and attachments to folders. It's for admins and developers who need what arrives by email to feed another process.
Think of the inbox that's really a data drop: suppliers email price lists, a bank sends statements, a legacy system mails its nightly CSV. Someone opens each one and saves the attachment by hand. This tool does the saving, filters out the noise, and keeps a log of what came in.
Quick facts
- Version: 3.0.0.0, installer dated September 10, 2026
- Developer: DB Software Laboratory (etl-tools.com), United Kingdom
- Platform: Windows 64-bit and Linux 64-bit (.deb); the vendor offers special builds for other systems on request
- Mail servers: any IMAP4 server, with or without TLS (port 993 in the vendor's example)
- Interface: a web browser, on port 3333 by default
- Repository: SQLite by default; PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle
- Price: $100 for a one-year single-computer licence. The order renews automatically
- Trial: 30 days, fully functional, no registration or credit card
- What we checked: the 50 MB imap4_logger_64.zip downloaded from the vendor on November 11, 2026 contains a setup file reporting version 3.0.0.0; $100.00 for the one-year licence on the order page, with auto-renewal switched on, on November 11, 2026. We read the manual and its screenshots but didn't connect it to a mailbox ourselves
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Before you buy
It signs in with a user name and password. The connection form has host, port, user name, password and a TLS switch, nothing else. A provider that only allows modern sign-in through an app registration won't accept that; some providers let you create a separate app password for IMAP instead. For Microsoft 365 mailboxes, the vendor sells Office 365 Email Logger, which connects the other way.
It logs and stores; it doesn't transform. Reading the attachment's contents into a database table is a job for an ETL tool. The vendor points to Advanced ETL Processor Enterprise for that, and a rule can start one of its packages.
The star rating isn't about this product. The 4.9 Capterra badge on the vendor's logger pages belongs to its shared review profile, where the reviews discuss Advanced ETL Processor. We found no independent reviews of IMAP4 Email Logger.
Overview
IMAP4 Email Logger is one of the vendor's eight Event Loggers, small server programs on its Deep Bin framework that each capture one kind of event into a repository database. You set up three things: servers (the mailbox connections), rules (what to download and what to do with it) and schedules (when each rule runs). Every run goes through an execution queue and leaves entries in the event log.
The vendor's data flow: a scheduler pulls mail from the IMAP4 server through an email filter into the repository database and the file system, for other software to process.
Features
IMAP4 Email Logger works with any IMAP4 server
IMAP4 Email Logger connects to a host and port with a user name and password, with TLS switched on or off, and shows a connection status on the form so you know straight away whether the details work. You can define as many connections as you need, one per mailbox, and switch each on or off.
IMAP4 Email Logger filters with regular expressions
Each IMAP4 Email Logger rule chooses whether to download unread messages or everything regardless of read status, then narrows it down with optional regular expressions on the sender, subject, recipient and attachment name. A rule for "invoices from one supplier with a PDF attached" is four switches and a pattern or two.
A rule's Filters tab: download regardless of read/unread, with optional regular expressions for sender, subject, recipient and attachment.
IMAP4 Email Logger saves messages and attachments
IMAP4 Email Logger can save each message to one folder and extract its attachments to another, optionally keeping only attachments whose names match a regular expression. After download it can mark the message as read, and you can cap how many messages a rule processes per run, which is handy while you test a rule against a busy mailbox.
The Actions tab: save messages to .\imap4\messages, extract attachments to .\imap4\attachments, mark as read once downloaded, and process at most one message.
IMAP4 Email Logger runs on daily or weekly schedules
An IMAP4 Email Logger schedule picks a rule, a start date and time, and a daily or weekly pattern (every N days, or chosen weekdays every N weeks), then repeats every few minutes within a time window, or all day, until an end date or forever. Five-minute checks around the clock take one form.
IMAP4 Email Logger hands each message to your processing
IMAP4 Email Logger's Execution tab can run JavaScript or a command line for each message. The script gets the log ID, connection, rule, mailbox, sender and recipient, so it can start an ETL package, call a Python script or update the logged record.
IMAP4 Email Logger opens one connection at a time
IMAP4 Email Logger puts every rule run in an execution queue and runs them one after another, so only one connection to the mail server is open at once. The vendor's reason: too many connections lead to timeouts and server overload. The queue grid shows each run's rule, status, host and times.
The message viewer: pick a connection, browse its mailboxes (INBOX, Trash, Junk Mail, Drafts, Sent) and search the messages, useful for checking a rule's patterns before you schedule it.
Benefits
- No more saving attachments by hand. Files land in the right folder within minutes of arriving.
- A record of what arrived. The database log answers "did the supplier send it?" without anyone searching an inbox.
- Works with the mail server you have. Any IMAP4 host, from a hosting company's mailbox to your own server.
- Fits next to ETL. Mail in, files out, and a script call to whatever loads them.
Real-World Uses
- Supplier price lists. A rule matches the supplier's address and ".xlsx" attachments, extracts them every 15 minutes and starts the import job.
- System-generated reports. A legacy application emails its nightly export; the logger saves the file and the ETL package picks it up before staff arrive.
- Order or form notifications. Messages with a fixed subject pattern are logged with their sender and recipient, and the script passes the log ID on for processing.
- A searchable archive of a shared mailbox. Save every message to disk and keep the log in SQL Server for reporting.
Who It's For, and Who Should Skip It
IMAP4 Email Logger fits an admin or integration developer at a small or mid-sized company with one or more mailboxes on a standard IMAP4 server, a server to run it on, and a recurring job of getting attachments out of email and into another system.
Skip it if your mail is on Microsoft 365 and password sign-in is blocked: Office 365 Email Logger is the vendor's tool for that. Skip it if you want rules inside one person's desktop mail client; the client's own filters are free. And if you need to parse the attachments into tables as well, you'll need an ETL tool alongside it, so compare the cost of the pair with an all-in-one tool.
Usage Guide
- Install it. On Windows, run the setup from the zip. On Linux, install the .deb package with apt and enable and start its service, as the installation page shows.
- Sign in at
http://localhost:3333 with the default account from the installation page, then change the password and the security key. - Add a server with the host, port, user name and password, switch on TLS, and check that the connection status says Success.
- Look at the mailbox in the message viewer to see real senders and subjects before you write patterns.
- Add a rule: what to download, the filters, the folders for messages and attachments, what to do once downloaded, and a message limit while you test.
- Add a schedule for the rule, then watch the execution queue and event log for the first runs.
- Add processing on the Execution tab once the files arrive where you expect.
Where it falls short
- Polling, not push. Messages are picked up when a schedule runs, so there's always a delay of up to one repeat interval.
- One queue for everything. Running rules one at a time protects the mail server, but many busy rules can back up behind each other.
- Short documentation. Most manual pages are screenshots with a sentence or two; the regular expression syntax and error handling aren't explained.
- Settings in a text file. Port, SSL and the repository database are changed in the .env file, followed by a service restart.
- SQLite is for small volumes. The vendor recommends another repository database for high-load systems.
Comparisons
IMAP4 Email Logger vs Office 365 Email Logger
Both cost $100 a year and share the same rules, schedules, queue and folders. The difference is the connection: IMAP4 Email Logger signs in to any IMAP4 server with a user name and password, while Office 365 Email Logger reads Microsoft 365 mailboxes through Microsoft Graph with an app registration (client ID, tenant ID and secret). Pick by where the mailbox lives.
IMAP4 Email Logger vs Advanced ETL Processor Enterprise
Advanced ETL Processor Enterprise can work with email as one step in larger scheduled data jobs. IMAP4 Email Logger does only the mailbox part, and logs it. If email is your only source and the attachments go to another tool anyway, the logger is the cheaper way in.
Editions and Pricing
| Licence | Price | Term | Covers |
|---|
| Single Computer Annual Licence | $100 | One year, renews automatically | One computer |
| Free trial | $0 | 30 days | All features, no registration |
FAQs
Can one IMAP4 Email Logger licence watch several mailboxes?
Yes. IMAP4 Email Logger lets you add as many server connections and rules as you need on the one computer the licence covers, each with its own schedule.
Will IMAP4 Email Logger delete my email?
Not in the vendor's examples. IMAP4 Email Logger's "Once Message is downloaded" setting is shown marking messages as read, and its filters can download read and unread messages alike, so the mailbox keeps its copies.
Can IMAP4 Email Logger read folders other than the inbox?
IMAP4 Email Logger's message viewer lists every mailbox folder on the server (INBOX, Sent, Junk Mail and so on), and the rule's script receives the mailbox name for each message. The manual doesn't show a folder setting on the rule form itself, so check this in the trial if you need rules on other folders.
Where does IMAP4 Email Logger store its data?
IMAP4 Email Logger keeps message details in its repository database, a SQLite file by default or PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server or Oracle, and writes the message files and attachments to the folders you set on each rule.
Does IMAP4 Email Logger run on Linux?
Yes. IMAP4 Email Logger has a 64-bit Debian package that runs as a system service, alongside the Windows 64-bit installer. The vendor offers builds for other systems on request.
Is IMAP4 Email Logger a one-time purchase?
No. IMAP4 Email Logger is sold only as a one-year licence at $100 that renews automatically each year unless you cancel it.
System Requirements
- Windows 64-bit, or 64-bit Linux that installs .deb packages
- About 50 MB for the installer
- An IMAP4 mailbox the server can reach, with user name and password sign-in
- A web browser for the admin interface
- Repository: the built-in SQLite file, or PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle
Conclusion
IMAP4 Email Logger is worth $100 a year if you have a standard IMAP4 mailbox that receives files for another system and you want them saved, logged and handed on automatically, without writing a mail client. The reason to buy it is how much of that job its rules, schedules and queue cover out of the box. The reason to hesitate is password-only sign-in, which some providers no longer allow, so connect it to your real mailbox during the 30-day trial before you pay.
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