diff --git a/lib/database.cc b/lib/database.cc
index 7f8a830..d30c1b0 100644
--- a/lib/database.cc
+++ b/lib/database.cc
@@ -1698,7 +1698,7 @@ notmuch_database_add_message (notmuch_database_t *notmuch,
 		goto DONE;
 
 	    date = notmuch_message_file_get_header (message_file, "date");
-	    _notmuch_message_set_date (message, date);
+	    _notmuch_message_set_header_values (message, date, from, subject);
 
 	    _notmuch_message_index_file (message, filename);
 	} else {
diff --git a/lib/message.cc b/lib/message.cc
index e8cf8d9..2a76dc1 100644
--- a/lib/message.cc
+++ b/lib/message.cc
@@ -414,6 +414,27 @@ _notmuch_message_ensure_message_file (notmuch_message_t *message)
 const char *
 notmuch_message_get_header (notmuch_message_t *message, const char *header)
 {
+    std::string value;
+
+    // fetch header from the appropriate xapian value field if available
+    if (strcmp(header,"from") == 0)
+        value=message->doc.get_value(NOTMUCH_VALUE_FROM);
+    else if (strcmp(header,"subject") == 0)
+        value=message->doc.get_value (NOTMUCH_VALUE_SUBJECT);
+    else if (strcmp(header,"message-id") == 0)
+	value=message->doc.get_value (NOTMUCH_VALUE_MESSAGE_ID);
+
+    if (!value.empty()) {
+	// empty headers are encoded as a single space because xapian
+	// doesn't seem to differentiat between unset and empty value
+	// fields
+	if (value == " ")
+	    return "";
+	else
+	    return talloc_strdup (message, value.c_str ());
+    }
+
+    // otherwise fall back to parsing the file
     _notmuch_message_ensure_message_file (message);
     if (message->message_file == NULL)
 	return NULL;
@@ -771,8 +792,10 @@ notmuch_message_set_author (notmuch_message_t *message,
 }
 
 void
-_notmuch_message_set_date (notmuch_message_t *message,
-			   const char *date)
+_notmuch_message_set_header_values (notmuch_message_t *message,
+				    const char *date,
+				    const char *from,
+				    const char *subject)
 {
     time_t time_value;
 
@@ -785,6 +808,9 @@ _notmuch_message_set_date (notmuch_message_t *message,
 
     message->doc.add_value (NOTMUCH_VALUE_TIMESTAMP,
 			    Xapian::sortable_serialise (time_value));
+    message->doc.add_value (NOTMUCH_VALUE_FROM, from);
+    // empty subject is encoded as a single space
+    message->doc.add_value (NOTMUCH_VALUE_SUBJECT, (*subject==0) ? " " : subject);
 }
 
 /* Synchronize changes made to message->doc out into the database. */
diff --git a/lib/notmuch-private.h b/lib/notmuch-private.h
index 0856751..ed3d32d 100644
--- a/lib/notmuch-private.h
+++ b/lib/notmuch-private.h
@@ -105,7 +105,9 @@ _internal_error (const char *format, ...) PRINTF_ATTRIBUTE (1, 2);
 
 typedef enum {
     NOTMUCH_VALUE_TIMESTAMP = 0,
-    NOTMUCH_VALUE_MESSAGE_ID
+    NOTMUCH_VALUE_MESSAGE_ID,
+    NOTMUCH_VALUE_FROM,
+    NOTMUCH_VALUE_SUBJECT
 } notmuch_value_t;
 
 /* Xapian (with flint backend) complains if we provide a term longer
@@ -281,9 +283,10 @@ void
 _notmuch_message_ensure_thread_id (notmuch_message_t *message);
 
 void
-_notmuch_message_set_date (notmuch_message_t *message,
-			   const char *date);
-
+_notmuch_message_set_header_values (notmuch_message_t *message,
+				    const char *date,
+				    const char *from,
+				    const char *subject);
 void
 _notmuch_message_sync (notmuch_message_t *message);