.EML files stored outside of Mail.app

No, the files will remain where you placed them. They are normal files written to your harddrive. There is one big drawback though, and I have not yet discovered any solution: .eml-files will not be indexed by Spotlight. Whatever you search using Spotlight, all possible hits inside E-Mails will be ignored as soon as the E-Mails has been deleted from Mail.app and saved to the harddrive as an .eml-file instead.

norbertfromvienna wrote:

I have not yet discovered any solution: .eml-files will not be indexed by Spotlight.

.eml files are really plain text files. This

<http://www.levoltz.com/2009/09/08/macbook-terminal-command-to-improve-spotlight/>

tip shows how get them to be indexed (look for "If you have another file format that is really just a text file under the hood"). It's not for the faint-hearted, but it's not difficult either. Just remember always to save a backup before you edit any files.

Hi fane_j! That looks promising, I'll give it a go as soon as I have a minute! I've once found similar hints, but they only worked up to Leopard, not later OS X versions. Anyway, thank you very much! (I'd love to give you some points for this, but it's not my thread...).

Hi Steve, thx for the points! Still, if Spotlight could handle .eml files you could search the e-mail texts, too, not just the file names (which are indexed anyway). I'll post my results, when I'm done with the hint we got from fane_j.

Hi fane_j and VJH, i don't seem to have luck with this issue. The guidelines in the article you posted, fane_j, were more or less the same i previously tried. I think it's an OS version issue. Editing the RichText.mdimporter file as outlined does not produce the desired effect on my Mac. When I make a spotlight search now, some .eml files (not all that should) appear in the search results, but they are strangely greyed out, and when you double click them, they open up, but might or might not disappear from the list of search results afterwards. It's really strange and I hate to see such unstable things happening on my Macbook Pro.

Did you actually bring your system to index .eml files? If yes, what OS are you using?

Thanks for your input anyway,

Norbert

Norbert, sorry it doesn't work for you.

I don't use Spotlight much. I came across various tips while trying to find out why everybody thought SL was the best thing since sliced bread, while to me it appeared as -- to put it mildly -- a piece of rank bovine excrement.

When I need to search contents, which is not often, I use EasyFind. Although it's not as convenient and much slower (because it doesn't index), it searches exactly what I want, as I want it, and where I want, and I can rely on the results being real.

When I have some time, just for curiosity's sake, I'll check to see if the SL tip works on my Mac OS X v10.6.8. In the mean time, remember that Mail keeps messages in <~/Library/Mail> with the extension .emlx. The difference between .eml created by dragging from Mail and .emlx is primarily that that the latter has some XML-formatted text added at the end. So try to rename a bunch of .eml to .emlx and re-index. Does SL index them now? Does it search them?

I'm sorry, VJH, I sort of highjacked your thread, haven't I. One last message: Thanks fane_j, you don't seem to be very happy with SL. I myself feel ok with Lion meanwhile, and I never had big problems on SL either. Just small things like the one we discussed here (had it on SL and now on Lion, too). I think, it's even fun, trying to find solutions etc. Anyway, thanks again for your hints and ideas. BTW: .emlx is no option, as I need to keep the format open for users of different Windows systems as well. I tried and .emlx did not work on the PC where it would be needed most.

Best

Norbert

I would really like to do a finder search and have .eml files searched in the text. I found this which seems to say that it is possible:

http://ars-codia.raphaelbauer.com/2010/12/index-eml-files-using-spotlight-in-mac .html

I however, am NOT an expert with this kind of thing and am afraid to actually follow all those steps for fear of converting my MacBookPro into a MacPaperweight. Also, I am running LION (10.7.3), not Leopard. Any suggestions?

I have just completed my switch from Entourage to Mail and was very concerned about the ability to search .EML file contents outside of Mail. I found a couple of procedures; one is listed here. Both of them apparently will not work in Mavericks. So what to do?

I don't search these old files every day or even every month. So I settled on a technique that requires no hacking, and is very reliable but maybe not as elegant as some would like. I simply use A Better Finder Rename app to add ".TXT" after the ".EML" suffix for batches of files. This converts the files to plain text files as far as Spotlight is concerned. By the time I was done with gathering up and extracting all my .EML files from Entourage I had almost 20,000 files which I divided into folders names as they were in Entourage. After using ABFR app I then forced Spotlight to index them using the Terminal command:

mdimport /Users/[myusername]/Documents/Entourage\ Archive

Substitute your Users folder name and the folder that contains your files. You can also just wait awhile and maybe Spotlight will index the folder right away. Often, it does not do this and you can wait a whole day for it!

Searrching with Spotlight, when I find the file or files I need, then I can delete the ".TXT" suffix, leaving a ".EML" suffix. I can then drag it onto the Mail icon. It will be rendered as a normal email--you can reply to it, forward it, etc. but will not be brought into Mail's database. I have not found a way to drag one of these files into a particular Mail folder.

Usually I just need a bit of information from an old email so I don't bother with the re-conversion. Another option that is easier in some ways is to use the free EasyFind app. It will search file contents but does not rely on Spotlight to do so; nevertheless it is very fast. So you could keep your old Email library on an external drive that is not indexed by Spotlight. EasyFind also allows for Boolean searches and Unix wildcards.

Just seen it, yes :-)