# Email Source

The *Email Source* object in Astera enables users to retrieve data from emails and process the incoming email attachments.

### Getting Email Source Object

In this section, we will cover how to get the *Email Source* object onto the dataflow designer from the *Toolbox*.

1. To get an *Email Source* object from the Toolbox, go to *Toolbox > Sources > Email Source.* If you are unable to see the Toolbox, go to *View > Toolbox* or press **Ctrl + Alt + X**.

![](/files/HnsZ6QxB953JPLxzYJfI)

2. Drag and drop the *Email Source* object onto the designer.

![](/files/7U7fFABMXoMpgQlqAPko)

You can see some built-in fields and an *Attachments* node.

### Configuring the Email Source Object

1. Double-click on the header of the *Email source* object to go to the *Properties* window.

![](/files/hx8kgfWBbmB4lYivkbzZ)

A configuration window for the *Email Source* object will open. The *Email Connection* window is where you will specify the connection details.

![](/files/zO5qDGdyPjwswNHYgvXN)

2. If you have configured email settings before, you can access the configured settings from the drop-down list next to the *Recent* option. Otherwise, provide server settings for the mailing platform that you want to use. In this case, we are using an Outlook server.

![](/files/jpp18bdebTgy9J8Db3gK)

3. Test your connection by clicking on *Test Connection*, this will give you the option to send a test mail to the login email.

![](/files/uv8NwVdMvTbEfe0zpuKG)

4. Click *Next*. This is the *Email Source Properties* window. There are two important parts in this window:
   * Download attachment options.
   * Email reading options.

![](/files/PuCSsj558K4M4wOxPc0i)

5. Check the *Download Attachments* option if you want to download the contents of your email. Specify the directory where you want to save the email attachments, in the provided field next to *Directory*.

![](/files/HCl8wsg5rc68nIcSX5ok)

6. The second part of the *Email Source Properties* window has email reading options that you can work with to configure various settings.
   * *Read Unread Only* – Check this option if you only want to process unread emails.
   * *Mark Email as Read* – Check this option if you want to mark processed emails as read.
   * *Folder* – From the drop-down list next to *Folder,* you can select the specific folder to check, for example, *Inbox*, *Outbox*, *Sent* *Items,* etc.

![](/files/7oIbnBatMWJV6iqdCvfj)

* *Filters* - You can apply various filters to only process specific emails in the folder.
  * *From Filter:* Filters out emails based on the sender’s email address
  * *Subject Filter*: Filters out emails based on the text of the subject line
  * *Body Filter*: Filters out emails based on the body text

![](/files/iZWmJlghi1lFpXet2VEJ)

Click *OK*.

7. Right-click on the *Email Source* object’s header and select *Preview Output* from the context menu.

![](/files/u63hdpFQjWvar4Q9ymAw)

A *Data Preview* window will open and will show you the preview of the extracted data.

![](/files/K1Tij67ESKBKJxRYpxVj)

Notice that the output only contains emails from the email address specified in the *Filter* section.


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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
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```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.
