Forwarding Messages using Java Mail

This Example shows you how to forward a message using javamail api. there is no method to forward a mail from one user to another user. if u want forward a message to another user firstly get all header field and get message content then send its for another user.


We can forward the received mail to someone else as we send emails. There are many javamail classes that are used to forward the messages to the destination resource.

For better understanding of this example, learn the steps of sending email using JavaMail API first.
For receiving or sending the email using JavaMail API, you need to load the two jar files:

• mail.jar
• activation.jar

Create Java Class

Create a java class file ForwardEmail, the contents of which are as follows:

import java.util.*;  
import javax.mail.*;  
import javax.mail.internet.*;  
 
public class ForwardMail {
 public static void main(String[] args) {
  Properties props = new Properties();
  props.put("mail.smtp.host", "smtp.gmail.com");
  props.put("mail.smtp.socketFactory.port", "465");
  props.put("mail.smtp.socketFactory.class","javax.net.ssl.SSLSocketFactory");
  props.put("mail.smtp.auth", "true");
  props.put("mail.smtp.port", "465");
  final String username="dineshonjava@gmail.com";
  final String password="******";
  Session session = Session.getDefaultInstance(props,
   new javax.mail.Authenticator() {
    protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication() {
     return new PasswordAuthentication(username,password);
    }
   });
  try {
  //Message message = new MimeMessage(session);
  //message.setFrom(new InternetAddress("dineshonjava@gmail.com"));
  //message.setRecipients(Message.RecipientType.TO,InternetAddress.parse("admin@dineshonjava.com"));
  // Get a Store object and connect to the current host   
  Store store = session.getStore("imaps");  
  store.connect("imap.gmail.com","dineshonjava@gmail.com", password);  
  
  //Create a Folder object and open the folder  
  Folder folder = store.getFolder("inbox");  
  folder.open(Folder.READ_ONLY);  
     Message message = folder.getMessage(1);  
    // Get all the information from the message  
    String from = InternetAddress.toString(message.getFrom());  
    if (from != null) {  
   System.out.println("From: " + from);  
    }  
    String replyTo = InternetAddress.toString(message.getReplyTo());  
    if (replyTo != null) {  
   System.out.println("Reply-to: " + replyTo);  
    }  
    String to = InternetAddress.toString(message.getRecipients(Message.RecipientType.TO));  
    if (to != null) {  
   System.out.println("To: " + to);  
    }  
    
    String subject = message.getSubject();  
   if (subject != null) {  
  System.out.println("Subject: " + subject);  
   }  
   Date sent = message.getSentDate();  
   if (sent != null) {  
  System.out.println("Sent: " + sent);  
   }  
   System.out.println(message.getContent());  
   
   // compose the message to forward  
   Message message2 = new MimeMessage(session);  
   message2.setSubject("Fwd: " + message.getSubject());  
   message2.setFrom(new InternetAddress(from));  
   message2.addRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO, new InternetAddress(to));  
   
   // Create your new message part  
   BodyPart messageBodyPart = new MimeBodyPart();  
   messageBodyPart.setText("Oiginal message:\n\n");  
   
   // Create a multi-part to combine the parts  
   Multipart multipart = new MimeMultipart();  
   multipart.addBodyPart(messageBodyPart);  
   
   // Create and fill part for the forwarded content  
   messageBodyPart = new MimeBodyPart();  
   messageBodyPart.setDataHandler(message.getDataHandler());  
   
   // Add part to multi part  
   multipart.addBodyPart(messageBodyPart);  
   
   // Associate multi-part with message  
   message2.setContent(multipart);  
   
   // Send message  
   Transport.send(message2);  
   
   System.out.println("message forwarded ....");  
   } catch (Exception e) {
   throw new RuntimeException(e);
  }
 }
}

Compile and Run

Now that our class is ready, let us compile the above class. I've saved the class ForwardEmail.java

We would need the jars javax.mail.jar and activation.jar in the classpath. Execute the command below to compile the class


Verify Output

You should see the following message on the command console:

From: Gmail Team <mail-noreply@google.com>
Reply-to: Gmail Team <mail-noreply@google.com>
To: Dinesh Rajput <dineshonjava@gmail.com>
Subject: Get Gmail on your mobile phone
Sent: Sun Apr 15 21:31:38 IST 2012
javax.mail.internet.MimeMultipart@1719d5b
message forwarded ....