Importing Email Message Text

At times, you may want to bring text into Personal Knowbase from email messages. There are two ways to do this: by copying the text directly or by saving the email message to a text file and then importing that file into Personal Knowbase.

To copy the text directly from your email application into Personal Knowbase using the Copy and Paste Clipboard commands, refer to the procedure for Copying Text from Another Windows Application. That is the easiest way to save messages if you use web-based email.

To import the email message text into a Personal Knowbase article:

First save your message to a text file from your email application. Usually you need to display the message that you want to save. Then find a command for saving to a file. This command is usually in the File menu and is called Save As or Save Message As. In the save dialog box, under the Save as Type option, you may need to specify to save the file as Text File. Note the folder and file name that you use to save the message.

If you just want to import the text as is without extracting the date or subject information or automatically assigning keywords, simply import this file as a straight text file. To do this, refer to the procedure for Importing from a Text File.

However, if you want to extract information from the email headers or to automatically assign certain keywords to any similar email that you import, use the wizard for importing Custom Format Text Files. With this wizard, you can define the structure of the text file you want to import. Then you can use this format to import any number of email messages from files.

To define a custom format for importing email messages:

•	Select the Import command from the File menu.

The Import dialog box is displayed.

•	Select the Manage Custom Formats button.

The Mange Custom Formats dialog box is displayed.

•	Select the New button to define a completely new format.

The first step of the Custom Import Wizard is displayed: the Setup Format step.

•	Enter a brief description for your format in the box at the top of the screen.

For example, you may describe it as a "General Email Import Format".

•	If you have already saved an email message to a text file, use the Browse button to select this file as your Sample File.

Your Sample File is displayed in the Sample File Preview pane at the bottom of each step in the wizard. You can use this file as a reference for defining your custom format.

•	In the How the Article Data Is Organized box, select the Labels option.

This structure allows you to extract data from email headers.

•	Set the Text Qualifier to None.

•	Select the Next button.

The next step of the Custom Import Wizard is displayed: the Specify Article Delimiters step.

•	Select None for both the Start and End article delimiters.

Because only one article (one email message) is in each file, we do not have delimiters between articles.

•	Select the Next button.

The next step of the Custom Import Wizard is displayed: the Specify Fixed Keywords step.

•	If you want to assign certain keywords to every new article imported using this format, select them here. To assign one or more keywords, type each keyword into the New Keyword edit box and press Enter.

OR Double-click on the desired keyword in the Available Keywords list.

Each keyword selected is moved to the Assigned Keywords list. For example, you may want to assign the keyword "email" to each email message imported.

•	When all keywords that you want to assign are listed in the Assigned Keywords list, select the Next button.

The next step of the Custom Import Wizard is displayed: the Select Fields step.

•	In the Available list, double-click on the words Title, Date, and Content.

As you click on each field name, it moves into the Included list.

•	From the Date Format menu, select the correct date format code for your email messages.

To determine the correct code, look in the Sample File Preview pane at your sample file. Scroll down through the email headers until you find the date header. Check the order of the day, month, and year in this date. Select the code which specifies this order. The Y represents the year in the date. The M represents the month. The D represents the day.

Personal Knowbase ignores extraneous information such as the time or weekday. So, for example, if the date in your file is "Sat, 21 Apr 2001 08:40:28", then the date format code is DMY for the "21 Apr 2001" portion of the header.

•	Select the Next button.

The final step of the Custom Import Wizard is displayed: the Specify Field Labels step.

•	Check the option Include Entire Article As Content.

This saves the entire email message, including headers, as your article content.

•	On the Title line of the Fields Table, in the Label column, enter the label that your email application uses to mark the subject header.

Refer to your sample file for how the subject header is labeled by your email application. It is usually labeled "Subject:", "Subj:", or "Re:". Be sure to include the colon at the end of the label if appropriate.

•	On the Date line of the Fields Table, in the Label column, enter the label that your email application uses to mark the date header.

Refer to your sample file for how the date header is labeled. It is usually labeled "Date:" or "Sent:". Be sure to include the colon at the end of the label if appropriate.

•	Select the Finish button.

The Save Format As dialog box is displayed.

•	Type in a unique name for this custom format.

For example, you may call it "Email Import".

•	Select the Save button.

You return to the Manage Custom Formats dialog box.

•	Select the Close button.

You return to the Import dialog box.

To use your custom format to import an email message file into an open data file:

•	From the Import dialog box, select the Custom Format Text Files option from the Files of Type box.

All files in the current folder are displayed in the files list.

•	Use the dialog box to select the folder and name of the file containing your email message text.

•	From the Use Format menu, select the name of the email file format you created above.

•	To immediately open the imported article in an Article Window, check the Open Imported Articles option.

Turn off the Open Imported Articles option if you don't want to open the newly imported article now.

•	Select the Open button.

OR Double-click on the file name in the files list.

The Keywords for Imported Articles dialog box is displayed.

•	To assign more keywords to this new article (in addition to any keywords you selected to always assign to your imported email messages), type each keyword into the New Keyword edit box and press Enter.

OR Double-click on the desired keyword in the Available Keywords list.

Each keyword selected is moved to the Assigned Keywords list.

•	When all keywords that you want to assign are listed in the Assigned Keywords list, select the OK button.

The file is now imported. An article is created containing the text from the email message file. If you checked the Open Imported Articles option, this article is displayed in an Article Window.

•	If the Article Window opened, you can modify the article now.

You may make any changes you want to the new article.

•	Close the Article Window by clicking on the window's close box.

If you made changes to the article, Personal Knowbase asks you to verify that you want to save the changes. Select the Yes button.

Whenever you want to import more email messages, simply save them to text files from your email application, then import them into Personal Knowbase using the Custom Import Format you created.

For a List of Other Procedures for Importing, See:

About Importing