Can we access GMAIL API using Service Account?

Question

I have a desktop application to read mail using GMAIL API over REST Interface. I want to use service account so that we can download the mails using domain setting and user interaction is null. I am successfully able to create Gmail Service instance but when I try to access any Gmail API method like fetching mail list or any other I get an exception saying

Google.Apis.Auth.OAuth2.Responses.TokenResponseException: Error:"access_denied", Description:"Requested client not authorized."

I am done with all the setting at developer console and added scopes to my gapps domain.

Does Gmail API support service account? Using the same setting and service account I am able to get list of all files in Google drive using Drive service and API.

Answer 1

I use the following C# code for accessing Gmail from Service Account

String serviceAccountEmail =
    "999999999-9nqenknknknpmdvif7onn2kvusnqct2c@developer.gserviceaccount.com";

var certificate = new X509Certificate2(
    AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory +
        "certs//fe433c710f4980a8cc3dda83e54cf7c3bb242a46-privatekey.p12",
    "notasecret",
    X509KeyStorageFlags.MachineKeySet | X509KeyStorageFlags.Exportable);

string userEmail = "[email protected]";

ServiceAccountCredential credential = new ServiceAccountCredential(
    new ServiceAccountCredential.Initializer(serviceAccountEmail)
    {
        User = userEmail,
        Scopes = new[] { "https://mail.google.com/" }
    }.FromCertificate(certificate)
);

if (credential.RequestAccessTokenAsync(CancellationToken.None).Result)
{   
    GmailService gs = new GmailService(
        new Google.Apis.Services.BaseClientService.Initializer()
        {
            ApplicationName = "iLink",
            HttpClientInitializer = credential
        }
    );

    UsersResource.MessagesResource.GetRequest gr =
        gs.Users.Messages.Get(userEmail, msgId);
    gr.Format = UsersResource.MessagesResource.GetRequest.FormatEnum.Raw;
    Message m = gr.Execute();

    if (gr.Format == UsersResource.MessagesResource.GetRequest.FormatEnum.Raw)
    {
        byte[] decodedByte = FromBase64ForUrlString(m.Raw);
        string base64Encoded = Convert.ToString(decodedByte);
        MailMessage msg = new MailMessage();
        msg.LoadMessage(decodedByte);
    }
}