Editing and sorting Outlook .msg files

Editing and sorting Outlook .msg files

16
Basic UserBasic User
16

    Feb 28, 2014#1

    I frequently receive status emails through Outlook, and many times, the relevant information is buried within long blocks of text. If I manually copy out the text from multiple Outlook messages and paste them into UltraEdit, it's a snap to just sort the text and find the relevant information nicely grouped. Problem is that it can be a hassle to open, copy, and paste text from say, 30 emails.

    So, I thought, why not let UltraEdit do the brunt of the work. So I copied several messages to a scratch folder creating multiple .msg files. When I open one single in UltraEdit, it defaults to HEX mode, so I switch out of HEX mode, sort the file, and voila, there it is.

    Next, I concatenate all the .msg files into one large file by issuing this simple DOS command: copy /b *.msg merged.txt

    I end up with a large file that I opened in UltraEdit. Again, it defaults to HEX mode, so I exit and sort. Problem is that it doesn't sort. The hourglass appears for a brief moment, and then I am returned to the edit mode.

    Suggestions?
    6,686585
    Grand MasterGrand Master
    6,686585

      Feb 28, 2014#2

      My first suggestion is to save your status emails directly altogether with Outlook in a text file. This can be done very easily (with Outlook 2010).
      • You select first all emails you want to save in 1 text file.
      • Then you click on tab File on Save As.
      • In the Save As dialog select first Text Only (*.txt) for Save as type instead of *.msg. I can't even select any different file format than *.txt with multiple emails selected and using File - Save As.
      • Enter the file name without file extension and click on button Save. Outlook saves now all emails in pure text format into the file.
      Now you can use UltraEdit to sort the lines in the file which is now really a text file not containing any binary data.

      Which sort to use in UltraEdit depends on the file size. For very large files with hundreds of MB the limited alternate sort method must be used instead of the standard sort method. The alternate sort method can be enabled in the advanced sort options.
      Best regards from an UC/UE/UES for Windows user from Austria
      16
      Basic UserBasic User
      16

        Feb 28, 2014#3

        You know, sometimes the most complex things in life can be solved with a very simple approach.

        You saved the day!

        Thanks!

        Jim