📎 Email attachment saver

“Save every email attachment (invoices, PDFs, screenshots) into neat folders automatically.”

Download everything (.zip)n8n workflow Python script README

Free, no sign-up. MIT licence. Python standard library only, so there's nothing to pip install.

What it does

Scans your inbox over IMAP for emails with attachments and saves them as month/sender/filename. Filter by file type and sender, and duplicates are skipped by hash. Point it at a Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive synced folder and they end up in the cloud.

What you need

Python 3.9+ (no extra packages) or self-hosted n8n
IMAP access to your mailbox (app password for Gmail/Outlook)
Optional: a cloud-synced folder on your computer

5-minute setup

Python

Install Python 3.9+ and unzip the download.
Try it with no accounts: python3 attachment_saver.py --eml-dir sample_emails --dry-run
Copy .env.example to .env and fill it in.
Run: set -a; . ./.env; set +a; python3 attachment_saver.py (Windows steps in the README).

n8n (no code)

Workflows, then Import from file, then attachment-saver.n8n.json.
Follow the yellow “Read me” note (credentials or webhook).
Test workflow, then switch it to Active.

Run it on a schedule

Every hour with cron:

0 * * * * cd /path/to/attachment-saver && set -a && . ./.env && set +a && python3 attachment_saver.py >> run.log 2>&1

On Windows use Task Scheduler. With n8n, the Schedule node does it for you.

Settings

Variable	What it does
`IMAP_HOST / IMAP_USER / IMAP_PASSWORD`	Your mailbox
`SAVE_DIR`	Where to save, default ./saved_attachments
`EXTENSIONS`	Default pdf,png,jpg,jpeg,docx,xlsx,csv,zip
`FROM_CONTAINS`	Optional sender filter, e.g. invoice,billing@,amazon
`DAYS`	How far back to look, default 7

What we tested

Ran on the included sample emails: PDF and PNG saved into month/sender folders, the .exe skipped, a resent duplicate invoice skipped.
A second run saved nothing (hash index works).
Fake IMAP test: read-only folder, BODY.PEEK fetch, sender filter.
n8n workflow imported into a real n8n install. We didn't run it, because it needs your mailbox.

Honest limits

Not tested against a real mailbox (needs your login).
It never deletes or moves emails. That's on purpose.
The n8n version writes to disk, so it needs self-hosted n8n. On n8n Cloud, swap the last node for a Google Drive or Dropbox upload.

Want one built for your task?

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