Outlook Add-in: Exporting Outlook Email to .MSG Files

The MessageExport add-in for Microsoft Outlook can convert email messages to .msg format. You can download  a free 15 day trial of MessageExport and follow along with this article.

Outlook's ability to export email as individual .msg files is rather limited.  It is easily done from inside Outlook by just by grabbing one or several email messages from the mail list and then dragging them to your Windows desktop. This technique will potentially leave you with a batch of  disorganized .msg files on your desktop.  

A better way is to extract Outlook email to .msg files is to use the MessageExport add-in.  MessageExport's .msg files are fully compatible with Microsoft Outlook.

To export Outlook mail to .msg with MessageExport, first select the email messages in the mail list.  Control-A will select all emails, or you can hold down the Control button and select individual messages, or you can hold down the Shift button to select a range of messages.

Click Export to save Outlook emails to .msg files.

Next select "Export to MSG" from MessageExport's drop down list, and click the blue "Export" button.  That will begin your export process.

There is no limit to the number of messages you can export, but if you select several thousand messages, be prepared for a bit of of wait.  The time needed to export emails to .msg format will depend on the number of emails selected, and the time needed to download remotely hosted elements (such as pictures) from the web.

You also get the added advantage of being able to apply a specific naming structure to the .msg files. Thinking of a useful naming plan prior to export can allow you to better sort and manage your .msg files when viewing the directory.

By editing the MessageExport profile, you can specify how it should name the .msg files that it is creating.  There are dozens of pieces of information from the email that you can combine into a naming scheme that MessageExport will apply to newly created .msg files on future export operations.

Apply a special naming structure to .msg files

If converting, saving or copying Outlook email messages is important to your job, you'll find MessageExport to be an invaluable tool that will automate repetitive chores and make you more efficient. Your free 15 day trial is followed by a 30 day money back guarantee. Join the thousands of people who have made MessageExport a partner in their workday productivity.

How to convert Outlook email that has been saved to your Windows hard drive as .msg files?

Recently we were contacted by a customer who asked if the MessageExport add-in for Microsoft Outlook could be used to export emails that had already been saved to a Windows desktop folder.  The emails were saved as Outlook .msg files, which are individual email messages that contain all of the original email metadata and file attachments.

The MessageExport add-on functions from within Microsoft Outlook. It is designed to enhance Outlook's abilities to export email.  With MessageExport you can save Outlook emails to numerous file formats: pdf, mbox, eml, jpg, csv, and yes, even .msg format.

After those emails have been saved by MessageExport to your hard drive, what else can MessageExport do with them?  Nothing, actually. MessageExport wasn't designed to work independently of Outlook. Being tightly integrated with Microsoft Outlook gives MessageExport powerful advantages, such as being able to take advantage of Outlook rules and search.  But it can't further manipulate the email messages that it has saved outside of Outlook. It just wasn't designed to do that.

But all hope is not lost.

One way to solve the issue of managing email-formatted content outside of Outlook would be to use an email viewer.   Encryptomatic LLC, the developers of MessageExport, also develop PstViewer Pro. It's an email viewer that does not require Microsoft Outlook. PstViewer Pro performs many of the same functions of MessageExport, but it works entirely from outside of Outlook.  Pst Viewer Pro can read Outlook .pst or .ost files. It can also search and convert .msg and .eml email messages.

Pst Viewer software manages Outlook .pst and .msg files

Using PstViewer Pro, our customer could locate the folder containing his .msg emails.  Whether he had just a few, or thousands of them, Pst Viewer Pro would read them individually and organize them into a mail list.   .Msg files can then be sorted and searched using PstViewer Pro's advanced search feature.

Advanced search helps locate important .msg files

 .Msg emails can also be converted to different formats with PST Viewer Pro.  Select the target format from the drop down list, and click the export button. PST Viewer Pro can convert .msg files into .eml, mbox, csv, pdf, and other formats.

If we wanted to convert .msg files into a comma separated values (csv) format, we would first select the messages from the mail list. Then, choose the target format, CSV, from the drop down list. Lastly, click the yellow export button, as shown in the image below.

Convert .msg files to different formats

While MessageExport is an excellent tool for saving email outside of Microsoft Outlook, it was not intended for managing email outside of Outlook. If you have this need, download a free trial of PST Viewer Pro and try it for 15 days. 

How to Export an Outlook Email Folder to your Windows Desktop

Microsoft Outlook is a great email client, but getting you email messages out of Outlook has never been very easy. The MessageExport add-in makes exporting email messages much easier.

In this tutorial we will show you how to export an entire Outlook email folder to your Windows desktop.  The messages will be converted into .msg files, which are invidual Microsoft Outlook email messages. Each .msg file contains a message and all meta data associated with that email, as well as file attachments.

MessageExport operates under the idea of Export Profiles.  These instruction sets that you select from the MessageExport drop down list.  Any Export Profile may be customized, edited, or otherwise changed to fit your specific need.  New profiles can be easily created.

First choose the profile you want to change and then click the Edit Profile button.

Edit Profile

Under "Main Export Settings," locate the "Export From" drop down list and select from among the options.  Choose "Selected folders with Subfolders" if you want MessageExport to always export the selected mail folder and any subfolders each time you use this Export Profile.

Selected Folders with Subfolders

Click Ok. Now when you use this edited export profile in Outlook, MessageExport will always export the entire folder and any subfolders.

For more information or free trial, visit the MessageExport product home page.

Exporting Outlook email to your Windows desktop as .msg files

Saving your email messages from Microsoft Outlook to your Windows desktop is easier with the MessageExport add-in by Encryptomatic LLC.  This article will show how you can save Outlook emails to your Windows desktop as .msg files.  We'll look at how this is done using Outlook directly, and the advantages of using the MessageExport add-in for Outlook to accomplish this task.

Exporting email as .msg files from Outlook

Our example will be using Outlook 2013.  The easiest way to save a message outside of Outlook is to just drag it from the maillist and drop it to your desktop. This method works well when converting one or a few hundred emails to .msg files.

The resulting .msg files will be named for the email subject line. There is no method in Outlook to customize the file name.

Using MessageExport to save Outlook email as .msg files.

MessageExport is an add-in for Microsoft Outlook. It installs as part of Outlook's menu system.  It has many powerful capabilities for converting and copying Outlook emails.

MessageExport add-in for Outlook.

With MessageExport, you can convert one, or thousands of Outlook emails to .msg, .pdf and many other formats.  The resulting files can have a custom name which may include concatenated fields from the email, such as sender's email address and date received or subject.  The combinations are endless.

Customize .msg file names with MessageExport.

 MessageExport is $79.99 for a single license. A 15 day trial is available. Learn more about MessageExport.

How to Save Email from Outlook 2010

Outlook 2010 provides the native capability to convert a selected email message to a text file, an Outlook Template, Outlook Message Format (.msg file),  or a Unicode Outlook Message.  Here's how to do it.

First, find the message you want to convert in the Outlook 2010 mail list, and click on it.

Next go to File > Save As



Saving an Outlook email

This will open the "Save As" Window.

Change the file name if you wish, then select one of the shown formats.

When you're done click "Save" and Outlook will copy your message to the target format.

Here's another way to copy to Outlook email to .msg files.

If you are interested in copying your email message to an individual Outlook email file (called a .msg file), another way to accomplish this is to simply drag and drop the message from your Outlook list to your Windows desktop. This .msg file will be named <email subject>.msg.  You can then attach the message to an email message or copy it to a flash drive for sharing.  The .msg file will contain all of the images, header information, and file attachments that were in the original email.

How can you copy Outlook emails to other formats? 

MessageExport is an add-in for Outlook that expands its ability to manipulate and convert email messages to different formats including .eml, pdf, csv (Excel), msg, gif, tif, mbox, and others.  You can download a free trial of MessageExport and use it free for 15 days.