email-body-parser

Parse and clean email content - removes quotes, auto-signatures, and mailing list footers while preserving human signatures.

Maintained by Pinenlime

Why Another Email Parser?

Unlike other email parsing libraries that aggressively remove all signatures, email-body-parser follows a conservative philosophy: only remove things we're 100% sure are not content.

| Feature | Other Libraries | email-body-parser | |---------|-----------------|-------------------| | Human signatures ("Best, John") | ❌ Removes | ✅ Keeps | | Mobile auto-signatures | ✅ Removes | ✅ Removes | | Quote headers | ✅ Removes | ✅ Removes | | Mailing list footers | ❌ Not handled | ✅ Removes | | Legal disclaimers | ❌ Not handled | ✅ Removes | | Compressed Outlook headers | ❌ Basic | ✅ Comprehensive |

Installation

npm install email-body-parser

Usage

Simple API

For most use cases, the cleanEmailContent() function is all you need:

import { cleanEmailContent } from 'email-body-parser';

const rawEmail = `Thanks for the update!

Best regards,
John Smith
Product Manager

On Mon, Mar 17, 2025 at 1:29 PM Jane Doe <[email protected]> wrote:
> Here's the latest report...

Sent from my iPhone`;

const cleaned = cleanEmailContent(rawEmail);
console.log(cleaned);
// Output:
// Thanks for the update!
//
// Best regards,
// John Smith
// Product Manager

Advanced API

For more control, use the EmailBodyParser class:

import EmailBodyParser from 'email-body-parser';

const parser = new EmailBodyParser();
const email = parser.parse(rawEmail);

// Get visible content (excludes quotes, auto-signatures)
console.log(email.getVisibleText());

// Get just the quoted portions
console.log(email.getQuotedText());

// Iterate over all fragments
for (const fragment of email.getFragments()) {
  console.log({
    content: fragment.content,
    isHidden: fragment.isHidden,
    isQuoted: fragment.isQuoted,
    isSignature: fragment.isSignature,
  });
}

Convenience Methods

const parser = new EmailBodyParser();

// Get visible text directly
const visibleText = parser.parseReply(rawEmail);

// Get quoted text directly
const quotedText = parser.parseReplied(rawEmail);

What Gets Removed

Quote Headers

• Gmail style: On Mon, Mar 17, 2025 at 1:29 PM John <[email protected]> wrote:
• Outlook style: -----Original Message-----
• Forward headers: From: ... Sent: ... To: ... Subject: ...
• Standard quote markers: > quoted text

Auto-Generated Signatures

• Mobile: Sent from my iPhone, Sent from my Android
• Apps: Sent via Superhuman, Get Outlook for iOS
• Meeting links: BOOK A MEETING...

Mailing List Footers

• Google Groups: You received this message because...
• Unsubscribe links: Click here to unsubscribe
• Marketing footers: This email was sent to...

Legal Disclaimers

• CONFIDENTIAL: This message contains...
• DISCLAIMER: This email and any files...

What Gets Preserved

Human signatures are kept because they provide valuable context:

• Contact information for follow-ups
• Job titles help understand urgency
• Avoids false positives

const email = `Please review the attached document.

Best regards,
Sarah Williams
Senior Financial Analyst
Direct: (555) 234-5678
[email protected]`;

cleanEmailContent(email);
// Returns the ENTIRE email - signature is preserved!

API Reference

cleanEmailContent(content: string): string

Cleans email content by removing quotes, auto-signatures, and mailing list footers.

Parameters:

• content - The raw email content to clean

Returns: Cleaned email content with quotes and auto-signatures removed

EmailBodyParser

constructor(options?: ParserOptions)

Options:

• keepSignatures (default: true) - Keep human signatures
• removeDisclaimers (default: true) - Remove legal disclaimers
• removeMailingListFooters (default: true) - Remove mailing list footers

parse(text: string): ParsedEmail

Parses email content into fragments.

parseReply(text: string): string

Convenience method that returns visible text directly.

parseReplied(text: string): string

Convenience method that returns quoted text directly.

ParsedEmail

getFragments(): EmailFragment[]

Returns all email fragments.

getVisibleText(): string

Returns content that is not hidden (excludes quotes, auto-signatures).

getQuotedText(): string

Returns only the quoted portions of the email.

EmailFragment

interface EmailFragment {
  content: string;      // The fragment text
  isHidden: boolean;    // True if this should be hidden from display
  isSignature: boolean; // True if this is an auto-signature
  isQuoted: boolean;    // True if this is quoted content
}

Customizing Patterns

For advanced users, the pattern arrays are exported:

import {
  QUOTE_PATTERNS,
  AUTO_SIGNATURE_PATTERNS,
  MAILING_LIST_PATTERNS,
} from 'email-body-parser';

// Each pattern has metadata for debugging
QUOTE_PATTERNS.forEach(({ pattern, description, example }) => {
  console.log(description, example);
});

TypeScript Support

Full TypeScript support with exported types:

import type {
  EmailFragment,
  ParsedEmail,
  PatternDefinition,
  ParserOptions,
} from 'email-body-parser';

RE2 Support (Optional)

For better performance and ReDoS protection, install RE2 as an optional peer dependency:

npm install re2

The library will automatically use RE2 when available.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Author

Created and maintained by Pinenlime.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests.