{"id":390,"date":"2017-11-21T19:54:07","date_gmt":"2017-11-21T19:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gearmage.com\/blog\/?p=390"},"modified":"2026-02-05T22:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T22:52:09","slug":"extract-data-emails-attachments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gearmage.com\/blog\/extract-data-emails-attachments\/","title":{"rendered":"Extract data from emails and attachments – an in-depth guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Extract data: A comprehensive PRO guide<\/h2>\n

PRO Server offers \u00a0flexible extraction constructs to extract data or fields from both emails AND\/OR attachments.<\/p>\n

This post will explore how you can setup the PRO Server to extract data using the extraction wizard (Option-1) or using regular expressions (Option-2).<\/p>\n

Use the Global Filters tab to extract data<\/h2>\n

First off, to extract data you MUST use the Global Filters<\/strong> tab. This allows you to create one or more rule filters that will then be used for extraction.<\/p>\n

Each rule is run for EVERY attachment (any type, converted to text before extraction occurs) or email body (saved as .eml or .txt\/.html).<\/p>\n

In a rule, you can specify what to look for in the email (like matching From, To, Subject etc.) and \u00a0then parameters to extract one or more data into fields as will be explained below.<\/p>\n

\n

FIELDS<\/span>: Extract data into fields {..}<\/h2>\n

Fields are what you as a user can create in the Rule that then can be used in various actions.<\/p>\n

Extracting data in the PRO Server is performed by first specifying a field name and then providing various parameters in the Rule configuration such as:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. WHAT to extract by specifying what comes before or after the piece of data you want to extract<\/li>\n
  2. HOW to extract it by specifying whether to remove whitespaces or convert it into a number etc. as will be shown<\/li>\n
  3. Specifying a unique FIELD NAME (between {}) \u00a0where the extracted data will be “stored”. For example: {ORDER_ID}<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \n

    FIRST: Specify the matching filters<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    The very FIRST STEP<\/strong> in extraction is to create or edit a rule in the Global Filters<\/strong> tab and then specify the Filters <\/strong>that helps narrow down the type of email we want to extract data from.<\/p>\n

    In there you MUST specify the specific email filters to select the kinds of emails you are looking to extract data out of.<\/p>\n

    \"exrtact<\/a><\/p>\n

    As shown above we’ve used a matching Subject and a From that matches a certain address.<\/p>\n

    SECOND: Two ways to extract data in a rule…<\/h2>\n

    There are two ways to extract data inside of a rule as will be explained below.<\/p>\n

    When you create or edit a rule in the Global Filters<\/strong> tab, you can start out by specifying Filters and then have two ways to perform extraction as shown in the below screenshot.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Filter extraction with wizard<\/strong> (recommended)<\/li>\n
    2. Filter extraction with regular expression<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      We will explore each option in this post below.<\/p>\n

      \"extract<\/a><\/p>\n

      \n

      Option-1: Filter extraction with wizard<\/span><\/h2>\n

      Create a new extraction by selecting
      \nAdd -> Extractions -> Field extraction<\/strong> with wizard<\/strong>
      \nas was shown earlier.<\/p>\n

      \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

      You now have the option to name your field. A random name has been automatically selected, feel free to change this to something more meaningful.<\/p>\n

      For the purposes of this tutorial we will use {ORDER_ID}. The field name MUST be within braces {}<\/span>. Then select the Source<\/strong> from the dropdown option as to where you want to extract data from.<\/p>\n

      \"extract<\/a><\/p>\n

      NOTE:<\/strong> This dropdown does not include the attachment itself, we will cover this later below.<\/p>\n

      We will choose the EMAIL_SUBJECT<\/strong> as the source for this tutorial.<\/p>\n

      Click on the Extraction wizard<\/strong> button and follow these steps:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Copy Sample Text:<\/strong> Once the dialog opens, lets start off by copying some text that may be a sample “Subject” of the email into the Test data<\/strong> area.\u00a0\"extract<\/a><\/li>\n
      2. Search tab: <\/strong>Specify here the text that may PRECEDE the actual data we want to extract. In our test data, we have Invoice # <\/strong>as a good prefix. So let’s use that.\u00a0\"extract<\/a>
        \n
        \n

        PRO TIP
        \n<\/strong><\/em><\/span>
        \n        Latest builds<\/a> now support .NET regular expressions<\/a>\u00a0in the following fields:<\/span><\/p>\n

        – Search raw text field<\/span>
        \n– Followed by (optional)<\/span><\/p>\n

        This allows you to specify more than one search term, for example, specifying (Invoices|Receipts)\u00a0<\/strong>in this text including parentheses will search for Invoices or Receipts as the text to search until before extracting data after it.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n

      3. Extract tab: <\/strong>Since what follows after the invoice is a ‘-‘ hyphen, we will choose the Until any of these<\/strong> option and then specify the\u00a0hyphen as the character to stop extracting data as shown below. \"extract<\/a><\/strong>You can also see that the test data now highlights the invoice number.<\/li>\n
      4. Transform tab: <\/strong>From our previous step you can see that we have an extra space towards the end of the invoice number. This tab lets you transform the extracted data in many ways. Since we just want to remove the space, we will check the Remove leading and trailing spaces<\/strong> option. Feel free to experiment with the various options present here. \"extract<\/a><\/strong>You can also convert the extracted data from a String to an Integer or Decimal in the Convert to type <\/strong>dropdown.<\/li>\n
      5. Validate tab:\u00a0<\/strong>In here you can specify any validations. Since we absolutely want an invoice number to be present before we take further actions like saving the email or attachments in the rule, we will choose the No blank or empty extractions<\/strong> option.\"extract<\/a><\/li>\n
      6. On Failure tab:\u00a0<\/strong>When an extraction fails validation (based on what we specified in the validation tab), we want to skip this rule and proceed further.\"extract<\/a><\/li>\n
      7. Click Save<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Now we have completely set the parameters on how we want to extract the data.<\/p>\n

        Feel free to change the Test data\u00a0<\/strong>and click the Run Test button<\/strong> to run tests. The Status below will show what was extracted. As shown above it says OK: 7265537\u00a0<\/strong>and that means 7265537 <\/strong>was what was extracted based on the Test data which is what we want.<\/p>\n

        Extract data from email attachments<\/h3>\n

        Extracting data from email attachments is very similar to what has been described above with Option-1, except instead of choosing
        \nAdd -> Extractions -> Field extraction<\/strong> with wizard<\/strong><\/p>\n

        you will be creating the field extraction in the Actions<\/strong> section as shown below:<\/p>\n

        \"extract<\/a><\/p>\n

        Make sure that the ORDER at which the extraction occurs is correct. Any actions that are run BELOW the extraction will have the extracted field.<\/p>\n

        If you have any questions about this, please contact support@gearmage.com <\/a>for help.<\/p>\n

        \n

        Option-2: Filter extraction with regular expressions<\/span><\/h2>\n

        This is for advanced uses only. You MUST be well-versed with using regular expressions and also using regular expressions based replacement.<\/p>\n

        READ THIS FIRST:\u00a0<\/strong>Regular Expressions<\/a>\u00a0format that is followed in this post.<\/p>\n

        Extract the Invoice # from the SUBJECT<\/h2>\n

        Since we want to extract the Invoice # for further invoice processing.<\/p>\n

        With this post we will explore extracting data for invoices<\/strong> from the email using regular expressions<\/strong>. In a future post, we can walk you through how to use the Extraction Wizard if needed.<\/p>\n

        Since the Invoice # is in the Subject of the email, we will add a new extraction to the new rule we created as follows. Click on the Add dropdown<\/strong> -> Extractions<\/strong> -> Field extraction with regular expressions\u00a0<\/strong>option as shown below.<\/p>\n

        \"extract<\/a><\/p>\n

        Rename the Extraction field to something meaningful like \u201c{INVOICE_NUMBER}\u201d as shown below and include a regular expression to extract text.<\/p>\n

        \"Extract<\/p>\n