Saving Outlook Email as .EML Files

.EML files are email files that conform to an open format specified in a document called RFC-822. Although Outlook cannot directly convert email to .eml format,  this ability can be added to Outlook after installing MessageExport.

MessageExport is an add-in for Microsoft Outlook. It integrates tightly with Outlook through the Outlook toolbar.

Outlook toolbar for exporting email to .eml files

To use MessageExport, select the email messages in the Outlook maillist that you want to export to eml format.  You can select a range of email messages by holding down the Shift-key. To select multiple emails individually, hold down the Control-key while you click on email messages. To select all messages in the list, type Control-A.

Select messages to export to .eml from Outlook's maillist

After your messages are selected, go to the MessageExport toolbar. Select "Export to EML" and then click the blue Export button to start the process.

Toolbar closeup

MessageExport will begin processing your messages, and then the export process will start.

Export status message during .eml export operation

You will be prompted to select a target folder for the .EML files s if a folder has not been specified in the "export to eml" profile. If you are exporting a large number of Outlook messages to .eml, you may want to make a few a folder to hold all of your messages. It's not a good idea to export a large number of emails directly to your Windows desktop, as it will clutter your desktop and slow Microsoft Windows.

Select target folder where .eml files will be stored

The export process will continue until all of the Outlook emails have been exported to .eml format. The amount of time required to complete the export depends on a few factors.  Text formatted emails are converted very quickly.  HTML emails that have graphics hosted on an internet server require additional time to download those elements.   Speed is also affected by the resources on your computer. More memory, a fast hard disk drive, and a fast processor will help speed the job along.

MessageExport status during eml file export operation

As the export continues, you will be able to track MessageExport's progress with the status bar.

Custom naming of .eml files

The MessageExport "Export to EML" export format is a set of instructions that can be edited by the user, giving lots of control over how MessageExport performs its functions. For example, if you want to change how MessageExport names the .eml files, click the settings button and go to the Naming tab.

Naming .eml files

MessageExport is a versatile add-in for Microsoft Outlook that expands Outlook's ability to export email to many different formats, including .eml format.  Encryptomatic LLC is the developer of MessageExport, and they offer a free 15 day trial.  After the full trial, you can continue to use MessageExport to export messages individually, and can activate the full version at any time.

Download a free trial of MessageExport.

[updated 2019]

Automating Email To PDF Conversion Using MessageExport Add-In For Microsoft Outlook

MessageExport is an add-in for Microsoft Outlook (2010/2013/2016/365) that extends Outlook's ability to manipulate email. Among MessageExport's many capabilities is the automation of Outlook email to PDF. You can use MessageExport to automatically convert Outlook email into PDF files, with options to convert email file attachments into PDF as well.

The basic method of using MessageExport is to select the emails you want to convert in the Outlook mail list, choose the export profile (that's the target format selected from the drop down list, such as pdf, msg, csv, etc), and then click the "Export" button.


MessageExport Toolbar in Outlook 2010

MessageExport's "Export Profiles" give you a lot of control over how they function. You can create your own export profiles or edit the existing profiles. Let's talk about how we can set MessageExport to automatically export email messages to PDF.

Once MessageExport is installed on your computer (a free 15 day trial is available for testing), consider how you want message to flow. For example, do you want to export only certain messages to PDF format?  If so, you should begin with an Outlook rule that will place a copy of specific messages into an Outlook folder. MessageExport can then be setup to monitor that folder and export any emails that are copied to that folder into PDF files.

Next, ask yourself how you want to handle email file attachments. Should MessageExport ignore attachments?  Embed them as separate files within the PDF?  Should it extract the files to disk? Or should it try to convert the file attachments into the PDF document image?

Once you've come to a decision on the above items, let's proceed. 

In our example today, I am going to have MessageExport convert all email messages that are copied to a specific folder into PDF files.

First, right click on your Outlook folder structure and select "new folder." 
Next, setup an Outlook rule that will copy email that meet your specific criteria to this new folder.
Third, go the MessageExport settings and edit the Export Profile to process new email messages that arrive in this folder. Here's how to accomplish step three in detail.

First, go to the MessageExport toolbar and select the profile called "Export to PDF - attachmetns converted/included."  Then click the Edit Profile button.

Click Edit Profile will cause the profile settings window to appear. Next, change the "Export From" field to "Predefined Folder with Subfolders."  This will cause a folder window to popup. Select the Outlook folder where your Outlook rule will be copying emails. This folder will contain the emails that MessageExport will process.

To have MesageExport only save new email messages, check the box that says, "Turn on Export History."  Now it will only export an email one time and prevent duplicates.

From here, click the tab called "Scheduler" to setup the intervals at which MessageExport will check the folder and process any new emails.  Click "Enabled" to turn on the scheduler.
You can then set the time for the first execution of the schedule, as well as an optional last date. The schedule can be set to repeat at any interval you wish. Intervals are scheduled in minutes. To repeat every hour, just type in 60 minutes.



MessageExport's Outlook Scheduler

Click Ok, and you're ready to go!  MessageExport will run this schedule at the interval you specify, will convert any new email messages to PDF that your rule places in the target folder, and will copy those PDF files to a location that you specify.

Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions please ask them in the comments field below.

How to Export an Outlook Email Folder

Outlook provides limited options when copying email beyond the pst or ost file containing the mail folder.  The easiest way to move emails from an Outlook folder is to open that folder, then select all of the emails by typing Control-A.  Drag and drop the emails to your Windows desktop. They will be saved as Outlook .msg email files.

Saving Emails from Outlook Folder to Desktop

If you need more control over the process, such as converting the emails in the Outlook folder to a file type other than .msg (such as .eml, .pdf, .csv, .doc, etc), try a 15 day free trial of MessageExport add-in for Outlook.

MessageExport lets you easily create customized export profiles (or functions) that export a specific or selected Outlook email folder, in specific ways.  For example, an export profile could be set to run on the Sent Items folder,  convert any new email items in that folder to PDF, and save the PDF files in a folder on your hard drive.  If its important to automate the export, a timer may be set so that MessageExport automatically runs the export profile after time period you specify.

Exporting with MessageExport Add-in

After installing the free trial of MessageExport, you'll find the add-on has been added to your Outlook toolbar.

MessageExport toolbar in Outlook

In this demonstration, we want to create a MessageExport profile that will export all of the emails in the Sent Items folder and save them to PDF.   To do this, we can either create an entirely new export profile, or edit an existing profile.  Today, I'm going to edit the "Export to PDF" profile and change it fit our need.

The first step is to select the profile we want to change from the drop down list in MessageExport.

Next, click the "Tool" icon in the toolbar. This opens the profile in edit mode.

Under "Main Export Settings," tell MessageExport to export from "Predefined Folder." This will open a Outlook folder structure explorer. Find the Outlook folder(s) you want to export email from, and tick the box next to it.

Select the Outlook folder

The final setting to set is Main Export Setting > Export Format.  For our example, we want it set to PDF, although there many formats you can choose from.

Export Format Setting

It may also be a good idea to check the box next to "Turn on Export History." Doing so will prevent MessageExport from duplicating emails that have already been export from Outlook to PDF.

Click Ok, and run your new MessageExport profile.


There are so many ways that MessageExport can be configured. Our support team is always ready to advise customers who need to build particularly complex export profiles. 

Download the 15 day free trial of MessageExport see how much time it can save you!