How to define a moving pattern in outlook message file

[joesparty]

Hi Community,

I’m struggling to find a way to capture messages in an outlook message file, .eml.  In the attached workflow I’m able to flag some fields; Date, Subject, From, and To.  Where it gets tricky is that the message part is different based on if there is an attachment and encoding, so far I’ve identified 3 in my population:

1. Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
2. Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
3. Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64

Based on these types the message will be in different locations such as:

1. Example 1
   • Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
   • MIME-Version: 1.0
   •  
   • Approved
2. Example 2
   • Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
   • MIME-Version: 1.0
   •  
   • Regarding our hope for a dashboard- Are you able to get the AD =
   • listing? I haven't heard back on the OT listing but I think is =
   • reaching out on that one.
3. Example 3
   • MIME-Version: 1.0
   •  
   • ----_NmP-90e4a698bc387d49-Part_1
   • Content-Type: text/plain
   • Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
   •  
   • can you guess which folder
   •  
   • ----_NmP-90e4a698bc387d49-Part_1
   • Content-Type: image/png; name=981a50e7-ae12-4c29-a86c-55c837336631.PNG
   • Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
   • Content-Disposition: attachment;
   •  filename=981a50e7-ae12-4c29-a86c-55c837336631.PNG

My goal is to create a batch macro to extract the following fields of the messages; Date, Subject, From, To, Message, and Attachment name (if found).

Can you help figure out how to capture that moving target ‘Message’ field?  In the zip file, rename the files with a .eml extension.

[joesparty]

Another approach I attempted was to summarize and combine to 1 line.  I tried text to columns with ‘:’, but that still makes it hard to find the message.  Same issue with RegEx, the order of fields changes.

How could I dynamically extract records after Date: in the file when it could be on line 6-12?

Any and all suggestions welcomed! 

[ddiesel · Accepted solution]

Hi @joesparty 

This is a fun one!

I don't think a macro is required in this case. Please try the attached workflow, and let us know if it works for you.

This should be a dynamic solution as long as each field name is identified in Text Input (14). I expect the logic may need some small modifications once you test it on a larger set of non-dummy data. 

Let us know if this helps!

Thanks,
Deb

[joesparty]

Wow @ddiesel ! Such a better approach then the path I was going down.  There is so much for me to learn from your example, thank you!  I was able to test your workflow using 600 messages and using the browse tool the message column looks clean!

[ddiesel]

@joesparty, Happy to help!