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https://github.com/anicholson/obsidian-google-mail

Fetch emails to Obsidian (as markdown) from Gmail server
https://github.com/anicholson/obsidian-google-mail

gmail gmail-api obsidian pkm

Last synced: 4 months ago
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Fetch emails to Obsidian (as markdown) from Gmail server

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README 

        
# Obsidian Google Mail



This plugin saves emails on Gmail as markdown notes. Use this plugin [safely](#security-issue) so you won't mess up your gmail account.



## Application Scenarios



1. Automatically save subsribed newsletter and takes note on it.

2. You can email ideas to yourself and let the plugin collect them into vault.



https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/29173832/199773312-3f501499-64aa-419b-b4fe-c6303b9e53fd.mov



## Installation - I



__Already have a credential__ : If you're using google api in other [plugins](#thanks) you can simplely enable the Gmail api for that project, then you can reuse the credential.



__Create your own credential, it's free__ :  Goto https://console.cloud.google.com/ to create the credential. 



- The detail steps with video can be found [here](get-cred.md)



## Installation - II



1. Install this plugin manually or through BRAT

    - Add https://github.com/thingnotok/obsidian-google-mail

2. Enable the plugin, and click option (or open the seting panel of this plugin)

3. Click `Setup` button and Paste content from credential.json ([from installation I](#installation---i))

4. A web window should show up and ask you to login google with email access permission.

5. The plugin will automatically query available labels in your Gmail account. Select the from/to labels to fetch.



	- From: Label to fetch from Gmail. 

	- To: Fetched mail will be added with this label

	

6. Assign a Folder to store all the collected email notes. (Default is "fetchedMail")



    - The plugin will create a folder if not exists.

    - A newsletter folder to use with [DB Folder](https://github.com/RafaelGB/obsidian-db-folder) would be useful to organize your mail notes.

	

7. Click the ribbon button on left side to fetch all the emails with that label. 



## Setup in Gmail



__Labels__:

This plugin use label to decide which mail to fetch. So you need to use Gmail to assign the {From} label to those mails you want to fetch. The {From} label will be removed from the fetched mails, and {To} label will be added. These two labels should be mutually exclusive. I suggest to create a new label for {To}. 



__Filters__:

- You can add {From} label to mails manually when you review you inbox.

- Or You can also setup filters to add the labels automatically.

  - Check the [tutorial here](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6579?hl=en#zippy=%2Ccreate-a-filter%2Cedit-or-delete-filters).

  - Add the newletters so you can take notes on them

  - Add the mails you send to yourself, so you can achieve "email to obsidian".

  

## Template



Check [Template](Template.md) to learn how to setup a note template for email notes.



# Security Issue



__Background__: 

Currently, the plugin will keep a `.token.json` file containing all the information required to access gmail account, so you don't have login everytime. But it also means that anyone with the file can do whatever he/she wants to your emails. In addition to the others, all plugins you use have access to this file, too.



This is actually a common issue for plugins trying to integrate other services. There are [discussions](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/a-place-for-plugins-sensitive-data/18308) about how to safely keep these security files. But it's not gonna easy for a pure local application.



__What to do?__ For now, please don't use this plugin in public computers or shared vaults. Make sure no one can access the token file. 



__Another approach__ is that if you use this plugin for "newsletters" and "send to obsidian", then you can create a separate gmail account for them so those important business letters won't be afftected.



# Other details



- The mails are converted to markdown format. Some emails may seem weird. 

  - Thanks to the contrubuters of [Turndown](https://github.com/mixmark-io/turndown).

  - I will add support to save email in plaintext format. Plaintext is suited for note-taking and avoid most of weidly large images in the note.



# Thanks



- The plugin originates from [u/egauthier64](https://www.reddit.com/r/ObsidianMD/comments/yjiq4f/comment/iuqr10u/?context=3)'s email-to-obsidian idea but is an approach based on Gmail server. 

- Thanks to [YukiGasai](https://github.com/YukiGasai/obsidian-google-tasks/commits?author=YukiGasai) for his great work on Google series plugins for obsidian. Please check his awesome plugins here, they are extremely useful with google suite and obsidian:

	- [obsidian-google-calendar](https://github.com/YukiGasai/obsidian-google-calendar): View the google calender and add/delete events from obsidian.

	- [obsidian-google-task](https://github.com/YukiGasai/obsidian-google-tasks): Allow you to see and manipulate google tasks from obsidian.

- Thanks to [@thingnotok](https://github.com/thingnotok) for their great work on this plugin and maintenance.