doesn't see "mailto:xxx@xxx.com" in files

So Cal · Joined: 01 Oct 2007 Posts: 6

Hi.

I just purchased the product and have the latest version.

I just realized that eMail Extractor has difficulty extracting email addresses from Word or PDF docs if the email address is a hyperlink such as "mailto:xxx@xxx.com."

I tried two workarounds:

1.) Create an exception stating that anything starting with, or contains "mailto:" would be valid. It didn't work.

2.) Save-as/convert the document to a *.txt file, then extract. However, if the visible content reads something "click here to email Joe," and the email address is in the code, i.e., "mailto:joe@xxx.com," that it will be lost/stripped out when converted to text only.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Rob

stanbusk · Site Admin Joined: 28 Dec 2005 Posts: 2268

eMail Extractor can't process Word or PDF files directly, only plain text files. In the case of Word, save the document as plain text first.

So Cal · Joined: 01 Oct 2007 Posts: 6

Thanks for the note, but FYI, that's not been my experience at all.

I can drag-and-drop Acrobat, Word, HTML files, etc. directly onto the eMail Extractor window and, it'll do a nice job extracting email addresses -- except, as I stated -- it does not recognize anything with a "mailto:" preface as in "mailto:xxx@xxx.com."

Seems odd because if someone's name just happened to be "mailto:xxx" you'd think it'd recognize it as a complete address. If that was the case, I could then run a search-and-replace filter to find "mailto:" and replace it with a null.

Anyone else have a thought? Or experience with creating a rule to allow as valid?

-Rob

stanbusk · Site Admin Joined: 28 Dec 2005 Posts: 2268

PDF and Word documents are binary files. They may contain text and a lot of junk as well. eMail Extractor has not been designed to process binary files but plain text files only. Despite it may work, it is not recommended at all. Also bear in mind that what you see on screen for a given binary file can be radically different at file level for eMail Extractor. If you have a *plain text* file with a "mailto:xxx" address eMail Extractor doesn't extract please open a support ticket and add the file to it.

So Cal · Joined: 01 Oct 2007 Posts: 6

I'll do that soon. No time right now. Thanks.