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  • Mail Parser Logic - If I have full control over the originating email, I should be able to always parse out the correct data right?
Best answer

Mail Parser Logic - If I have full control over the originating email, I should be able to always parse out the correct data right?

B
Userlevel 1

I have complete control over an email that I am trying to parse but I can not get the fields to strip out correctly consistently.  I’ve tried all 3 combinations of the parser engine as well as the text and html layouts.  I have all of the data in an HTML table in the format that I’ve attached as an image.

 

Everything is on different lines and I’ve used : to separate out the title from the variable and included the space html after.  It gets it most of the time and I’ve trained so so so so so many extra templates with data entry variations but yet it still messes up.  I tried reaching out to Zapier support to get some sort of indication of what the parser looks for but I got nothing.  It seems that if I could put in <div id=”variable1”> tags or something to wrap my exact variables, I should be able to get this very easily.  I just don’t know what to wrap them in or how to design / code my email.   

 

Can anyone help me out?  I’ve spent more hours than I can count on this and when I finally think I’ve gotten it, it breaks and having it break causes a huge problem for a part of my business.  Thanks!

 

 

 

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Best answer by PaulKortman 24 August 2020, 23:55

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This post has been closed for comments. Please create a new post if you need help or have a question about this topic.

13 replies

Troy Tessalone
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Try Mailparser app: https://mailparser.io/i/zapier-email-parser

⚡ Troy Tessalone - AutomationAce.com | Premier Certified Zapier Expert | #1 Zapier Community Contributor
ForYourIT
Userlevel 7
Badge +7

Hi @bradwbowman ,

This seems like an advanced issue. If you aren’t able to figure it out, I suggest you to hire a Zapier expert. Since these issues normally take some good amount of skills and time, hiring someone is the best and efficient way to go. Feel free to contact me or any other expert.

Hope you get it done!

~Bjorn

B
Userlevel 1

I don’t think it seems like an advanced topic that needs an expert at all.  I’m just looking for some very simple information about how the parser actually works, other than that, I’m 99% of the way there.

I would just pay the $40 a month to Mailparser.io instead of hiring an expert for this simplistic issue as well. It would be nice to get this basic information because everything I’ve described in my post should allow me to use the basic Zapier Mail Parser since I have full control over the HTML of the email. 

If you can’t design something specifically for a parser, then that parser probably shouldn’t exist in the first place. 

 

I know there is a simple solution out there, I’m just waiting for a person that possesses that knowledge to read this.   Thanks

Troy Tessalone
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Sharing screenshots of how you have the Parser configured is going to be most helpful for troubleshooting.

⚡ Troy Tessalone - AutomationAce.com | Premier Certified Zapier Expert | #1 Zapier Community Contributor
B
Userlevel 1

I’ve tried using all 3 versions of the parser engine as well (v1 legacy, v2 experimental and v1 +v2 best match)

 

Thanks!

 

Troy Tessalone
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Is the parser always working for some data points but not others?

In other words, does the parser not work as expected starting at a certain data point?

From the looks of it, the Profile URL data point might be the issue with the < > before and after, so I’d suggest removing those.

⚡ Troy Tessalone - AutomationAce.com | Premier Certified Zapier Expert | #1 Zapier Community Contributor
B
Userlevel 1

Troy,

 

The email format is always 100% consistent and the URL has actually never broken once.  It’s always the last name that breaks for some reason which is really strange because I continue to use the same formatting etc.  I even tried changing “first name” and “last name” to just “first” and “last” b/c I figured the fact “name” was there twice might be throwing it off.

 

I’m not really looking for a solution to my specific problem but more along the lines of how the parser actually works so that we people in the future that find this thread can solve their own issues. 

If I can fully control the originating email and it’s HTML, I don’t see how it’s not possible to design something that would make the parser work….assuming we have just the slightest bit of guidance on it’s logic and algorithm.  

 

Thanks!

Troy Tessalone
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

@bradwbowman 

Here’s the help documentation available for the Parser by Zapier: https://zapier.com/apps/email-parser/help

These parsers can be a bit finicky and the algorithms behind them are always being trained to learn and evolve.

⚡ Troy Tessalone - AutomationAce.com | Premier Certified Zapier Expert | #1 Zapier Community Contributor
B
Userlevel 1

Thanks for those.  They will definitely help other people researching this topic in the future.  I have reviewed those a couple months ago and tried everything they suggested to no avail.

 

Is there anyone out there that can add anything to this discussion that isn’t the very basic information that is readily available via a basic Google search on this topic?  Anyone that has done testing themselves and may have a direct suggestion or insight into how the parser works and if an HTML tag is or isn’t the solution?

PaulKortman
Userlevel 7
Badge +10

@bradwbowman The Zapier team acknowledges that their parser isn’t perfect nor does it function well when things get complicated. 

 

While I would argue that your email format/template is not complicated the moment you have multiple extra templates tends to suggest that there will continue to be problems no matter what you do. I have used parser many times and only once has adding an extra template helped. 

 

While I don’t know the technical specs of how parser works I do know that if you have changed the html/content/formatting of the email I find better results by starting over with a new parser mailbox, every time you make a change to the formatting/html etc and then add an extra template it “remembers” and it never does a good job at that. 

 

Also, since you have full control I would recommend sending just plain text. Tabular data seems so simple to carve up and parse, but the parser can be finicky about if it’s grabbing the text with the HTML or the text without the HTML. Because when you are selecting the content for the value via plain text instead of via html parser can get confused.  

 

I know for example that using id’s in a div will not work nor will it help. From my understanding parser is looking at the plain text version and trying to match patterns between the content that you select.

 

I know this isnt the specifics you are looking for, but perhaps with starting with a clean parser inbox things will make more sense for how parser is handling things. 

Need Additional help? Feel free to reach out here: https://zapier.com/experts/connex-digital/
B
Userlevel 1

@PaulKortman Thank you for your response and it did give me some good new additional information.  When I’ve sent over a new email format, I would go in and delete all of the old emails and wipe out the original template but I never thought to create an entirely new box so that is great advice and something I will definitely try if it does retain some of that old information.

 

In regards to plain text vs HTML, I think it depends on which option you have selected for “Body Source” as you can choose “Always use HTML body content” or “Always use plain text body content” so certainly if you choose the HTML body content, I would assume its reading the HTML code and this is what initially caused me to write this post and has caused so much confusion.

 

Thanks for helping me get a bit closer and I’ll report back if creating an entirely new mailbox makes a difference.

 

If anyone else out there has anything else to add, it is appreciated!

Sly
Userlevel 1

Hi @bradwbowman !

Not exactely your question, but if you don’t manage to make it work with Zapier Parser, you could give Parseur a try: https://parseur.com

Same point and click approach as Zapier Parser, but often more reliable and powerful.

Cheers!

Sylvestre

(disclaimer: Parseur co-founder here 👋🏻)

B
Userlevel 1

Thanks @Sly , I already signed up fro MailParser.io otherwise I would have checked it out.  

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