E-mail Hunter is a program for finding e-mail addresses – as well as phone numbers and company names – on websites, and for sending messages to the collected addresses. This article is the first part of the program help; the help is also built into the program (the Help menu).
What the program can do
Collecting data from websites. The program downloads the given page, walks through its subpages and searches the content for e-mail addresses. In full-data mode it matches a phone number, company name, postal address, industry and website to each address. It also recognizes foreign addresses (e.g. 16 Simpson Road, Aberdeen, AB23 8EQ or 12 Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris) and reads company data from descriptions pages carry for search engines. The Region column applies to Poland only.
Sending messages. The collected addresses can be used to send a message – to all of them or only to the selected ones, from an HTML editor or as plain text, in batches with pauses.
Version with and without e-mail sending
Searching, the results list, export, campaigns, settings, language and theme work the same in both versions. Only the version with e-mail sending has the mailbox (sending, accounts, blacklist), the message library, and address verification with removal of unverified addresses. In the demo version these options are visible, but they show information about the full version.
The main window
The center of the window holds the results list. Above it are the menu and a toolbar with icons for the most common commands – a description of each action appears when you point at it. At the bottom there is a status bar with the number of items.
The Search window
A search is started with the Search URL command – a window with all settings at once opens. The URL search wizard opens the same window guided step by step: each of the 19 steps shows one group of fields with an explanation – recommended for your first searches.
The search settings window: address, domain scope, iterations, threads, delay, address filters and extra options.
Start address and scope
URL is the page where the program starts (the field already has the https:// prefix). It can be the home page or a specific list straight away, such as a business directory – the closer to the data you start, the sooner you find it. Search only in the specified domain, left ticked, keeps the program inside one website (subdomains of the same site count); clearing it lets the program go anywhere and makes the search much longer.
Iterations, threads and delay
• Iteration Search (subpages) – the maximum number of pages to visit; 1 means the start page only;
• The maximum number of checks at a time (threads) – how many pages are downloaded simultaneously; more is faster, but puts a heavier load on the site and raises the risk of being blocked. The upper limit is set in Program settings;
• The delay search in seconds – the pause between downloads, usually 5–7 seconds. The field works with a single thread only; the pause follows every download, including a page that gave nothing.
Want to crawl a site gently? Set 1 thread and a delay of 5–7 seconds.
Proxy server
Tick Use a proxy and enter the IP address and port – the pages you visit will see the proxy's address instead of yours. An address in IP:port form can be pasted into the address field; the program splits it by itself. When you click Search, the program checks whether the proxy responds and does not start without a connection. For ordinary searches leave this option off.
Page address and e-mail filters
Url contains the text (three fields that work together) narrows the search to addresses matching a pattern. First way – a truncated address: for pages like https://example.com/companies/details/number/1 enter https://example.com/companies/details/number/ in the first field. Second way – words from the address in consecutive fields, e.g. companies, details, number.
Url does not contain the text (two fields) rejects addresses with the given fragment – for example /sort/up removes duplicates of a list that differ only in sorting. The exclusion always applies, also to subpages.
E-mail containing the text and E-mail does not contain the text decide which addresses found reach the list (they do not affect which pages are visited). The Mail button opens a list of address endings (e.g. .com, .eu, .pl) to restrict the results to, or to reject.
Subpages and remembering the state
When the addresses are not on the pages matching the filter but on their subpages (e.g. a separate /contact page), tick Apply filter including subpages and set the Depth – how many links deep the program should go beyond the matching pages (1 = one more link).
Remember the search state saves the progress to disk; at the next start the program offers to resume from where it stopped – even after a power failure.
The extra options of this window – pages built with JavaScript, documents, sign-in and CAPTCHA, robots.txt, the business directory, several addresses – are described in the second part of the help.
Form validation and the progress window
After you click Search the program checks the whole form at once and shows a single Attention! window listing every problem to correct. Then the progress window opens: elapsed time, counter of found data, current address, progress bar and a list of active threads. Results appear on the list as they are found, and Cancel stops the search.
Where to start
• a quick look at one website – domain ticked, 50 iterations, maximum threads, no filters;
• a thorough scan of a business directory – domain ticked, 500+ iterations, Url contains the text set to the list address, subpages with depth 1;
• a site sensitive to load – 1 thread, a 5–7 second delay, state remembering on.
Collecting phone numbers and company names is switched on in Program settings – see the third part of the help.
Other help topics
More parts of the E-mail Hunter help on our blog: precise search tools and hidden addresses; the results list, export and settings; sending messages.
