{"id":436,"date":"2014-07-30T09:54:05","date_gmt":"2014-07-30T09:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/?page_id=436"},"modified":"2026-03-31T06:56:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:56:18","slug":"how-to-save-emails","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/how-to-save-emails\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Save Emails Out of Outlook"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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How To Save Emails Out of Outlook<\/span> <\/h1> <\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Saving emails is useful for backing up, keeping related project\/case file emails archived together, or for using different search tools other than Outlook\u2019s native searching capabilities. Follow these instructions to find out how to save emails out of Outlook.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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How to save emails from Outlook 2021, 2019, 2016 and 2013:<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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  1. In the main Outlook window,\u00a0select the emails<\/strong>\u00a0you want to save<\/li>
  2. Note: Select several emails by holding down the ctrl key while you select them with your mouse (or use Ctrl-A to select them all)<\/li>
  3. Drag<\/strong>\u00a0them to the desktop<\/li><\/ol>

    Doing it this way saves the emails out in Outlook native format (.msg files). When you click on them from your desktop, they will open in Outlook.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    If you don\u2019t want to save the emails in Outlook format, you can save them as HTML or even plain text:<\/p>

    1. In the main Outlook window, select the emails<\/strong> you want to save<\/li>
    2. Note: Select several contacts by holding down the ctrl key while you select them with your mouse (or use Ctrl-A to select them all)<\/li>
    3. Choose File<\/strong> (the tab at the top) then Save As<\/strong><\/li>
    4. Choose a format and click Save<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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      Choosing the format is the most important part because what you want to do with the email after this has an impact on the save format. Out of the five formats Outlook supports (HTML, MHT, TXT, OFT and MSG), only OFT and MSG support saving any attachments along with the email. They can both be opened in Outlook because they are Outlook native formats. The OFT is usually used for templates, so that a copy of a frequently used email can be saved to your desktop, and double clicked when you need to send a copy of that email. MSG is the native Outlook format, and if you move emails from one machine to another, both of these two formats will need to have Outlook on that machine in order to read the email. The other formats do not require Outlook and can be read either by a browser or by a text editor like Notepad.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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      If this is for searching (say for a legal discovery requirement), you\u2019re probably better off saving the emails as individual PDF files, then search those. The Save As PDF<\/a> add-in will do this. Even better, the Save As PDF Pro add-in<\/a> will take your emails and save them all into one long PDF file, either as a PDF portfolio, or just the plain format of email 1, attachment 1, email 2, attachment 2, etc. Then all you have to do is use the search function in your PDF reader.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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      In any case, Outlook does not support automatically saving emails as they arrive, or saving emails in multiple folders all at the same time. For this you would need an add-in like our Attachment Save add-in<\/a>. It saves emails as well as attachments. To learn how to save Outlook emails using the add-in, follow these instructions:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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      How to automatically save emails from Outlook using our add-in:<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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      1. In Outlook,\u00a0click on the\u00a0Sperry Software<\/em>\u00a0button<\/strong><\/li>
      2. Click<\/strong>\u00a0on the Attachment Save add-ins\u2019\u00a0Overall Settings 1<\/em>\u00a0tab<\/li>
      3. Check<\/strong>\u00a0the\u00a0Automatic<\/em>\u00a0box to start processing emails automatically<\/li>
      4. Choose an Outlook folder<\/strong>\u00a0(like say, the Inbox)<\/li>
      5. Choose a Windows folder<\/strong>\u00a0where the saved emails will reside in the next tab (in the\u00a0Overall Settings 2<\/em>\u00a0tab)<\/li>
      6. Check<\/strong>\u00a0the Enable saving of emails option (in the\u00a0Specific Settings<\/em>\u00a0tab)<\/li>
      7. Choose<\/strong>\u00a0one of the five custom formats (MSG, TXT, HTML, EML, and TNEF)<\/li><\/ol>

        The add-in also supports scanning all your Outlook email folders and then saving email to Windows folders preserving your Outlook folder structure onto hard disk. To do this, follow these instructions:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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        How to save emails from Outlook in bulk:<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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        1. Click<\/strong>\u00a0on the\u00a0Sperry Software<\/em>\u00a0icon in the main Outlook toolbar<\/li>
        2. Click<\/strong>\u00a0on the Attachment Save add-ins\u2019\u00a0Utilities<\/em>\u00a0tab<\/li>
        3. Click<\/strong>\u00a0the\u00a0Process Now\u2026<\/em>\u00a0button<\/li>
        4. Choose an Outlook folder<\/strong>\u00a0(or several Outlook folders)<\/li>
        5. Click\u00a0<\/strong>the\u00a0Process Now<\/em>\u00a0button to start saving emails<\/li><\/ol>

          This may all be fine, but what if you need to save emails from this sender (or with this subject) to this folder, and emails from that sender to that Windows folder? For this kind of automation, you would need the Attachment Save Pro add-in<\/strong>, which saves emails and\/or attachments based on rules you create<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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          Need more information?<\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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          Download a\u00a0free trial version of the Attachment Save add-in<\/a>.
          Download a\u00a0          free trial version of the Attachment Save Pro add-in<\/a>.
          See\u00a0          How to back up emails in Outlook<\/a>.
          View a\u00a0          list of useful Outlook how to articles<\/a>
          Feel free to also chat with us by clicking on the \u201cLive Chat\u201d icon. We try to answer any questions we can.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          How To Save Emails Out of Outlook Saving emails is useful for backing up, keeping related project\/case file emails archived…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-436","page","type-page","status-publish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123493,"href":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/436\/revisions\/123493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sperrysoftware.com\/Email-Tools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}