Download message attachments to local disk

Downloads message attachments to a folder. Use download_message_attachments with WITH(Search='...', SaveFolder='...', OverwriteFile='...'). Files are saved as {SaveFolder}\{message_id}_{attachment_filename}.

Standard SQL query example

This is the base query accepted by the connector. To execute it in SQL Server, you have to pass it to the Data Gateway via a Linked Server. See how to accomplish this using the examples below.

SELECT * 
FROM download_message_attachments
WITH(
	  Search='subject:(daily report for July-2024)',
	  SaveFolder='c:\temp',
	  OverwriteFile='True'
	  )

Using OPENQUERY in SQL Server

SELECT * FROM OPENQUERY([LS_TO_GMAIL_IN_GATEWAY], 'SELECT * 
FROM download_message_attachments
WITH(
	  Search=''subject:(daily report for July-2024)'',
	  SaveFolder=''c:\temp'',
	  OverwriteFile=''True''
	  )')

Using EXEC in SQL Server (handling larger SQL text)

The major drawback of OPENQUERY is its inability to incorporate variables within SQL statements. This often leads to the use of cumbersome dynamic SQL (with numerous ticks and escape characters).

Fortunately, starting with SQL 2005 and onwards, you can utilize the EXEC (your_sql) AT [LS_TO_GMAIL_IN_GATEWAY] syntax.

DECLARE @MyQuery NVARCHAR(MAX) = 'SELECT * 
FROM download_message_attachments
WITH(
	  Search=''subject:(daily report for July-2024)'',
	  SaveFolder=''c:\temp'',
	  OverwriteFile=''True''
	  )'
EXEC (@MyQuery) AT [LS_TO_GMAIL_IN_GATEWAY]