Not MU-related daft question
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Way back in the day I could write a unix scripty thing that would allow me to have an email inbox that would sort the contents and recipients of recieved emails and sock them into different files for record-keeping.
I want to cc such a bot-email-box for work records, instead of tediously pasting stuff into the proper record, but I have no idea what the modern name for such a thing is. I don’t want to babble at the devs.
What do you call that?
(I also annoy the people at the auto-parts store by not knowing the name of the spinny bit that I want, which goes right here in this picture of my engine…)
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I’m not sure what you use for email, but I know Gmail at least has that feature built in, I also used to use it for work. it’s been a long minute since I set it up but I am positive it’s in the help docs.
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@Wizz Gmail, but the thing is, it needs to put the email content in a different program, where records concerning the client/patron are kept, so workers other than myself can see it.
I really am just looking for the terminology, I don’t have and should not have the permissions to do this.
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@Gashlycrumb So you want something that reads the emails as they come in and fills out the records of a database?
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@MisterBoring Yes but less so – I want it to find the student email in the to-list and put the whole email in one of two of what are probably folders in that student’s record. So that instead of having to paste email exchanges into it manually, I just cc record-bot.
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@Gashlycrumb If you’re looking to have it sort into folders on your computer, which is what it sounds like, I’ve got nothing. If you’re looking to have it sort into folders in your inbox, that’s just mail rules and will take all of a minute to set up.
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I think what you’re describing is a standalone mail server (probably running postfix or something like it) with some custom scripts that would route incoming emails to text files based on a set of filing rules.
Honestly, though, that sounds like an awful lot of work for the tech team. Apart from the setup and scripting, they’d have to guard the email server against spam and other security risks. But hey, it can’t hurt to ask. Maybe I’m overestimating the complexity.
You could probably accomplish your same goal with a lot less effort by setting up mailbox rules (as Aria said) to label messages. Then I think there are various ways to get the messages with a certain label out - Google Takeout maybe, or a mail client like Thunderbird that has an export feature.
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@Faraday Thank you!
I think the security and spam issue is pretty minimal, because it would go:
Look at to-list. If there’s an email address on that list that matches one associated with an active student, copy the email into a folder in associated with that student. If there is no active student’s address on the list, throw the email away.
Guys. Mailbox rules alone won’t accompish it, because it’s not for me. I have to paste copies of my emails into a record that a bunch of other people use to see if I emailed. (This is an exasperating two minutes of clicking and scrolling around to get to the right spot to paste in the email and gets old fast.)
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@Gashlycrumb said in Not MU-related daft question:
If there is no active student’s address on the list, throw the email away.
That addresses spam, but it doesn’t do anything for security. There’s still a server running with a port open and all that jazz. There are also a bunch of files on disk with personal information in them that need to be protected. And you need a way to either get those files OFF the system securely, or manage other peoples’ access to them. Not saying it’s insurmountable or anything, but it’s a consideration.
@Gashlycrumb said in Not MU-related daft question:
Guys. Mailbox rules alone won’t accompish it, because it’s not for me. I have to paste copies of my emails into a record that a bunch of other people use to see if I emailed.
Right, but that’s why I said:
Then I think there are various ways to get the messages with a certain label out - Google Takeout maybe, or a mail client like Thunderbird that has an export feature.
It changes it from an every-email copy&paste thing to a once-a-week-or-whatever export feature.
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@Faraday Yeah – I saw your bit about getting them out. Why mailbox rules alone won’t do it.
Since those files on a disk with personal information already exist, I just have to paste into them, I think the security concern is either already taken care of or already deemed unimportant?
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@Gashlycrumb said in Not MU-related daft question:
Since those files on a disk with personal information already exist, I just have to paste into them, I think the security concern is either already taken care of or already deemed unimportant?
The email server probably won’t be able to run on your PC, so the information will likely wind up on a second external server and need to be FTPed down or something. Regardless, whatever computer it’s running on will now has a new attack vector (the email server). These are potentially solvable problems, it’s just a question of whether the tech team will go for it.
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There is a lot more information I think is needed to really assist, mostly because depending on what software and services you’re already using, there may already be several ways this can be done. Without knowing more, here is some random info that may help point you in the right direction:
Email Parsing Services:
Mailgun (Inbound Routes) - parses incoming emails, extracts data, sends to webhooks
SendGrid (Inbound Parse) - similar functionality
Postmark (Inbound Processing) - clean interface for email-to-webhook
Amazon SES (with Lambda) - AWS solution for email processingWorkflow Automation Platforms:
Zapier - can trigger on new emails, parse content, update records
Microsoft Power Automate - especially if you’re using Office 365/Outlook
Make (formerly Integromat) - more complex automation workflows
n8n - open-source workflow automationCRM/Database Integrations:
HubSpot - has built-in email-to-record functionality
Salesforce - Email-to-Case feature does exactly this <–
Airtable - can receive emails and parse them into records
Notion - has email-to-database capabilitiesDIY Solutions:
Google Apps Script - if using Gmail/Google Workspace
Microsoft Graph API - for Office 365 environments
IMAP + Python/Node.js scripts on a server
