Microsoft Outlook allows users to quickly respond to email messages with emojis like 👍, ❤️, and 😂 — a convenient alternative to sending a full reply. If you’re developing a Python-based email processing application and wish to capture these interactions programmatically, Aspose.Email for Python via .NET offers a simple solution. In this article, you’ll learn how to extract Outlook reactions from .msg files using the powerful Python API.
The image below illustrates how to add a reaction in Outlook:
Why Capture Outlook Emoji Responses?
Emoji responses can be useful for a variety of applications:
Email engagement tracking – Measure how recipients are interacting with messages.
Internal automation – Launch specific workflows based on user input.
Customer feedback analysis – Measure approval or disapproval through emojis like 👍 and 👎.
Compliance and archiving – Log user interactions for future reference.
Prerequisites
To get started, make sure you have:
Python 3.5 or later installed
Aspose.Email for Python via .NET installed via pip:
pip install aspose-email-for-python-via-net
Load a MSG File and Extract Reactions
Aspose.Email provides the FollowUpManager class to access metadata, including reactions, from Outlook .msg files. The following code sample demonsrates how to load a .msg file with a message and extract emoji tags associated with that message using this class:
- Load the MSG file into a MailMessage object.
- Use FollowUpManager to access user feedback data.
- Check whether any entries are present.
- Iterate through each one and print the user and emoji type.
- If no entries are found, display a message indicating that.
About the FollowUpManager Class
The FollowUpManager class in Aspose.Email is designed to extract extended Outlook features, including:
Reactions – As shown above
Voting Buttons – Retrieve configured voting options
Categories – Identify color-coded tags
Follow-Up Flags – Check if a message has been flagged for follow-up
These features are especially useful when working with MSG files exported from enterprise Outlook environments.
Understanding the Reaction Data Structure
The FollowUpManager.get_reactions method in Aspose.Email for Python via .NET returns a list of objects representing individual user input - responses to the message. Each object includes important metadata such as the user’s display name and the type of reaction they submitted.
Here’s a breakdown of the typical properties available in each reaction object:
The UserReaction.type property indicates the specific emoji tag chosen by the user. This is usually returned as a string identifier, such as:
“like” – 👍
“love” – ❤️
“laugh” – 😂
“surprised” – 😮
“sad” – 😢
“angry” – 😠
The actual visual emoji is not returned, but the identifier string allows you to map it easily in your application UI or reports. You can also define a custom emoji lookup dictionary, for example:
Other Useful Properties
In addition to UserReaction.type, the reaction object may include:
UserReaction.name– The sender of the response.UserReaction.reaction_date_time– When the interaction occurred.
This metadata allows you to analyze patterns such as:
Who is responding to your messages
What type of feedback you’re receiving most
When reactions are being made (e.g., shortly after sending vs. much later)
By understanding these technical details, you can build more advanced features such as reaction filtering, real-time alerts, sentiment tracking, or visual dashboards that display user engagement over time.
The image below illustrates an example of a message with the reaction and its details. These include who replied to the message, the date and time.
Handling Edge Cases
When building robust automation scripts, always check for None or an empty list when retrieving user input. Also, note that emoji tagging is available only in newer versions of Outlook (e.g., Outlook 365). Older .msg files may not include this metadata.
Use Cases in Python Applications
Here are some ways Python developers might use this feature:
Monitor team sentiment across internal communication.
Automate alerts when a specific emoji is used on a critical email (e.g., 🛑).
Export metadata from MSG files for analytics or auditing purposes.
Conclusion
You learned how to extract Outlook reactions from MSG files programmatically using an advanced Python library. Aspose.Email allows you to access valuable user interaction data embedded in modern Outlook messages and incorporate this feature into your Python-based applications for insights, automation, or compliance workflows.
For further assistance, we provide free resources, including comprehensive documentation, API reference, and support forums, to help you implement these features effectively.