I do have all my emails exported to a folder with ".eml" format.
I want rename all those files based on "date received" and "sender's email address" info within the EML file. How can I do this?
example: "20171206-123254 - example@domainname.com -.eml"
--
Kindest Regards,
Paulo Guedes
Wednesday, 6 of December, 2017 - 22h:24m [+0000]
MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS High Sierra (10.13.1)
One final version before I stop fretting at this. If a sender sends you more than one message at exactly the same time (it happened to me with JustGiving), this adds a 2-digit random number to the end of the file name. Plus better handling of no "Mon..." in the date. Plus better use of text item delimiters:
set the_files to (choose fileof type"eml"with prompt"Choose the emails you want to rename:"withmultiple selections allowed)
repeat with each_file in the_files
set the_path to quoted form of POSIX path of each_file
set the_sender to (do shell script "grep ^\"From: \" " & the_path)
set the_date to (do shell script "grep ^\"Date: \" " & the_path)
setAppleScript'stext item delimitersto {"From:"}
set the_sender to text item 2 of the_sender as string
setAppleScript'stext item delimitersto {"Date: ", "("}
set date_string to text item 2 of the_date
try
set ndformat to (do shell script"date -j -f '%a, %d %b %Y %X %z' " & quoted formof date_string & " +'%Y%m%d - %H%M%S'")
onerror
try
set ndformat to (do shell script"date -j -f '%d %b %Y %X %z' " & quoted formof date_string & " +'%Y%m%d - %H%M%S'")
endtry
endtry
set file_name to ndformat & " " & the_sender & ".eml"
tellapplication"Finder"
activate
try
set name of each_file to file_name
on error number errnum
if errnum = -48then-- identical sender, time & date to a previously processed message results in an identical file name
set the_rand to random number from 10 to 99
set file_name to ndformat & " " & the_sender & the_rand & ".eml"
set name of each_file to file_name
endif
endtry
endtell
endrepeat
Hello VikingOSX
Thank You so much. Anyway:
- If I understood your solution, I do not need to change the way I view the file.
- I do need to rename the file from the actual name to this pattern "<date received><sender's email>.eml". Both "date received" and "sender's email" are inside the EML file and thats why I need an applescript to extract that information and rename the file it self.
--
Kindest Regards,
Paulo
Thursday, 7 of December, 2017 - 10h:56m [+0000]
PS: EML is a file extension for an e-mail message saved to a file in the MIME RFC 822.
Hello HD
I do not understand Apple Script nor EML structure but the EML file by default is opened by Apple Mail. It is just a taught, how if you tell Apple Mail to open the file and then grab info from there and then close the file and rename it? It might be stupid but it was an idea I get from something I saw and dont understand if even make any sense.
--
Kindest Regards,
Paulo
Friday, 8 of December, 2017 - 09h:03m [+0000]
(*
tell application "Mail"
--activate
set ListMessage to selection -- take all emails selected
repeat with aMessage in ListMessage -- loop through each message
tell aMessage
set messageFrom to sender
set messageSender to extract address from messageFrom
set messageToNameList to to recipients's name
set messageToAddressList to to recipients's address
set messageCCNameList to cc recipients's name
set messageCCAddressList to cc recipients's address
set messageBCCNameList to bcc recipients's name
set messageBCCAddressList to bcc recipients's address
set messageDateR to (date received) as rich text
set messageDateS to (date sent) as rich text
set messageSubject to subject
set messageID to message id as rich text
set mID to id as rich text
set messageSource to source
set messageAllHeaders to all headers as rich text
set messageReplyTo to reply to
set theText to content of aMessage as rich text
set the_source to source of aMessage as rich text
set thesize to message size of aMessage as rich text
end tell
*)
That's the error I get if there is a line break in the Return-path: section of the header. I'll take another look but it won't be immediate. Also looking at VikingOSX's much more elegant date solution. Will report back...
Hello VikingOSX
I tried your script and it works for some EML and don't works for other EMLs. Looks like Date and Time are not always in the same format.
--
Kindest Regards,
Paulo
Sunday, 10 of December, 2017 - 10h:55m [+0000]
I found some dates in the emails I tested did not include a day of the week abbreviation. I handled that (sort of) with
try
set ndformat to (do shell script "date -j -f '%a, %d %b %Y %X %z' " & quoted form of date_string & " +'[%Y%m%d-%H%M%S]'")
on error
try
set ndformat to (do shell script "date -j -f '%d %b %Y %X %z' " & quoted form of date_string & " +'[%Y%m%d-%H%M%S]'")
end try
end try
Replace the line where I capture the date, with HD's solution that provides an alternate error handling to also capture when the day of the week field is missing. Then try the script again. See my note to HD, as my testing data did not encounter a Date field without the day of week.
What if you open the EML with the Apple Mail and get all the info from there close the file and rename it? Apple Mail should make a fully parse of the EML files and avoid all this "grep".
--
Kindest Regards,
Paulo
Sunday, 10 of December, 2017 - 18h:07m [+0000]
1- You are right. I do have all my archive in the EML format. It was just a thought. In fact I do archive my emails in both formats - the EML and the mbox format - just in case.
2 - I did not modify anything because I do not have knowledge for that. I even don't know which is the Version 3.
--
Kindest Regards,
Paulo
Sunday, 10 of December, 2017 - 22h:03m [+0000]
Hello VikingOSX
I tried your script and got an error here in attached plus the file name doesn't have the sender. Please see the example "[20170209-235959][-0800][].eml".
--
Kindest Regards,
Paulo
Tuesday, 12 of December, 2017 - 09h:58m [+0000]
And here is the guard code to surround the Finder renaming so it won't attempt to rename .eml files already renamed. I tested this code, and it works.
tell application "Finder"
if not (exists item ((emlFolder as text) & newfilename)) = true then
set anItem'sname to newfilename
end if
end tell
Hello VikingOSX
Thank You.
I am not trying to rename a file that already exists. The problem is since your script does not put the sender "[20170209-235959][-0800][].eml", very easily an email with same Date&Time appears and the script breaks with that error.
--
Kindest Regards,
Paulo
Tuesday, 12 of December, 2017 - 13h:58m [+0000]
I copied and pasted the posted version 6 AppleScript source from this site — back into Script Editor on macOS 10.13.2. It worked fine with my multiple test files, and without a hint of Finder issues.
As we are running the same version of macOS (assuming you upgraded from 10.3.1 to 10.3.2), AppleScript, Perl, and UNIX date — and I have no issues at all with the code, or results, this suggests either an operational issue on your end, or some martian formatting in your .eml files that I can't possibly code for all possible cases.
I can no longer continue to divert further time from other demands to this solution.
A second EDIT:
I have found that some .eml files include a line break after "Return-path:" and before the name of the sender. That still needs some work...
Hello
I created an Apple Script and run but the result is the on you can see in the attached screen shot.
--
Kindest Regards,
Paulo
Friday, 8 of December, 2017 - 08h:47m [+0000]
Understood - I have found 100-character return paths, but as far as I can see, none contain such characters. As you suggest, they might do, but I wonder if such characters are illegal in email addresses...
My script as it stands can't cope with "folded" return-path lines, which are read from an .eml file (by AppleScript or a Bash shell) as two lines:
"Return-path:
<3nCsdWggTCT8op-sfqmzbddpvout.hpphmf.dpnivhiejyponbd.dpn@gaia.bounces.google.com>
I could parse this with AppleScript's rather clunky text editing tools, but it seems to put
grep -i "Return-path: "
out of reach.
H
Apple script to rename EML files
