diff --git a/lib/message-handler.js b/lib/message-handler.js
index 08c3ca91..ee911da1 100644
--- a/lib/message-handler.js
+++ b/lib/message-handler.js
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ const parseDate = require('../imap-core/lib/parse-date');
 const log = require('npmlog');
 const packageData = require('../package.json');
 const { SettingsHandler } = require('./settings-handler');
+const { htmlToText } = require('html-to-text');
 
 // index only the following headers for SEARCH
 const INDEXED_HEADERS = ['to', 'cc', 'subject', 'from', 'sender', 'reply-to', 'message-id', 'thread-index', 'list-id', 'delivered-to'];
@@ -360,6 +361,30 @@ class MessageHandler {
                                 return html;
                             })
                             .filter(html => html);
+
+                        messageData.intro = htmlToText(messageData.html.join(''))
+                            // assume we get the intro text from first 2 kB
+                            .substr(0, 2 * 1024)
+                            // remove markdown urls
+                            .replace(/\[[^\]]*\]/g, ' ')
+                            // remove quoted parts
+                            // "> quote from previous message"
+                            .replace(/^>.*$/gm, '')
+                            // remove lines with repetetive chars
+                            // "---------------------"
+                            .replace(/^\s*(.)\1+\s*$/gm, '')
+                            // join lines
+                            .replace(/\s+/g, ' ')
+                            .trim();
+
+                        if (messageData.intro.length > 128) {
+                            let intro = messageData.intro.substr(0, 128);
+                            let lastSp = intro.lastIndexOf(' ');
+                            if (lastSp > 0) {
+                                intro = intro.substr(0, lastSp);
+                            }
+                            messageData.intro = intro + '…';
+                        }
                     }
 
                     this.users.collection('users').findOneAndUpdate(