Editing the subject line in received emails
Twice since I started Hawk Wings, people have emailed to ask if there is a way to edit misspelt or inaccurate subject lines in received emails for better searching.
Nope, I said. Can’t be done.
I was wrong.
A tip on macOSXHints 
explains how to do it.
Just drag the email into the drafts folders, double-click on it, edit the subject line to your heart’s content, save it and grad it back to the mailbox it came from. All done.
UPDATE: There is a downside to this, though, as Jacob points out in the comments. It will also change the sender’s name to your own. So you need to think about how you search for things, by subject or by sender, and whether or not—for you—the cure is worse than the cold.
Similar Posts:
- Don’t touch that subject line!
- Smarter subject lines
- WideScreenMail plugin gets two-line preview
- Spoken notification of new mail
- A powerful new iCal action for Quicksilver
Tags: Apple Mail, Apple Mail Tips, better filing, editing, mail.app, subject line
April 5th, 2006 at 10:32 pm
The only problem is this also changes the sender to yourself. Usually not so desirable.
April 5th, 2006 at 10:55 pm
Good point. How did I not notice that?!
I am cursed today, first the April Fool’s thing and now this.
Thanks for pointing it out.
April 6th, 2006 at 3:13 am
Instead of dragging straight to the drafts folder, “Redirect” from the Message menu, alter the subject line, save the draft and drag it back to the intended mail box. It’s an extra step, but at least you keep the original sender.
April 6th, 2006 at 7:26 am
Why can’t you edit the email in a plain text editor?
April 6th, 2006 at 7:37 am
Stefan: That’s nifty. The only thing is that you end up with two copies of the email, one edited and one unedited.
Of course, the Delete key easily resolves the issue.
April 6th, 2006 at 10:06 am
Or you could use an older computer (prior to Intel) and use Claris Emailer which had this feature more than a decade ago along with a lot of other features no longer available. CE was my only email client until recently when I decided to try to avoid classic altogether. It is plain text only but usually any HTML is sent as an attachment so you can view it if you really need to.
April 6th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
Yeah… Even Eudora Light had this feature. I just can’t imagine what the rationale is to prevent an easy change to the subject line without some inconvenient work-around.