diff --git a/src/apps/mail/MailWindow.cpp b/src/apps/mail/MailWindow.cpp
index 1c246e892b..5b0c6bcbc9 100644
--- a/src/apps/mail/MailWindow.cpp
+++ b/src/apps/mail/MailWindow.cpp
@@ -2548,11 +2548,11 @@ TMailWindow::SaveAsDraft()
 					return status;
 			case B_OK:
 			{
-				char fileName[B_FILE_NAME_LENGTH], *eofn;
+				char fileName[B_FILE_NAME_LENGTH];
 				// save as some version of the message's subject
 				strlcpy(fileName, fHeaderView->fSubject->Text(),
 					sizeof(fileName));
-				eofn = fileName + strlen(fileName);
+				uint32 originalLength = strlen(fileName);
 
 				// convert /, \ and : to -
 				for (char *bad = fileName; (bad = strchr(bad, '/')) != NULL;
@@ -2564,12 +2564,19 @@ TMailWindow::SaveAsDraft()
 
 				// Create the file; if the name exists, find a unique name
 				flags = B_WRITE_ONLY | B_CREATE_FILE | B_FAIL_IF_EXISTS;
-				for (int32 i = 1; (status = draft.SetTo(&dir, fileName, flags))
-					!= B_OK; i++) {
-					if (status != B_FILE_EXISTS)
-						return status;
-					sprintf(eofn, "%ld", i);
-				}
+				int32 i = 1;
+				do {
+					status = draft.SetTo(&dir, fileName, flags);
+					if (status == B_OK)
+						break;
+					char appendix[B_FILE_NAME_LENGTH];
+					sprintf(appendix, " %ld", i++);
+					int32 pos = min_c(sizeof(fileName) - strlen(appendix), 
+						originalLength);
+					sprintf(fileName + pos, "%s", appendix);
+				} while (status == B_FILE_EXISTS);
+				if (status != B_OK)
+					return status;
 
 				// Cache the ref
 				if (fRef == NULL)