Guides

Email files, explained

Straight answers for when an email file won’t open.

Open a .msg file on a MacSomeone on Windows sent you an Outlook email as a file. Here’s how to read it, and save its attachments, on a Mac.
Open a .msg file on iPhone or iPadThe Mail app can’t show Outlook .msg files or winmail.dat attachments. Safari can, with nothing to install.
Open .msg and winmail.dat files on AndroidGmail and most Android file managers can’t show Outlook email files. Chrome can, right in the browser.
Open email files on a ChromebookThere’s no Outlook desktop app for ChromeOS, and the Files app can’t preview email files. The browser can.
Open a winmail.dat fileA winmail.dat attachment is a package from Outlook. Inside are the real attachments, and often the message itself.
Why do I get winmail.dat attachments?It’s caused by a setting on the sender’s side, in Outlook or their company’s Exchange server. Here’s what to ask them to change.
Open a .msg file without OutlookNo Outlook on this computer? You can still read an Outlook email file and save its attachments.
Open an .eml fileAn .eml file is one email in the standard internet format. Read it here, with its pictures and attachments, on any device.
Save an email file as PDFA PDF keeps an email readable anywhere, for records, legal files or sending on to people who can’t open .msg files.
Open a .pst or .mbox fileA whole mailbox in one file, from an old Outlook, a Gmail export or a colleague who left. Read the messages without setting up a mail program.
Open an .olm file on WindowsOutlook for Windows can’t open archives made by Outlook for Mac. Your browser can, without uploading them.
OLM to PST: the routes that actually workThere’s no free one-click OLM to PST converter. Here’s what Outlook for Windows can take in, and how to get your mail there.
A private OLM viewer that runs in your browserRead the folders, messages and attachments in an Outlook for Mac archive on any computer, without Outlook and without uploading it.
Export your emails from Outlook for MacHow to make an .olm archive in Outlook for Mac, what goes in it, and how to get your mail out of it on any computer.