lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm     | 12 ++++++++++++
 lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm      |  2 +-
 lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm | 24 +++++++++++++-----------
 lib/PublicInbox/SearchMsg.pm | 20 ++++++++++++++++----

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
index 4fbbb522f9c9d208dd54a240a3b68662f90163a5..e552cd4f2ff38696bee4d2370f5b33aa10011561 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
@@ -162,6 +162,18 @@ 	$$str =~ s/\A[\r\n]*From [^\r\n]*\r?\n//s if $str;
 	$str;
 }
 
+sub msg_by_smsg ($$;$) {
+	my ($self, $smsg, $ref) = @_;
+
+	# backwards compat to fallback to msg_by_mid
+	# TODO: remove if we bump SCHEMA_VERSION in Search.pm:
+	defined(my $blob = $smsg->blob) or return msg_by_mid($self, $smsg->mid);
+
+	my $str = git($self)->cat_file($blob, $ref);
+	$$str =~ s/\A[\r\n]*From [^\r\n]*\r?\n//s if $str;
+	$str;
+}
+
 sub path_check {
 	my ($self, $path) = @_;
 	git($self)->check('HEAD:'.$path);
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm
index d2c095445778f368160a165f6b14cf8921e1bb43..1e3de5b0d484550b940ce977ff27f8d015ed757e 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ 	my $ibx = $ctx->{-inbox};
 	my $gz = $self->{gz};
 	do {
 		while (defined(my $smsg = shift @{$self->{msgs}})) {
-			my $msg = eval { $ibx->msg_by_mid($smsg->mid) } or next;
+			my $msg = eval { $ibx->msg_by_smsg($smsg) } or next;
 			$msg = Email::Simple->new($msg);
 			$gz->write(PublicInbox::Mbox::msg_str($ctx, $msg));
 			my $bref = $self->{buf};
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm
index f0a3687d1aecf146319f1605faebed1247348268..f8249c50d4621ed0d3d172d7e992987898609ef0 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ 	$doc->add_value($col, $num);
 }
 
 sub add_message {
-	my ($self, $mime, $bytes, $num) = @_; # mime = Email::MIME object
+	my ($self, $mime, $bytes, $num, $blob) = @_; # mime = Email::MIME object
 	my $db = $self->{xdb};
 
 	my ($doc_id, $old_tid);
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ 			}
 		});
 
 		link_message($self, $smsg, $old_tid);
-		$doc->set_data($smsg->to_doc_data);
+		$doc->set_data($smsg->to_doc_data($blob));
 		if (defined $doc_id) {
 			$db->replace_document($doc_id, $doc);
 		} else {
@@ -279,8 +279,8 @@ 	$doc->add_term(xpfx('thread') . $tid);
 }
 
 sub index_blob {
-	my ($self, $git, $mime, $bytes, $num) = @_;
-	$self->add_message($mime, $bytes, $num);
+	my ($self, $git, $mime, $bytes, $num, $blob) = @_;
+	$self->add_message($mime, $bytes, $num, $blob);
 }
 
 sub unindex_blob {
@@ -300,9 +300,9 @@ 	$self->{mm}->mid_delete(mid_clean(mid_mime($mime)));
 }
 
 sub index_mm2 {
-	my ($self, $git, $mime, $bytes) = @_;
+	my ($self, $git, $mime, $bytes, $blob) = @_;
 	my $num = $self->{mm}->num_for(mid_clean(mid_mime($mime)));
-	index_blob($self, $git, $mime, $bytes, $num);
+	index_blob($self, $git, $mime, $bytes, $num, $blob);
 }
 
 sub unindex_mm2 {
@@ -312,9 +312,9 @@ 	unindex_blob($self, $git, $mime);
 }
 
 sub index_both {
-	my ($self, $git, $mime, $bytes) = @_;
+	my ($self, $git, $mime, $bytes, $blob) = @_;
 	my $num = index_mm($self, $git, $mime);
-	index_blob($self, $git, $mime, $bytes, $num);
+	index_blob($self, $git, $mime, $bytes, $num, $blob);
 }
 
 sub unindex_both {
@@ -355,10 +355,12 @@ 	local $/ = "\n";
 	my $line;
 	while (defined($line = <$log>)) {
 		if ($line =~ /$addmsg/o) {
-			my $mime = do_cat_mail($git, $1, \$bytes) or next;
-			$add_cb->($self, $git, $mime, $bytes);
+			my $blob = $1;
+			my $mime = do_cat_mail($git, $blob, \$bytes) or next;
+			$add_cb->($self, $git, $mime, $bytes, $blob);
 		} elsif ($line =~ /$delmsg/o) {
-			my $mime = do_cat_mail($git, $1) or next;
+			my $blob = $1;
+			my $mime = do_cat_mail($git, $blob) or next;
 			$del_cb->($self, $git, $mime);
 		} elsif ($line =~ /^commit ($h40)/o) {
 			if (defined $max && --$max <= 0) {
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchMsg.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchMsg.pm
index 4b0b645e17af961b9bf450f57756fce97acba481..9d873c4a1899a6d9c6f0364e5ad19df2dd88748d 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchMsg.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchMsg.pm
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ 	my ($class, $doc) = @_;
 	my $data = $doc->get_data or return;
 	my $ts = get_val($doc, &PublicInbox::Search::TS);
 	utf8::decode($data);
-	my ($subj, $from, $refs, $to, $cc) = split(/\n/, $data);
+	my ($subj, $from, $refs, $to, $cc, $blob) = split(/\n/, $data);
 	bless {
 		doc => $doc,
 		subject => $subj,
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ 		from => $from,
 		references => $refs,
 		to => $to,
 		cc => $cc,
+		blob => $blob,
 	}, $class;
 }
 
@@ -105,9 +106,11 @@ 	$self->{ts} ||= eval { str2time($self->mime->header('Date')) } || 0;
 }
 
 sub to_doc_data {
-	my ($self) = @_;
-	join("\n", $self->subject, $self->from, $self->references,
-		$self->to, $self->cc);
+	my ($self, $blob) = @_;
+	my @rows = ($self->subject, $self->from, $self->references,
+			$self->to, $self->cc);
+	push @rows, $blob if defined $blob;
+	join("\n", @rows);
 }
 
 sub references {
@@ -184,6 +187,15 @@ 	}
 }
 
 sub _extract_mid { mid_clean(mid_mime($_[0]->mime)) }
+
+sub blob {
+	my ($self, $x40) = @_;
+	if (defined $x40) {
+		$self->{blob} = $x40;
+	} else {
+		$self->{blob};
+	}
+}
 
 sub mime {
 	my ($self, $mime) = @_;