[MT]

Yo guys, I need some help here.

My boss wants me to clean a big email marketing database, which has around 10000 emails to be deleted. All these wrong/nonexistent were replied back to the account used to send the batch. But it is a pain in the arse to check mail by mail, getting the wrong email address and delete it from the database (10000 emails, go figure). So I was wondering what can I do to make it easier?

What I've thought was to access the E-Mail manager inbox file (which in my case are Thunderbird's .msf) and search all the "*[email protected]*.com", but it does not seem to be work, as most of the emails I already got by hand aren't there.

Can anyone shed some light on me? Thanks!

 

[@ruantec]

mmmmm so you want to modify that file?

 

[MT]

That would do it too I guess. What I want, in other words, is to have access to every email content without opening it in Thunderbird. All emails are like these ones:

This is the mail system at host <insert name here>.

I'm sorry to have to inform you that your message could not
be delivered to one or more recipients. It's attached below.

For further assistance, please send mail to postmaster.

If you do so, please include this problem report. You can
delete your own text from the attached returned message.

The mail system

<EMAIL - THE ADDRESS I NEED>: host (address) said: 550 5.1.1
User unknown (in reply to RCPT TO command)

If I could get all those in a single text file, I could clean it and get only the email addresses I need.

 

[MT]

Anyone willing to help me?

 

[@ruantec]

i will see what i can do... dunno if is possible to chat there but am online now and you have my mail addy so lets chat and see if i can help ya.

 

[MT]

Thanks @ruan, I got a way to dump all the emails to a text file. Thanks the MozillaZine Forums!

Now my plan is to search for a common string ( *@*.com) in that text file so I will have all the email addresses!

Do you know any program that finds such string using wildcards like * ?

 

[@ruantec]

mmm i guess the file is big right????? if you want to remove them you will need a special app i guess as most text editors need ages to read a big txt file.

 

[MT]

yup, half of the messages were dumped and the txt file is around 27mb :s which program could i use for the task?

 

[Haithm]

Hello MT
I am not very sure but here what I see is a solution and it is freeware but it does not seem like a generic free spam filter at all:
MailWasher (it is compatible with e-mail programs including ThunderBird)

MailWasher is the leader in spam filter software, and the easiest way to check and manage your e-mails before you download them.
Delete. Remove unwanted e-mails before you download to your computer.
Preview. Easily preview the message in your email to see what the sender has to say before downloading it to your computer.
Anti spam tools:

• Friends List.
• Bounce back unwanted e-mails.
• Filtering.
• Bayesian spam filtering.

Fast download of messages. We have clocked speeds of 25 email message per second.
Simplicity. No flashy gimmicks, so easy to use that you won't feel like you have to learn a whole new program.
Other features: Check mail at different intervals. Don't check mail at certain times. Play a sound when an email arrives, or be notified visually. Email log. Comprehensive help documentation.


Linky:
http://www.mailwasher.net/