diff --git a/src/mu-cmd-find.c b/src/mu-cmd-find.c
index 2ab2f297..6b18823e 100644
--- a/src/mu-cmd-find.c
+++ b/src/mu-cmd-find.c
@@ -161,15 +161,9 @@ run_query (MuQuery *xapian, const gchar *query, MuConfig *opts,
 		rv = mu_output_plain (iter, opts->fields, opts->summary_len,
 				      count);
 		break;
-	case FORMAT_XML:
-		rv = mu_output_xml (iter, count);
-		break;
-	case FORMAT_JSON:
-		rv = mu_output_json (iter, count);
-		break;
-	case FORMAT_SEXP:
-		rv = mu_output_sexp (iter, count);
-		break;		
+	case FORMAT_XML:  rv = mu_output_xml (iter, count); break;
+	case FORMAT_JSON: rv = mu_output_json (iter, count); break;
+	case FORMAT_SEXP: rv = mu_output_sexp (iter, count); break;		
 	default:
 		g_assert_not_reached ();
 		return FALSE;
diff --git a/src/mu-msg-fields.c b/src/mu-msg-fields.c
index 7c7803a6..3cfdc2fe 100644
--- a/src/mu-msg-fields.c
+++ b/src/mu-msg-fields.c
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ static const MuMsgField FIELD_DATA[] = {
 		MU_MSG_FIELD_ID_SIZE,
 		MU_MSG_FIELD_TYPE_BYTESIZE,
 		"size", 'z', 'Z', /* siZe */
-		FLAG_GMIME
+		FLAG_GMIME | FLAG_XAPIAN_TERM | FLAG_XAPIAN_VALUE
 	},
 	
 	{ 
diff --git a/src/mu-msg-iter.cc b/src/mu-msg-iter.cc
index 0f16cfca..b158e716 100644
--- a/src/mu-msg-iter.cc
+++ b/src/mu-msg-iter.cc
@@ -212,15 +212,6 @@ mu_msg_iter_get_field_numeric (MuMsgIter *iter, MuMsgFieldId mfid)
 	} MU_XAPIAN_CATCH_BLOCK_RETURN(static_cast<gint64>(-1));
 }
 
-static long
-get_field_number (MuMsgIter *iter, MuMsgFieldId mfid)
-{
-	const char* str = mu_msg_iter_get_field(iter, mfid);
-	return str ? atol (str) : 0;
-}
-
-
-
 /* hmmm.... is it impossible to get a 0 docid, or just very improbable? */
 unsigned int
 mu_msg_iter_get_docid (MuMsgIter *iter)
@@ -292,8 +283,14 @@ size_t
 mu_msg_iter_get_size (MuMsgIter *iter)
 {
 	g_return_val_if_fail (!mu_msg_iter_is_done(iter), 0);
-	return static_cast<size_t>(get_field_number
-				   (iter, MU_MSG_FIELD_ID_SIZE));
+	
+	try {
+		return static_cast<size_t>(
+			Xapian::sortable_unserialise(
+				mu_msg_iter_get_field
+				(iter,MU_MSG_FIELD_ID_SIZE)));
+
+	} MU_XAPIAN_CATCH_BLOCK_RETURN(0);
 }