diff --git a/Changelog.rst b/Changelog.rst
index 19bc664..db31674 100644
--- a/Changelog.rst
+++ b/Changelog.rst
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ WIP (add new stuff for the next release)
   (Steve Purcell)
 * Make the list of authentication mechanisms to be configurable.
   (Andreas Mack)
+* Allow to set message access and modification timestamps based
+  on the "Date" header of the message itself.  (Cyril Russo)
 
 OfflineIMAP v6.5.5-rc1 (2012-09-05)
 ===================================
diff --git a/offlineimap/emailutil.py b/offlineimap/emailutil.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..28463f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/offlineimap/emailutil.py
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# Some useful functions to extract data out of emails
+# Copyright (C) 2002-2012 John Goerzen & contributors
+#
+#    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+#    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+#    the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+#    (at your option) any later version.
+#
+#    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+#    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+#    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+#    GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+#    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+#    along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+#    Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301 USA
+
+import email
+from email.Parser import Parser as MailParser
+import time
+
+def get_message_date(content, header='Date'):
+    """
+    Parses mail and returns resulting timestamp.
+
+    :param header: the header to extract date from;
+    :returns: timestamp or `None` in the case of failure.
+    
+    """
+    message = MailParser().parsestr(content, True)
+    dateheader = message.get(header)
+    # parsedate_tz returns a 10-tuple that can be passed to mktime_tz
+    # Will be None if missing or not in a valid format.  Note that
+    # indexes 6, 7, and 8 of the result tuple are not usable.
+    datetuple = email.utils.parsedate_tz(dateheader)
+    if datetuple is None:
+        return None
+    return email.utils.mktime_tz(datetuple)
diff --git a/offlineimap/folder/Base.py b/offlineimap/folder/Base.py
index 27c9a2b..755a31a 100644
--- a/offlineimap/folder/Base.py
+++ b/offlineimap/folder/Base.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 #    along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
 #    Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301 USA
 
-from offlineimap import threadutil
+from offlineimap import threadutil, emailutil
 from offlineimap import globals
 from offlineimap.ui import getglobalui
 from offlineimap.error import OfflineImapError
@@ -48,6 +48,13 @@ class BaseFolder(object):
         if self.visiblename == self.getsep():
             self.visiblename = ''
         self.config = repository.getconfig()
+        utime_from_message_global = \
+          self.config.getdefaultboolean("general",
+          "utime_from_message", False)
+        repo = "Repository " + repository.name
+        self._utime_from_message = \
+          self.config.getdefaultboolean(repo,
+          "utime_from_message", utime_from_message_global)
 
     def getname(self):
         """Returns name"""
@@ -66,6 +73,10 @@ class BaseFolder(object):
         """Should this folder be synced or is it e.g. filtered out?"""
         return self._sync_this
 
+    @property
+    def utime_from_message(self):
+        return self._utime_from_message
+
     def suggeststhreads(self):
         """Returns true if this folder suggests using threads for actions;
         false otherwise.  Probably only IMAP will return true."""
@@ -327,6 +338,9 @@ class BaseFolder(object):
             message = None
             flags = self.getmessageflags(uid)
             rtime = self.getmessagetime(uid)
+            if dstfolder.utime_from_message:
+                content = self.getmessage(uid)
+                rtime = emailutil.get_message_date(content, 'Date')
 
             if uid > 0 and dstfolder.uidexists(uid):
                 # dst has message with that UID already, only update status
diff --git a/offlineimap/folder/IMAP.py b/offlineimap/folder/IMAP.py
index deba1db..cec9eda 100644
--- a/offlineimap/folder/IMAP.py
+++ b/offlineimap/folder/IMAP.py
@@ -15,14 +15,13 @@
 #    along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
 #    Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301 USA
 
-import email
 import random
 import binascii
 import re
 import time
 from sys import exc_info
 from .Base import BaseFolder
-from offlineimap import imaputil, imaplibutil, OfflineImapError
+from offlineimap import imaputil, imaplibutil, emailutil, OfflineImapError
 from offlineimap import globals
 from offlineimap.imaplib2 import MonthNames
 
@@ -431,21 +430,12 @@ class IMAPFolder(BaseFolder):
         :returns: string in the form of "DD-Mmm-YYYY HH:MM:SS +HHMM"
                   (including double quotes) or `None` in case of failure
                   (which is fine as value for append)."""
+
         if rtime is None:
-            message = email.message_from_string(content)
-            dateheader = message.get('Date')
-            # parsedate_tz returns a 10-tuple that can be passed to mktime_tz;
-            # Will be None if missing or not in a valid format.  Note that
-            # indexes 6, 7, and 8 of the result tuple are not usable.
-            datetuple = email.utils.parsedate_tz(dateheader)
-            if datetuple is None:
-                #could not determine the date, use the local time.
+            rtime = emailutil.get_message_date(content)
+            if rtime == None:
                 return None
-            #make it a real struct_time, so we have named attributes
-            datetuple = time.localtime(email.utils.mktime_tz(datetuple))
-        else:
-            #rtime is set, use that instead
-            datetuple = time.localtime(rtime)
+        datetuple = time.localtime(rtime)
 
         try:
             # Check for invalid dates