diff --git a/src/sbbs3/getmsg.cpp b/src/sbbs3/getmsg.cpp
index a632519f6d6ef6b4856b8ecabe01bc2ea936e95e..fb5daf6a3102a881f377c9ae51e1dda6a174dc23 100644
--- a/src/sbbs3/getmsg.cpp
+++ b/src/sbbs3/getmsg.cpp
@@ -161,9 +161,7 @@ void sbbs_t::show_msghdr(smbmsg_t* msg)
 			,timestr(msg->hdr.when_written.time)
 			,smb_zonestr(msg->hdr.when_written.zone,NULL)
 			,age_of_posted_item(age, sizeof(age), msg->hdr.when_written.time - (smb_tzutc(msg->hdr.when_written.zone) * 60)));
-		if(column)
-			CRLF;
-		CRLF;	 // use a custom header file if you don't want a blank line separating the header and body
+		bputs(text[MsgHdrBodySeparator]);
 	}
 	for(i=0;i<msg->total_hfields;i++) {
 		if(msg->hfield[i].type==SENDER)
diff --git a/src/sbbs3/text.h b/src/sbbs3/text.h
index 935040e8e75f4d9156dc0f644150aa6b06020518..4dbdc62152aa23c82268b553e69f512011e95e80 100644
--- a/src/sbbs3/text.h
+++ b/src/sbbs3/text.h
@@ -808,6 +808,7 @@ enum {
 	,SPAMVisibilityIsNow
 	,VoteInThisPollNow
 	,MIMEDecodedPlainText
+	,MsgHdrBodySeparator
 
 	,TOTAL_TEXT
 };
diff --git a/src/sbbs3/text_defaults.c b/src/sbbs3/text_defaults.c
index 7871be7f00244493babdf64efabf531283103878..ec943a0564059ffbb32ec065a157efe8ab081e79 100644
--- a/src/sbbs3/text_defaults.c
+++ b/src/sbbs3/text_defaults.c
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ const char * const text_defaults[TOTAL_TEXT]={
 		"\x01\x6e\x01\x63\xc4\xc4\xc4\xc4\xc4\xfa\xfa\xfa\xfa\x0d\x0a\x01\x68\xb3\x20\x01\x62\x53\x75\x62\x6a\x01\x6e\x01\x62\x3a\x20\x01"
 		"\x68\x01\x63\x25\x2e\x37\x30\x73" // 001 MsgSubj
 	,"\x0d\x0a\xb3\x20\x01\x62\x41\x74\x74\x72\x01\x6e\x01\x62\x3a\x20\x01\x68\x01\x63\x25\x73\x25\x73\x25\x73\x25\x73\x25\x73\x25\x73"
-		"\x25\x73\x25\x73\x25\x73\x25\x73\x25\x73\x25\x73\x25\x73" // 002 MsgAttr
+		"\x25\x73\x25\x73\x25\x73\x25\x73\x25\x73\x25\x73\x25\x73\x25\x73" // 002 MsgAttr
 	,"\x0d\x0a\xb3\x20\x01\x62\x54\x6f\x20\x20\x01\x6e\x01\x62\x3a\x20\x01\x68\x01\x63\x25\x2e\x37\x30\x73" // 003 MsgTo
 	,"\x20\x23\x25\x73" // 004 MsgToExt
 	,"\x20\x28\x25\x2e\x34\x30\x73\x29" // 005 MsgToNet
@@ -1320,4 +1320,5 @@ const char * const text_defaults[TOTAL_TEXT]={
 		"\x6f\x77\x2e\x0d\x0a" // 796 VoteInThisPollNow
 	,"\x01\x6e\x01\x6d\x4d\x49\x4d\x45\x2d\x64\x65\x63\x6f\x64\x65\x64\x20\x70\x6c\x61\x69\x6e\x2d\x74\x65\x78\x74\x3a\x01\x6e\x0d\x0a"
 		"" // 797 MIMEDecodedPlainText
+	,"\x01\x2f\x0d\x0a" // 798 MsgHdrBodySeparator
 };