How to prevent losing formatting when copying string text from one list to another

Question

I have a document list configured for incoming email. I am using the EmailReceived event receiver and SPEmailMessage to parse the email and populate certain table fields.

For my 'body' field, I am using - item["Body"] = emailMessage.PlainTextBody;

When the email arrives, the data in the list appears as sent, with line breaks, etc.

However I now have a workflow that takes that incoming email and creates a new list object in another list using that data.

In my workflow (created with SP Designer), I say the Body field in List2 should equal currentItem:Body. Expecting it just copies the same data across.

What happens though, it copies the text but removes all the line breaks, so it's now all in one line.

I came across this similar issue - SharePoint 2010 workflow losing line breaks when copying to another list - but it didnt make much sense to me.

How can I ensure that both fields are 'rich text' fields in the lists? I added them via the UI in SharePoint 2013.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Ok, it was a little strange.

So using item["Body"] = emailMessage.PlainTextBody; produces the field and text to appear 'normal' in your list. With line breaks and all. But I lost those line breakers when copying that data to another field.

So I tried using item["Body"] = emailMessage.HTMLBody;. But now the data in my field looks terrible because shows all the HTML tags everywhere, HOWEVER, copying that data to a new field produces the desired formatted result.

Which is fine for me. :)

So what I have is an 'incoming Email library' list, which when email gets received is 'dumped/duplicated' into a general email item list, which includes outgoing emails. So although the data now is not all that readable in the original list, it is how I want it in my second list.

Hope this helps someone else, too!