Variables Reference

Variables are placeholders in braces, such as {Subject Normalized}, that mxHERO fills from each email. You use them in storage file paths, file names, custom variables and policies. This page lists every built-in variable by group, with what it returns and an example.

How to read this page

• Names are exactly as the dashboard shows them. Type { in a path or name field to pick a variable from the list instead of typing it. The list groups entries as Default variable, User variable and Platform variable.
• Not every variable is offered in every rule. The list shows only the variables that apply to the rule's action and target. For example, mailbox variables appear only for User Mailboxes rules.
• Some variables hold several values, such as all To recipients. In a path, each value can produce its own folder. In a condition, each value is tested separately.
• Examples use this email unless noted: from Mary Smith <mary@example.com> to bob@partner.example and carol@partner.example, Cc dan@example.com, subject Fwd: Q4 budget 🔥, sent October 19, 2026 at 14:30:05, processed for the managed account mary@example.com. The organization owns example.com.

Default variables

Nine ready-made variables provided by mxHERO. They appear in Auto Filling › Variables › Default Variables, where you can Show or Copy them but not edit them. Each returns the matching value only when an attachment matches, so they are most useful in Filter Policies and Security Policies.

To see a default variable's exact pattern, click Show. To change it, click Copy and edit the copy. See Custom Variables.

User variables

Variables your organization creates in Auto Filling › Variables. They are listed under User variable with the name you gave them. See Custom Variables.

Platform variables

Managed account and peer

Offered for Email Flow and Forwarding Address rules (Protect Attachments, Secure Emails, Zip Attachments, Copy Emails, Temporary Hold, Request Approval). The managed account is the account in your organization that the rule is processing for. With an individual copy per recipient, the rule runs once for each managed party.

Envelope sender and recipient

Same availability as above. The envelope is the address used for delivery, which can differ from the From and To headers.

Forwarding address

Offered for Copy Emails rules with a Forwarding Address target.

You can add +<text> to a forwarding address to pass extra information, for example a client code. The rule still runs, and Original Archiving Address lets you use the text in a path through a custom variable.

Mailbox

Offered for User Mailboxes rules (Copy Emails, Move Emails, Protect Attachments on mailboxes).

Rule settings

Offered for all actions. These are shown in the list without braces and without a description.

Storage

Offered for actions that save files (Protect Attachments, Secure Emails, Zip Attachments, Copy Emails, Move Emails, Drag and Drop).

Dates

Three date bases, each in nine formats. Sent or Receive Date uses the sent date and falls back to the received date when the email has none. Dates are written in the rule's time zone (Locale & Time zone › TimeZone), or the organization's time zone if the rule has none. Hours are 00–23.

For year, month or day folders, use the Received Date or Sent Date variants.

In conditions, the three full-date formats can be compared as dates, and year, month, day, hours, minutes and seconds as numbers.

Address fields

Each address header has the same set of variables. Use the row for what you need and the column for the header. Recipients covers To, Cc and Bcc together.

The Reply-To variables use the Reply-To header, or the From address when the email has no Reply-To.

Examples with the sample email:

Internal and external addresses

Each address group above also exists in an Internal and an External version. Internal values are addresses in your organization's domains; external values are all others. The name pattern is {<Internal|External> <group>, <what>}:

• Groups: From, Reply-To, To Recipients, Cc Recipients, Recipients
• What: address, name, domain part, local part, name and address, unique address, unique domain, address count, domain count, unique address count, unique domain count

Use the count variables in conditions, for example "more than 10 external recipients".

Subject, body and headers

Attachments

Text from scanned images and image-only PDFs needs OCR, which adds four more variables when mxHERO enables it. See OCR Text Extraction.

Tips

• For folder and file names, prefer Subject Normalized and Attachment Normalized Name. They avoid characters that providers remove. See File and Folder Naming Rules.
• Email Address and Peer Address change with the direction of the email. Use From Address, Sender or Recipient when you need a fixed role.
• Count, date and true/false variables are most useful in conditions. Address and subject variables are most useful in paths.

Related pages

• Storage File Paths
• Custom Variables
• Regular Expressions
• OCR Text Extraction
• Filter Policies