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 Save Time Managing Your Outlook Email with MessageExport.

Microsoft Office Outlook is a great way to manage your emails on Windows. But wouldn't Outlook be even better if you could easily convert emails to PDF and other formats, and then automatically copy them to a folder?

If you work with Outlook emails, you have to try MessageExport!  It's an Outlook add-in that will save you time and make you more productive.

MessageExport is free to try! Use it for 15 days.  MessageExport installs as an add-in for Microsoft Office Outlook on Windows.  You'll notice it in the Outlook toolbar.  

To use MessageExport, just select the emails in Outlook mail list that you want to convert. 

MessageExport add-on installed in Outlook 2016 toolbar.

Next, choose an export operation from the dropdown list, and then click "Export." 

MessageExport can convert one email message, or thousands of email messages to PDF and many other formats.

Download your free trial of MessageExport today!

How to Save Outlook E-mails to Your Hard Drive or USB Drive

So you have some important emails in Microsoft Outlook that you would like to save to your hard drive or to a portable USB drive?  Here's how to do it.

1. Create a folder on your Windows desktop or USB drive.
2. Select the emails in Outlook
3. Using your mouse, drag the emails to your folder and release.

Outlook will start save those emails to the folder as individual .MSG email files.  MSG files are single emails stored outside of Outlook.  To access these files later, you will need to have a computer with Outlook installed, or a special .msg file viewer.

Outlook automatically names the .MSG files using the message title; there is no way to apply a special file name to the .msg files with Outlook.

What if I Don't Want to Save Outlook Emails to Msg Files?

If you would rather save your Outlook emails in a more open accessible file format, such as PDF, Text, MHT, HTML, MBOX, EML, or if you would like to apply a special naming structure to exported MSG files, then you will appreciate the tools that MessageExport add-in brings to Outlook.


MessageExport integrates with Outlook 2016/2013/2010/2007 toolbars, and makes converting Outlook emails to different formats very simple.  Just select the emails in the Outlook mail list, choose the export format from the drop down list, and click "Export."

MessageExport toolbar in Outlook

MesageExport can also be used to apply a special naming structure to the files save to your Windows hard drive or USB stick.  For example, you can number the emails, include the date or sender information, recipient info, and much more.

Configure File Naming 

Try it Free

Download a free 15 day free trial of MessageExport.  No registration and no credit card is required. Start saving your important emails today!