One can do this. The following shows what I've found...
Individual Apple Mail emails reside in a directory, typically something like the following:
/Users/UserName/Library/Mail/POP-myEmail@isp.com@pop.secureserver.net/INBOX.mbox/Messages
as ".emix" files readable by any text editor.
".emix" files have a sequential numbering by mails received by one's Apple Mail itself rather than the particular mailbox, something like:
18373.emix
18376.emix
18378.emix
The ".emix" files have clearly marked identifiers of their content. An abridged ".emix" file follows::
Received: (somemailprovider ...); 16 Jul 2012 00:04:00 -0000
Received: from unknown ...; 16 Jul 2012 00:04:00 -0000
X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: AuEPABVXA1DR...
Received: from ....isp.com ...; 15 Jul 2012 17:03:59 -0700
Received: by qcsg1 ...; Sun, 15 Jul 2012 17:03:59 -0700 (PDT)
DKIM-Signature: ...
Received: ...; Sun, 15 Jul 2012 17:03:59 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path: <myEmail@isp.com>
Received: from iMac-6.local ....
Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2012 20:03:54 -0400 (EDT)
From: myFromEmail@isp.com
To: myToEmail@isp.com
Message-ID: <50035a6e.02d0e00a.1fef.....com>
Subject: TEST
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;boundary="----=_Part_0_1792110529.1342397034510"
X-Nonspam: None
------=_Part_0_...
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
------=_Part_0_...
Content-Type: image/gif; name=0001.gif
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: inline; filename=0001.gif
So, given all of this one needs to:
- Identify which email one wants to read (I can use date and a specific email directory) ;
- Import the text of the email into Mathematica;
- Parse the required information using the appropriate identifiers in the ".emix" file.
A little cumbersome, but workable.
Best Answer
Yes it is possible to get access to a user's e-mails. This assumes the e-mails are stored on a server and the user gives you access. This will be the case for those using IMAP based e-mail accounts and for those using GMail.
You will not easily be able to access e-mails uniquely stored within Mail.app's stores. See How can I access emails in Apple Mail programmatically?