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.

MailDex 2023 Software Update is Now Available

MailDex 2023 email viewer/converter is now released. This update is recommended for all customers. It resolves several issues, and brings some new features that we think you'll find useful.

MailDex has been enhanced with additional export profiles that make it easy to bulk extract certain groups of file types from emails. These groups include video files,  Microsoft Office documents, emails that have been attached to emails, PDF files, spreadsheet file types,  documents, and presentation files.

Here's a practical example of how you might use this new feature: 

You are working on a case that requires analysis of all Microsoft Office documents contained in multiple OST and PST files. The files were exchanged by email between January and September of 2022.  MailDex lets you search beween that date range across multiple OST/PST files for any emails that have file attachments.  When you set is assembled, MailDex can now create a copy of all Office documents contained in those emails.

We think you'll find many useful cases for bulk extraction of particular file types from emails. Let us know how you are using this feature and how we can improve it in future releases.

Download MailDex 2023 free trial from the product home page.

If you have any questions, please post them below, or contact us directly.

How to Bulk Export Outlook Email File Attachments in Windows

Our Outlook email messages contain lots of valuable information, often in the form of attached documents, photos, PDF's, text files, and anything else that people want to share by email.  This is especially true in a business environment where important files are often sent through email.  The email spigot never seems to end, however, and sometimes it would be convenient to just copy all of the attachments and save them outside of Microsoft Outlook to a folder, where we can more easily browse, sort and access the files. Unfortunately, Outlook doesn't provide a bulk file extraction capability.

MessageExport add-in by Encryptomatic LLC adds the ability to bulk export email file attachments to Microsoft Outlook, making it easily accessible in Outlook's toolbar.  

Download a 15 day free trial of MessageExport and follow along with us.

Selecting Outlook Email Messages

MessageExport inserts itself into the Outlook toolbar. It is active after you select one or more email messages in the mail list, or if you select a folder of messages.  You can select any number of Outlook email messages.  To choose them all, type Ctrol-A, or just click on the folder containing all the messages. 

This photo shows three messages highlighted messages in Outlook.  Depending on the Outlook UI you have selected, you may see something a little different in your Outlook.  To select just a few messages as I have, hold down the Control key and click on the specific messages to select them.

Bulk Exporting Outlook File Attachments

After you have selected one or more emails,  you can use the MessageExport toolbar in Outlook to convert them, or perform one of the many operations that will now be available to you.  Today, we will just process file attachments in the email messages, saving a copy of them to a folder on our desktop.

 

The MessageExport functions live in the main Outlook toolbar.  The next step is to choose the export profile you want to run. In this case we will choose "Export Attachments Only."  Click the blue "Export" button, and MessageExport will prompt you for a location to store the file attachments.

That's it! 

Whether you choose just a few emails or hundreds (even thousands), MessageExport will copy all file attachments and save them to your local drive.  To be clear: MessageExport will not remove the attachments from your emails, but a copy of the file attachments will be stored to your local drive.

If you have any questions, please post them there, or contact the MessageExport support team!