Changing filename of *.eml files in finder

Hi there BrainsTrust,

I am filing MS Outlook mail into Finder by dragging the MS Outlook mail items into Finder. I then want to use Hazel to change the file name. I'd like the rename the file with pattern: date name extension...which I have figured out successfully

With the date pattern I'd like to use the date the mail was sent to me (data from MS Outlook) and this does not seem to be an option even if I look in the "Other" area and look at all the attributes.

Is there a way to do this? I have tried all date options to no avail. Any help will be appreciated.

Regards luponero :?:

You can try using "Contents contain match" and try to match it in the contents of the file. Try using Hazel's preview function to see if the file's contents are available there.

Thanks Mr Noodle...that worked.

As I am now trying to be more creative I am also trying to incorporate the email addresses (to and from) into the filename. I have tried every "other" attribute for renaming but nothing picks up the information I need.

Any tips from the brainstrust?

Thank in advance

Is it available to extract from the contents?

Mr_Noodle wrote:Is it available to extract from the contents?

Unfortunately I can't see any addresses from the contents. I am not sure why :?:

I have tried to use the "other" naming conventions to no avail. I just can' locate or extract an email address.

In that case you may need to use a script.

Mr_Noodle wrote:In that case you may need to use a script.

Thanks. I'll see what I can work out. Never tried a script but always happy to learn.

luponero wrote:
Mr_Noodle wrote:In that case you may need to use a script.

Thanks. I'll see what I can work out. Never tried a script but always happy to learn.

You can use the following AppleScript to capture the header information into their own variables, which you can then use in Hazel to name the file as you like:

Code: Select all: set pFile to quoted form of (POSIX path of theFile) set {mDate, mSubject, mFrom, mTo} to every paragraph of (do shell script "cat " & pFile & " | grep -e Date: -e Subject: -e From: -e To:")

In terms of the Sent/Received timestamp, you can either use Hazel's functionality to turn the mDate variable into timestamp format, or else you can do it with AppleScript:

Code: Select all: -- trim mDate beginning at char 12 to end of line set mDate to trim(mDate, 12) set mTime to trim(mDate, 13) set mFrom to trim(mFrom, 7) -- capture elements of mDate into components set {mDay, mMonth, mYear} to every word of mDate set theDate to mMonth & space & mDay & space & mYear --capture elements of mTime into components set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ":" set {h, m, s} to every word of mTime set theTime to h & m & s

Hi there,

Something similar here, I would like to drag and drop an email from Apple Mail to a folder, and have it automatically renamed according to the date received, to be able to sort them historically.

It doesn't work: the date added by hazel is always 0001-12-31

I tried with multiple emails, accounts, with both Apple Mail and Outlook

I don't know how to code, so could someone guide me on how to resolve the issue. It seems that hazel was designed to do it.

Thanks.

Have you checked the date received? Select the file in Finder and do Get Info. Do you see the Date Received in the More Info section?

Mr_Noodle wrote:Have you checked the date received? Select the file in Finder and do Get Info. Do you see the Date Received in the More Info section?

The date received displayed in the email when opened in Apple Mail or using Quicklook is correct i.e. 31 July 2014

Regarding Get Info for the eml file, in the "More Info" section, I can see only "Content created: 1 July 2024 at 21:28"

Also, "name" of the sender is not added when the file is renamed.

I get "0001-12-31 - - news.eml"

If it doesn't appear in the Get Info, then the info is not available to Hazel. Are you able to search for that eml file using Spotlight? Try searching for some text in the email that is unique.

Mr_Noodle wrote:If it doesn't appear in the Get Info, then the info is not available to Hazel. Are you able to search for that eml file using Spotlight? Try searching for some text in the email that is unique.

A Spotlight search doesn't show the file. Neither based on file name, nor on file content.

I googled the topic, and Spotlight doesnt search for eml files in general.

You'll have to use a script like above then as it's not data provided to Hazel by default.