Email is an essential tool for businesses today and is a primary means of communication that enables businesses to connect with their customers, vendors, partners, and employees. But managing and processing large volumes of emails can be tedious and time-consuming.
Using MuleSoft RPA to streamline email operations
This is where RPA solutions can help. MuleSoft RPA provides the right set of tools to simplify operations. We’ll show you this in action by downloading the attachment from an incoming email and sending an outgoing email confirming the receipt of the attachment.
Mail Session
RPA Builder provides Action Steps for sending, receiving, and setting the state of an email. Mail Session is an inclusive element of all mail operations. With the Mail Session Action step, you can configure the connection to a mail server. The configuration wizard provides different operation modes including Read and Send mails, Read mails from inbox, and Send mails via SMTP.
With the Read and Send mail option, it is possible to set up the Mail Session to allow sending and receiving emails. Incoming emails can be set up using IMAP, Exchange, or POP3 configuration. It is important to make sure you choose the right protocol and follow the configuration instructions for the corresponding mail server. For instance, check out the documentation on the differences between POP3 and IMAP for Gmail clients.
Outgoing emails can be configured using the SMTP server address and port. The Mail session also provides the ability to test the connection to make sure emails can be sent and received. For our example, since we will be sending and receiving an email, we have configured this option.
Alternatively, if the requirement for the application is only to Send/Receive emails, you can choose the corresponding options from the Operation Mode on the wizard.
Mail Session (Outlook with OAuth)
RPA Builder also supports an Action Step to connect to an email server using MS Outlook and perform email operations.
The OAuth authentication section enables you to create a set of tokens that don’t rely on a user password to authenticate with the email server. Check out the Microsoft documentation on how to authenticate an IMAP, POP, or SMTP connection using OAuth. The OAuth credentials can be passed in line in the Mail Session as above or can be created ahead of time to be used in the Mail Session. The Credentials for OAuth Action Step under the Variable Handling section provides the ability to create a credential to be used later by the Mail Session.
Read Email
With the Read Mail Action step, you can read emails from a mailbox. You can easily restrict the results using the filter function, which simplifies the search. It’s also possible to define the maximum number of emails that need to be read. The Read Mail Action step makes the entire content of an email available to you as individual outbound variables.
With the Save attachments option, it’s possible to download the email contents and specify where it needs to be stored.
Set Mail
With the Set Mail Action step, you can change an email’s status, i.e. mark it either as read or unread or move it to a different folder. Note that this feature is not available with the POP3 configuration.
This step is only made available within the Read Mail action step.
Send Mail
With the Send Mail Action step, you can send an email with the SMTP protocol. Attachments can also be added to the outgoing mail.
Use case in action
When the email is received with the subject “Test Email,” the attachment is downloaded, and a confirmation message is sent to the recipient. Check out the end-to-end flow in action in this demo.
Summing it up
Email plays a pivotal role in enabling businesses to communicate and collaborate in a fast, efficient, and cost-effective way. By automating email operations, organizations can enhance their operational efficiency and reduce costs.
MuleSoft RPA offers the ideal set of tools to automate these operations, providing a valuable solution for businesses of all sizes to streamline their email processes and optimize their operations.
Want to learn more and ask questions? Visit our RPA Trailhead forum where you can engage in conversations with other RPA enthusiasts, stay up-to-date on the latest developments, and gain insights into best practices for using MuleSoft RPA.
