Back in Mailparser’s early days, users often requested a feature for reading and extracting text inside email attachments. Since launching our attachment parsing feature, it’s become a mainstay for customers. Instead of manually opening attached files and copying information into spreadsheets or other systems, you can use Mailparser to extract the data you need automatically.
With Mailparser, you can automatically parse email attachments such as PDF files, Excel or CSV spreadsheets, Word documents, and other formats. You can then export data to spreadsheets, databases, and other business applications, allowing you to automate time-consuming workflows.
In this blog post (updated for 2026), we explain how to automatically parse email attachments using Mailparser, which file formats are supported, where to send extracted data, common use cases, and some frequently asked questions.
Key Takeaways
- Email attachment parsing automatically extracts information from files received by email.
- Mailparser can parse PDF, XLS/XLSX, CSV, DOC/DOCX, TXT, XML, and ZIP attachments.
- You can export extracted data to spreadsheets, databases, business applications, and APIs.
- Email attachment parsing can automate workflows such as invoice processing, recurring reports, HR document processing, lead management, and shipping workflows.
- Instead of handling data entry and downstream tasks manually, which costs a lot of time and causes errors, building an automated workflow that starts with parsing email attachments is far more efficient.
Capture Data from Email Attachments Effortlessly
Save countless hours of tedious data entry and streamline your workflows.
No credit card required.
How to Parse Email Attachments With Mailparser
To parse email attachments with Mailparser, create an inbox, send an email containing the attachment you want to process, and create parsing rules that tell Mailparser which information to extract. You can then send the extracted data to spreadsheets, databases, business applications, or other destinations.
Watch this short video to see how Mailparser works:
To recap, follow these steps:
1. Create an inbox in Mailparser.
2. Send an email with a file attachment to your @mailparser.io inbox.
3. Click on ‘Add Parsing Rules to Extract Data from Email Attachment’.
4. The Automatic Setup Wizard creates a set of parsing rules — one rule for each data field you want to extract. You can edit those rules and create more as needed.
5. When creating a new parsing rule, set the data source to “Attachment”, as shown in this image:
Then, choose “File Content (Text)” if you want to parse text. If you are parsing a spreadsheet file or you want to extract table rows from a PDF file, switch the filter to “File Content (Text Cells)”.
6. You will then see the text or table data from the attached file. From here on, you can add text or table filters to isolate the specific data point you want to extract.
When needed, you can chain multiple text filters until your data field is isolated from the rest. With a first filter, we define where the data we want to extract is located inside the text of the attachment. Then, we define where the data field ends with another filter.
Setting up Mailparser to parse email attachments is easy with our no-code interface. You can edit your parsing rules at any time and also create multiple inboxes for different attachment parsing workflows. Our step-by-step tutorials showcase how Mailparser’s features work and how you can use it for different use cases. And if you need a hand getting your parser set up, our team is always available to help.
Capture Data from Email Attachments Effortlessly
Save countless hours of tedious data entry and streamline your workflows.
No credit card required.
Which File Formats Are Supported?
Mailparser can parse email attachments in the following file formats:
- XLS / XLSX
- CSV
- DOC / DOCX
- TXT
- XML
- ZIP
If your file format is not listed yet, let us know, and we will look into it. The basic idea always stays the same. No matter the file format, Mailparser extracts the text (or table) and makes it available as if it were part of the email body.
What about images and scanned PDFs?
If you want to parse email attachments that are images or scanned PDFs, we recommend you use Docparser, the companion app to Mailparser. Docparser has an OCR engine and AI-powered features capable of identifying and extracting data from images and scanned PDFs with precision.
Where Can You Send Data Extracted from Email Attachments?
After parsing email attachments, you can download parsed data in four formats: XLS, CSV, XML, and JSON.
But that’s not all. You can also export data to other business tools:
- Google Sheets, Excel Online.
- Automation platforms (Zapier, Claris Connect, etc.).
- Direct integrations with cloud apps (Airtable, Microsoft Power Automate, Outlook, etc.).
- Third-party integrations with thousands of cloud apps (Notion, HubSpot, QuickBooks Online, etc.).
- APIs.
This is where the real benefits of automation are found. Beyond automating data entry, you can automate the simple but repetitive tasks that require data found in email attachments.
- Sending Slack notifications
- Creating new CRM records
- Sending follow-up emails
- Adding new client appointments
- Forwarding support tickets to a customer support platform
- And more
This automation leads to enhanced efficiency in your department, lower operational costs, and more time for high-value tasks that require human judgment. In fact, 43% of our users save more than 5 hours a week with email parsing.
What Can You Do With Email Attachment Parsing?
With email attachment parsing, you can automate workflows that depend on information stored in files received by email. Practical use cases include processing invoices, parsing reports, managing leads in CRMs, managing and updating HR records, adding shipping and logistics information, and more.
Automatically process invoices
One of our most common use cases is invoice parsing. Invoice data entry is a common problem for Accounts Payable teams. Email parsing automates this process and sends invoice data to accounting systems or ERPs where new invoice records are automatically created.
With the data entry bottleneck solved, the AP team can approve supplier invoices faster, avoid delays and mistakes, and negotiate better deals with vendors.
Parse recurring reports
Employees in many industries (finance, logistics, manufacturing, retail, e-commerce, etc.) often receive recurring reports by email that contain operational, financial, inventory, sales, or other business data. Those reports may be daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly.
You can see the value of parsing attachments here. After consolidating data in one place, you can focus on the most important tasks in your workflow: sharing with team members, analyzing data, preparing slides, etc.
Professionals with coding skills write scripts to automate this workflow. But with Mailparser, anyone can achieve the same result.
Capture lead details into a CRM
Another major use case for email attachment parsing is extracting lead information from forms and other documents submitted by prospects or shared by colleagues. By speeding up the inbox-to-CRM process, sales reps can follow up with leads much faster.
This is particularly useful for real estate, financial services, insurance, education, home services, and other industries that generate leads through online forms and receive completed forms as email attachments.
Photo by Vitaly Gariev from Pexels
Automate HR document processing
HR teams regularly receive resumes, contracts, onboarding forms, timesheets, and other employee documents as email attachments. Those documents are often structured, making the task easy for email parsers.
In addition to saving time, automated data extraction helps improve clear audit trails and reduce compliance risks by keeping consistent, accurate records. It’s also a boon for recruitment workflows, as recruiters can centralize candidate information from resumes and then swiftly proceed with candidate shortlisting.
Process shipping and logistics documents
Many businesses in the logistics industry parse email attachments to capture key information such as tracking numbers, order numbers, shipment details, delivery information, and delay alerts. That data gets routed to the systems or teams that need it, helping automate subsequent tasks like:
- Updating shipment records.
- Notifying customers.
- Triggering fulfillment processes.
- Keeping teams informed of delivery status.
By automating those routine tasks, teams reduce mistakes, rework, and disputes. On top of that, they can focus more on customer service and strategic work such as improving inventory planning, forecasting demand, or developing process improvements.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is email parsing?
Email parsing is the process of extracting information from an email and converting it into structured data. Email parsing software allows people to automate data entry to save time and reduce error rates.
What is email attachment parsing?
Email attachment parsing refers to parsing data contained in email attachments. With Mailparser, you can parse data from PDF, Excel, CSV, Word, TXT, XML, or ZIP files and send the extracted information to spreadsheets, databases, and other business tools.
How do I automatically extract data from email attachments?
You can use Mailparser to automatically extract data from email attachments and export it to your business tools. No need to write code or train an AI model with a dataset. Just send a sample email to your inbox in Mailparser, build parsing rules, and add an integration with the app or API where you want data to go. This is much simpler than it might sound. Sign up and follow the instructions, or watch a few of our demo tutorials.
Can I parse multiple attachments in one email?
Yes, you can parse multiple attachments in one email if they are of the same file type. You can filter attachments by name pattern to isolate those you want to parse and exclude irrelevant ones. For more details, please read this article.
Why should I use Mailparser as my email parsing software?
Mailparser lets you automate the entire process of extracting data from emails and attachments without writing code. Its no-code interface makes it easy to create and adjust parsing rules, while integrations and export options allow you to send extracted data wherever it needs to go. The time savings can also be significant.
43% of Mailparser users save more than 5 hours per week with email parsing, helping them replace repetitive manual data entry with automated workflows.
Is my data safe with Mailparser?
Yes, we take data security very seriously. Our system is compliant with the latest web security standards. For more details on data security, please read this page.
Get Started Today
Email attachment parsing can turn repetitive, time-consuming data entry into an automated workflow. Instead of manually opening files, inputting information, and handling subsequent tasks manually, Mailparser lets you automatically capture the data you need and send it to your systems, so you can automate the next steps in your workflow, too.
With a rating of 4.9/5 on GetApp, Mailparser helps businesses save time, reduce costs, and automate workflows end-to-end. Whether you’re processing invoices, reports, HR documents, shipping notes, or other recurring business files, you and your team can automate the tedious work and reclaim time for high-impact work.
Sign up today for a free trial and parse attachments in minutes. Set it up once and automate data entry forever.
Capture Data from Emails Effortlessly
Save countless hours of tedious data entry and streamline your workflows.
No credit card required.
