How can I convert .msg files (Outlook email message) into .eml?

Question

I have just started using Ubuntu & Thunderbird.

I have saved my Outlook emails in my hard disk and they have an .msg extension. Now when I try to open them in Thunderbird it doesn't open them because Thunderbird used .eml extension.

Please advise how I can convert my old emails from Outlook into Thunderbird format.

There's an online converter here: https://www.jitbit.com/msg2eml/ (disclaimer: I'm one of the coders who created this free tool) — jitbit, Apr 28 '15 at 21:20
similar question: https://askubuntu.com/questions/24884/how-do-i-view-an-outlook-msg-file — DJCrashdummy, Oct 14 '16 at 12:19
Possible duplicate of [How do I view an Outlook .msg file?](https://askubuntu.com/questions/24884/how-do-i-view-an-outlook-msg-file) — 0andriy, Aug 16 '19 at 12:51

score 11 · Answer 1 · edited Sep 19 '17 at 07:14

11

Install the following modules:

sudo apt-get install libemail-outlook-message-perl libemail-localdelivery-perl

When installed, download the .pl file named msgconvert.pl, then run:

./msgconvert.pl --mbox [desiredFilename].eml [currentFileName].msg

Now you can open your .eml file in thunderbird.

Reference:

edited Sep 19 '17 at 07:14

muru

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answered Dec 24 '13 at 14:38

blade19899

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msgconvert.pl is not available for public access – Ilja Jun 16 '15 at 19:21
@Ilja , can't seem to contact the original author(source part in my A). – blade19899 Jun 16 '15 at 21:06
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I think to download msgconvert.pl manually is not a good way. Better use system tools from Perl: `sudo cpan -i Email::Outlook::Message` – Jaime M. Feb 02 '16 at 11:19
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Echoing @JaimeM., I think future visitors would be best served by [`msgconvert.pl`'s author's blog post](http://www.matijs.net/software/msgconv/), his [github](https://github.com/mvz/msgconvert), or the [official Perl stuff his script became](https://github.com/mvz/email-outlook-message-perl). – Michael Sep 12 '16 at 19:58
mirrored `msgconvert.pl` @ https://transfer.sh/11eA5j/msgconvert.pl – evandrix Jun 10 '17 at 13:05
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Opening that Google Docs link in private browsing, I get a 403 no authorization error. I'm replacing it with the link to the raw Github file instead from @Michael's comment. – muru Sep 19 '17 at 07:18

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 24 '13 at 14:04

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This is a online tool to convert mail files into different formats, eml included: Online Mail Converter

edited Dec 24 '13 at 14:04

blade19899

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answered Oct 08 '13 at 14:49

bragboy

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Good to know but this is not suitable for many purposes such as emails containing private or sensitive company information. – augurar Aug 31 '15 at 17:52

score -2 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:04

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Just save the mail in .txt format and change the extension to .eml

Saw it here and it works: Super User - How to save a mail into an .eml-file with Outlook?

The most funny is that there are proprietary converter for that!

edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:04

Community

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answered Oct 04 '13 at 16:22

vmalep

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Saving as `.txt` doesn't preserve the entire message headers and attachments. it's just the body and basic headers and isn't `.eml` format. – matpie Dec 07 '15 at 21:00

How can I convert .msg files (Outlook email message) into .eml?

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