Working With Email Files

Frequently, I get asked to help people with files sent to us as part of discovery.  Often, people are sending emails from a system without providing any way to open or read them.

Email files can be tricky because of a wide variety of ways to open them.  If you have a relatively small number of files, and just need to take a quick look at them, this web site my be helpful:

http://www.coolutils.com/Online/Mail-Converter

This online utility will take files in EML, MSG, MIM, MBOX, MBX, DBX, PST, OLM, or VCF formats and convert them to a more easily readable format such as PDF.  This can be great if you just need to read the emails.  But if you need to do more with them, or access attachments, you may need something more.

Most commonly we see files in .PST or .MSG format.  Both of these formats are commonly exported from a Microsoft Outlook account.

Many of you have MS Outlook already installed on your computer.  If you have a recent version of MS Office, you probably also have Outlook.  We began installing it by default after we got rid of GroupWise.  Prior to that, we did not install Outlook because it often caused conflicts with GroupWise.

If you have Outlook installed, you may simply be able to import the file directly into Outlook.  From there, you can access the files just as if you were viewing them on the original system.  If, however, you are using Outlook for regular email, be careful about importing other people's PST or MSG files into your emails.  You don't want to get their email mixed in with your email.  Be sure to save it to a separate folder.

Another option it to use PST Viewer Pro.  This is a program specifically designed to let you review PST or MSG files.  This program will also work with OST files, which is yet another Outlook export format, but one not commonly used. As we have to pay for each licensed installation, we don't install it by default on all computers.  But if you have a need for it, call the help desk.  We can make it available to you.

The EML format is a default export format for Outlook Express or Windows Live Mail.  There is an easy trick to open these files.  EML is actually saved as a MHTML file, which almost any browser can open.  If you change the .EML extention to .MHT, you should be able to click on the file and have it open.  PST Viewer Pro will also open such files.  If you have Outlook Express or Windows Live installed on you computer, you should be able to import them that way.

The MBOX format is a mailbox file format that works across a wide variety of non-Microsoft email programs.   The best way to access these files is to use a free mail program and simply import the file. If you are looking for a program for just this purpose, I recommend i.scribe.  This is a very small program that can run on your computer.  Once installed, you can drag and drop MBOX files directly into a folder that you create in i.Scribe, then begin reading the emails.  Unlike several other email programs, you can begin using i.scribe without having to connect to an online mail account.

If you receive emails in other formats, we can try to figure out a solution.  But often, if the format is for some proprietary third party program, you may not be able to open it without access to the original program.