Installing with Python

To install mailbagit using Python, you just need Python version 3.7 or higher with pip.

If you’re installing Python on Windows, during the install make sure to select the option to “Add Python to PATH”.

Pip should come installed with Python on Windows. On Mac or Linux, you should already have Python installed, but you may have to run python3 -m ensurepip if you don’t already have pip.

When you have Python >3.7 and pip, to install mailbagit, just run:

pip install mailbagit

Working with PST files

Packaging mailbags from PST files requires additional dependencies, notably libpff-python. To install these, in addition to pip install mailbagit, you need to run:

pip install 'mailbagit[pst]'

Working with PST files on Windows

Building libpff-python on Windows requires Visual Studio C++ Build Tools. Without this you will get an error. To rectify this:

  1. Install Visual Studio 2022 (Community Edition works fine.)
  2. Using the Visual Studio installer, in the Workloads tab make sure to check at least “Desktop development with C++” the VS 2019 C++ x64/x86 build tools, and Windows 10/11 SDK in the Installation details optional settings on the right side.

Screenshot of checking the correct options using the Visual Studio Installer.

Once the VS 2019/2022 C++ x64/x86 build tools and the Windows 10/11 SDK are installed, you can exit the Visual Studio installer. You won’t need to use it directly to run mailbagit, it is just required to install the PST dependencies.

You can now try installing the PST dependencies with:

pip install 'mailbagit[pst]'

Common Windows troubleshooting

Once you’ve installed the C++ Build tools, environment issues can still cause building libpff-python on Windows to fail. Here are some common issues.

  1. fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'windows.h': No such file or directory

Check if you have a Windows.h file in C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Include\10.0.*\um\Windows.h. If this file is present, this can be fixed by adding these paths in Powershell:

$env:INCLUDE = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Include\10.0.26100.0\um;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Include\10.0.26100.0\shared;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Include\10.0.26100.0\ucrt;$env:INCLUDE"
$env:LIB = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Lib\10.0.26100.0\um\x64;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Lib\10.0.26100.0\ucrt\x64;$env:LIB"

Then retry:

pip install mailbagit[pst]
  1. fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'ctype.h': No such file or directory

Check if you have a ctype.h file in C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Include\10.0.26100.0\ucrt\ctype.h. If this file is present, this can be fixed by adding this path in Powershell:

$env:INCLUDE = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Include\10.0.26100.0\ucrt;$env:INCLUDE"

Then retry:

pip install mailbagit[pst]
  1. LINK : fatal error LNK1158: cannot run 'rc.exe'

Check if you have a rc.exe file in C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.26100.0\x64\rc.exe. If this file is present, this can be fixed by adding this path in Powershell:

$env:PATH = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.26100.0\x64;$env:PATH"

Then retry:

pip install mailbagit[pst]

If you still have trouble installing the PST dependencies on Windows, try using the Docker install or Windows executables.

Using the Mailbagit Graphical User Interface (GUI)

To install the mailbagit GUI, in addition to pip install mailbagit, you need to run:

pip install 'mailbagit[gui]'

If it is installed correctly, the GUI will run using the mailbagit-gui command.

Mailbagit GUI on Windows

There is a known issue where the GUI does not run with the mailbagit-gui command on Windows. It will boot and lets you enter options but then fails to run when you click “start.”

Instead, try creating a file called mailbagit-gui.py with the contents:

from mailbagit import gui
gui()

You should then be able to run the GUI with python3 mailbagit-gui.py.

Mailbagit GUI on Ubuntu

The GUI dependency wxPython does not install well on some environments, including Ubuntu. If pip install mailbagit[gui] fails, you may want to try a specific version for your distro.

For example, on Ubuntu 20.04, this seems to work well.

pip install -U -f https://extras.wxpython.org/wxPython4/extras/linux/gtk3/ubuntu-20.04 wxPython

After wxPython is installed, try running pip install mailbagit[gui] again.