70.1 Placeholders
70.1.1 Overview ¶
Placeholders are the central mechanism of the program for embedding dynamic values from emails into paths, file names, reply texts, and other inputs. When an email is processed, placeholders are replaced with the actual values: <EmailYear4> becomes 2026, <SenderDomain> becomes mueller-gmbh.de, <Subject> becomes “Order 12345”.
All placeholders are written in angle brackets (<...>) and use English identifiers - nested structures like <CSVMapping{Clients}> or substring variants like <SubjectPartL{0,20}> allow precise control.
70.1.2 Notation and Selection ¶
In all relevant input fields (e.g. Path in Save Attachments, Subject in replies, File name in save tasks), clicking the placeholder icon opens a hierarchical menu with English-language labels. Selecting an item inserts the placeholder with the correct English notation into the input field - manual entry is possible but error-prone.
The menu structure is organized by category:
- Recipient and Sender
- Subject and Message body
- Email date
- Current date
- Attachment (in attachment-related fields)
- Other
- Mappings (lookup tables and global placeholders)
70.1.3 Date Placeholders ¶
The email date is the time when the email was received. The current date is the time of processing. For each date there are variants for year, month, day, hour, minute, and second:
| Placeholder |
Example value |
<EmailYear4> |
2026 |
<EmailYear2> |
26 |
<EmailMonth> |
01 |
<EmailMonthName> |
January |
<EmailMonthNameAbbreviated> |
Jan |
<EmailDay> |
07 |
<EmailHour> |
14 |
<EmailMinute> |
30 |
<EmailSecond> |
15 |
Previous-month variants: <PriorEmailMonth>, <PriorEmailMonthName>, <PriorEmailMonthNameAbbreviated>, <YearOfPriorEmailMonth>, <PriorEmailYear4>, <PriorEmailYear2>, <PriorEmailDay> - useful when you want to assign emails to the previous month (e.g. invoices that arrive at the beginning of the following month).
Current date (instead of email date): <TodaysYear4>, <TodaysYear2>, <TodaysMonth>, <TodaysMonthName>, <TodaysMonthNameAbbreviated>, <TodaysDay>, <TodaysHour>, <TodaysMinute>, <TodaysSecond>.
70.1.4 Sender and Recipient ¶
For each sender and recipient, several components are available:
| Placeholder |
Example |
<SenderName> |
Max Mustermann |
<SenderNameInitials> |
MM |
<SenderAddress> |
max.mustermann@firma.de |
<SenderDomain> |
firma.de |
<SenderUsername> |
max.mustermann (local part) |
<SenderUsernameInitials> |
mm |
<RecipientName> |
Sabine Schmidt |
<RecipientAddress> |
sabine@firma.de |
<RecipientDomain> |
firma.de |
<RecipientUsername> |
sabine |
<NumberOfDirectRecipients> |
3 |
When there are multiple recipients (To + CC), the program typically captures the first meaningful recipient - see Program Options -> Other (see chapter 40.25.3) for filtering unwanted addresses.
70.1.5 Substring Placeholders ¶
For many placeholders, substring variants are available - they cut a specific number of characters out of the value:
| Placeholder |
Effect |
<SubjectPartL{0,20}> |
First 20 characters of the subject (position 0, length 20) |
<SubjectPartR{4,4}> |
4 characters, starting 4 characters from the end |
<SenderNamePartL{0,80}> |
First 80 characters of the sender name |
<SenderUsernamePartR{4,4}> |
Last 4 characters of the user name |
<RecipientNamePartL{0,80}> |
First 80 characters of the recipient name |
<FileNamePartL{0,80}> |
First 80 characters of the file name |
When selected from the placeholder menu, default values are prefilled: PartL with {0,80} (first 80 characters), PartR with {4,4} (4 characters from position 4 from the end). These values can be freely adjusted after insertion.
Useful when long paths cause problems for file systems, or when an order number format like INV-2026-12345 needs to be split apart.
70.1.6 Subject and Message Body ¶
| Placeholder |
Example value |
<Subject> |
Complete subject of the email |
<SubjectPartL{0,80}> / <SubjectPartR{4,4}> |
Substrings (see 70.1.5) |
<BeginOfSubjectRegex>...<EndOfRegex> |
Regex extraction from the subject |
<BeginOfBodyRegex>...<EndOfRegex> |
Regex extraction from the message body |
Regex extraction is described in detail (see chapter 70.2). A placeholder that returns the complete message body without limitation is deliberately not provided - body texts are too long and unstructured for direct use in paths or file names.
70.1.7 Attachment Placeholders ¶
In attachment-related tasks (Save Attachments, Print Attachments):
| Placeholder |
Example value |
<FileName> |
Invoice_12345.pdf (without extension) |
<FileNamePartL{0,80}> |
first 80 characters |
<FileNamePartR{4,4}> |
last 4 characters from offset 4 |
<NumberOfAttachments> |
3 (number of attachments in the email) |
70.1.8 Other Placeholders ¶
| Placeholder |
Example value |
<MessageId> |
Internet Message ID (without <>) |
<Categories> |
Important, Accounting |
<PathSeparator> |
\ (Windows) - only in path contexts |
<ParentFolderNameOfLevel{1}> |
Name of the monitored folder at hierarchy level 1 |
70.1.9 Mappings ¶
Lookup tables and global placeholders from the program options (see chapter 40.23 and chapter 40.24) are referenced using the following syntax:
| Placeholder |
Meaning |
<CSVMapping{Clients}> |
Returns the value from the lookup table “Clients” |
<SimpleMapping{ArchivePath}> |
Returns the global placeholder “ArchivePath” (fixed value) |
Selection is made in the placeholder menu under “Mappings” - one entry appears for each defined table and each global placeholder, using the configured name (see chapter 70.3).
70.1.10 Special Character Handling ¶
When a placeholder value is used in a file or folder name, invalid characters (e.g. <, >, :, *, ?, ", /, \, |) are automatically replaced with - - the generated path is always compliant with the file system.
In free-text inputs (e.g. reply body), the characters are preserved.
70.1.11 Use case ¶
Path construction for attachments
Path: D:\IncomingInvoices\<SenderDomain>\<EmailYear4>\<EmailMonth>. Incoming email from info@mueller-gmbh.de on 2026-05-07 -> D:\IncomingInvoices\mueller-gmbh.de\2026\05.
70.1.12 Tips ¶
- Special characters in values (e.g. dot, slash) are replaced automatically in file paths - no manual escaping needed
- For very long values, the generated path can exceed the Windows path limit (260 characters) - use substring placeholders to shorten