Technical Blog Post
Abstract
Email Listener: Supported Incoming Email Content Types
Body
All email messages have or should have a content-type header field which will determine how that email is handled. The Email Listener is not a true, full service email client and is therefore not as flexible and forgiving as email clients [such as Notes & Outlook] in handling the full range of email formats. The purpose of this article is to set the expectations for what content-types the listener will process. Note that the content-type type attribute of an email is distinct from character set which denotes how text for various languages is encoded.
Single Part Content
text/plain The email message body is composed using basic text.
text/html The email message body is composed of text formatted in hyper-text mark-up language (HTML).
Multiple Part Content
multipart/mixed The mail is constructed to have a body which is either text/plain or text/html and may have one or more attachments.
multipart/alternative The mail is constructed to have have both a text/plain and an text/html version of the same body and may have one or more attachments. In the case of the body, the listener only recognizes the text/plain body part.
Content Not Supported
Single part emails that have a content-type other than text/plain or text/html are not supported.
Examples: application/*, audio/*, image/*, video/*, etc.
While some email clients may recognize these as attachments, as stated, the listener is not a true, full service email client.
To send an attachment into the Email Listener, it must be as the attachment part of a multiple part email message.
An Aside About Properties
There are two System Properties related to email content processing. The are mxe.email.content.type and mxe.email.charset . These properties only impact outgoing emails and have no bearing on incoming emails.
See Also
For plain text handling message bodies that are written to a rich text field, please see: A Maximo Scripting Solution to a Plain Text Problem
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