--- a/mailnews/base/search/src/nsMsgSearchTerm.cpp
+++ b/mailnews/base/search/src/nsMsgSearchTerm.cpp
@@ -120,25 +120,33 @@ nsMsgSearchAttribEntry SearchAttribEntry
 // Take a string which starts off with an attribute
 // return the matching attribute. If the string is not in the table, then we can conclude that it is an arbitrary header
 nsresult NS_MsgGetAttributeFromString(const char *string, PRInt16 *attrib)
 {
   NS_ENSURE_ARG_POINTER(string);
   NS_ENSURE_ARG_POINTER(attrib);
 
   PRBool found = PR_FALSE;
-  for (int idxAttrib = 0; idxAttrib < (int)(sizeof(SearchAttribEntryTable) / sizeof(nsMsgSearchAttribEntry)); idxAttrib++)
+  // custom headers have a leading quote
+  if (*string != '"')
   {
-    if (!PL_strcasecmp(string, SearchAttribEntryTable[idxAttrib].attribName))
+    for (int idxAttrib = 0; idxAttrib < (int)(sizeof(SearchAttribEntryTable) /
+         sizeof(nsMsgSearchAttribEntry)); idxAttrib++)
     {
-      found = PR_TRUE;
-      *attrib = SearchAttribEntryTable[idxAttrib].attrib;
-      break;
+      if (!PL_strcasecmp(string, SearchAttribEntryTable[idxAttrib].attribName))
+      {
+        found = PR_TRUE;
+        *attrib = SearchAttribEntryTable[idxAttrib].attrib;
+        break;
+      }
     }
   }
+  else // remove the leading quote
+    string++;
+
   if (!found)
   {
     nsresult rv;
     PRBool goodHdr;
     IsRFC822HeaderFieldName(string, &goodHdr);
     if (!goodHdr)
       return NS_MSG_INVALID_CUSTOM_HEADER;
     //49 is for showing customize... in ui, headers start from 50 onwards up until 99.
@@ -632,39 +640,41 @@ nsMsgSearchTerm::ParseOperator(char *inS
 
 // find the attribute code for this comma-delimited attribute.
 nsresult
 nsMsgSearchTerm::ParseAttribute(char *inStream, nsMsgSearchAttribValue *attrib)
 {
     while (isspace(*inStream))
         inStream++;
 
-    // if we are dealing with an arbitrary header, it may be quoted....
+    // if we are dealing with an arbitrary header, it will be quoted....
+    // it seems like a kludge, but to distinguish arbitrary headers from
+    // standard headers with the same name, like "Date", we'll use the
+    // presence of the quote to recognize arbitrary headers. We leave the
+    // leading quote as a flag, but remove the trailing quote.
     PRBool quoteVal = PR_FALSE;
     if (*inStream == '"')
-    {
         quoteVal = PR_TRUE;
-        inStream++;
-    }
 
-    // arbitrary headers are quoted
-    char *separator = strchr(inStream, quoteVal ? '"' : ',');
+    // arbitrary headers are quoted. Skip first character, which will be the
+    // first quote for arbitrary headers
+    char *separator = strchr(inStream + 1, quoteVal ? '"' : ',');
 
     if (separator)
         *separator = '\0';
 
     PRInt16 attributeVal;
     nsresult rv = NS_MsgGetAttributeFromString(inStream, &attributeVal);
     NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, rv);
 
     *attrib = (nsMsgSearchAttribValue) attributeVal;
 
     if (*attrib > nsMsgSearchAttrib::OtherHeader && *attrib < nsMsgSearchAttrib::kNumMsgSearchAttributes)  // if we are dealing with an arbitrary header....
     {
-      m_arbitraryHeader = inStream;
+      m_arbitraryHeader = inStream + 1; // remove the leading quote
       ToLowerCaseExceptSpecials(m_arbitraryHeader);
     }
     return rv;
 }
 
 // De stream one search term. If the condition looks like
 // condition = "(to or cc, contains, r-thompson) AND (body, doesn't contain, fred)"
 // This routine should get called twice, the first time