Removing Email Headers

When importing email into askSam, askSam imports the email message (text of the email), email header information, and (optionally) attachments.

The Email Header contains information that askSam places into fields. By default, askSam imports the fields To, From, Subject, Date, Message_Id, In_Reply_To, MailBox, Cc, Bcc - when they are available.

The askSam Email Wizard has a setting that lets you choose whether or not you want to import "Full Header" information. The Full Header includes more obscure information such as X-Return-

Path, X-Mailer, Received, and much more.  The header information varies from message to message.

At times it's useful to have the header information (you can use it as fields to search, sort, and create reports from your messages).  Other times, the header information can be a distraction. For example, if you are creating a knowledgebase from email newsletters or list serve messages.  In these cases, you may want to remove some or all of the header information.

askSam user Scott McEwan sent us a report / template he uses to strip out unwanted header information from his email messages.  In his report, he:

1.     He outputs just the fields he wants included in the database.  

2.     He exports this information to a text file (delimited with the character string $@%).

3.     He then reimports it into a new askSam database.  

This report outputs To, Cc, From, Date, Subject, and the Email message text (not the Message-ID, MailBox, or other fields), but it's flexible. You can choose to remove some of the fields from the report... for example, removing To, Cc,  and From.

Scott's Report for Removing Email Headers

You can either use this file as a template (you'll need to delete the sample email messages if you do) and import your email into it... or you can open the report and copy/paste it into your current database containing email.

You can download a copy of Scott's Database with the Report from:

http://www.asksam.com/four/surf44/template.asp