What is an EML file, how do you open it, and how do you turn it into a PDF?
Opening an .eml you were sent, and turning an email into a PDF record
An email arrived with an attachment called "message.eml", and your phone says there is no app to open it. Or the other way round: a lawyer, a complaints department or your employer wants an email you received as a document, and a screenshot will not do. What both situations have in common is the .eml file.
In plain terms, an .eml is a single email saved together with its envelope: who sent it, who it went to, when, the text and the attachments, all in one file. This article explains how to open it, what makes it onto the page when you turn it into a PDF, what stays behind, and why you should keep the original.
Where did this .eml file come from?
The most common route is the "Forward as attachment" command. When you forward an email as an attachment in Gmail, the email becomes an .eml file on its own, and the recipient sees it as an attachment under the new message. People choose this when they want to show you a conversation exactly as it was: an ordinary forward pastes the original into a new message as text, while forwarding as an attachment sends the email itself.
The second route is downloading your own email. In Gmail, open the message, click the More icon (three dots) and pick Download message; an .eml lands on your computer. Outlook on the web and the new Outlook offer a save command doing the same job in the message's three-dot menu. Classic desktop Outlook, however, saves email as .msg; that difference has its own section below.
Where it opens, and where it does not
Gmail's own help page says that opening a downloaded .eml requires an email program installed on a computer. So getting stuck on your phone is not your fault; it is the nature of the format.
| Where | What happens | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Windows with a mail program | Outlook or Thunderbird opens the .eml on double-click | Fine for reading; convert to PDF if you need a document |
| Mac | The Mail app opens the .eml in its own window | Fine for reading; convert to PDF if you need a document |
| Phone (iPhone, Android) | Often there is no app that will open it | Convert it to PDF; a PDF opens on every phone |
| Notepad, TextEdit | You see the raw file; attachments look like a jumble of letters | Only for a peek; never hand this over as a document |
At a glance: which parts of an email reach the PDF?
An .eml file is built in layers. The diagram shows how the EML to PDF tool treats each one: the top four reach the page in one form or another, while the technical headers at the bottom stay only in the original.
A PDF as evidence: why keep the original?
The PDF is a readable printout of the email; the .eml is the email itself. The EML to PDF tool writes five pieces of information at the top of the page: Subject, From, To, Cc and Date. The technical headers inside the email, such as the unique message ID every email is given and the records of which servers it passed through, are not written to the PDF. They exist only in the .eml file.
In practice this matters when someone disputes the email. If the other side says "I never sent that" or "the text has been altered", the specialist who looks into it will want the .eml, not the PDF. So hand over the PDF as the reading copy, and keep a copy of the .eml with its contents untouched. Ask your lawyer or the organisation you are dealing with which format they want; giving both is usually the safest course.
One more detail: the PDF gives the date and time in your own device's local time, not in the sender's time zone. On an email from abroad, the time may differ from what the sender saw on their screen; that is not an error, just the same moment written in your local time.
What happens to the attachments?
The PDF does not copy what is inside the attachments; at the end it names each one and gives its size, which tells a reader exactly what travelled with the message. If you pick the option that also prints JPG/PNG files, photo attachments appear below the list; PDF and Word attachments are still only named.
If you want the attachments themselves in the bundle, do it in two steps: save the attachments separately from your email program, then combine the email's PDF and the PDF attachments in the order you want with the Merge PDF tool.
- Signature logos and pictures embedded in the text count as attachments too; a part without a name is listed as "unnamed attachment"
- An email attached to the email (an .eml inside an .eml) only appears in the list; save it separately and convert it separately
- If you select several .eml files at once, each becomes its own PDF
If you were sent an Outlook .msg
.msg is classic desktop Outlook's own format; it holds the same kind of information as .eml, but in a different container. The EML to PDF tool recognises a .msg file, does not convert it, and explains where an .eml can be had instead: open the same email in Outlook on the web or the new Outlook and save it from the three-dot menu.
If the email exists only in classic Outlook, there is a shorter route: open the email, go to File > Print and choose Microsoft Print to PDF as the printer. This keeps the email's on-screen look, but it does not carry the technical headers either, so keep the original .msg as well.
Frequently asked questions
How do I open an .eml file on my phone?
Phones' built-in apps usually cannot open .eml. The easiest route is to pick the file in the EML to PDF tool and convert it; the conversion runs in your phone's browser and the email is not sent to any server.
Why are the email's colours and logo missing from the PDF?
The tool turns the email's text into readable type; it does not copy the on-screen design, so the colours, tables and fonts of an HTML email are dropped. For a faithful copy of the layout, use the print window of your mail program and save as PDF there.
Do Bcc recipients show up in the PDF?
No. The PDF only writes the From, To, Cc, Date and Subject lines. Blind-copy information is usually not present at all in the copy that the recipient receives.
Can I hide my phone number and bank details in the email?
Yes. After converting to PDF, the Redact PDF tool can genuinely remove those details from the text and cover them with a black box. Use the redacted copy for people who do not need to see that information, and keep the original PDF and the .eml file separately.
Can I turn several emails into one PDF?
Each .eml becomes its own PDF. You can then put those PDFs in date order with the Merge PDF tool and save them as one file; that is the tidiest way to hand over a whole exchange.
Last updated: October 12, 2026