How to Open an EML Format File

EML is a file format for Outlook and Outlook Express developed by Microsoft. An EML file is an archived email that retains the original HTML header and formatting. Most mail browsers support EML files, but if you don’t have a mail browser installed or are using a mobile device, there are ways to help you open this type of file.

Table of Contents

Steps

Troubleshoot

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EML files cannot be opened in Outlook Express after installation. Usually, it’s because another program has taken control of the EML extension. You will have to reset the file associations for Outlook Express.

Close Outlook Express if you have it open. ^{[1] X Trusted Source Microsoft Support Go to Source}
Press ⊞ Win + R .
Type msimn /reg and press ↵ Enter . This is the file association reset operation for Outlook Express. From now on, EML files will automatically open in Express with just a double click.

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Check the extension. Some users reported that backups created by Windows Live Mail mutated the EML extension ( *._eml instead of *.eml ). If you cannot open the EML file, try to check if the extension has been changed. ^{[2] X Research Source}

See step 2 in this section to enable file extensions if you have them hidden.
Rename EML files with the *._eml extension to remove the _ .

On Windows

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Open EML file with mail browser. In fact, an EML file is an email in the form of a file. The easiest way to open this type of file is to use a mail browser like Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail or Thunderbird. Most new versions of these programs automatically support EML files, so you only need to double-click to open the file.

When you open an EML file in your mail browser, you can download the attachments that come with the file and see the standard format and images.
If you do not have a mail browser or cannot open the EML file in the mail browser, please continue reading below.

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Change the extension to view this file in a web browser. EML files share many similarities with MHTML, and changing the extension to *.mht will quickly convert the file to a format that can be opened in Internet Explorer. Although other web browsers can open MHT files, Internet Explorer is the only browser that displays the standard format. However, this method does not allow you to download attachments.

Enable file extensions if you have them hidden. In Windows 8, you can check the “File name extensions” box in the View tab of the Explorer window. For earlier versions of Windows, you would open the Contrp Panel and select Fpder Options. Click the View tab and uncheck the “Hide extensions for known file types” box.
Right click on the EML file and select “Rename”.
Remove the .eml extension and replace it with .mht . Windows will warn that this may cause the file to crash. Your job is to confirm the extension change.
Open the file in Internet Explorer. This is the default program for MHT files. You can right-click the file, select “Open with” and select Internet Explorer from the list. Internet Explorer will show you the MHT file in the same format as it does in the mail browser.

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Download and install FreeViewer EML File Viewer. You can download the program for free at: http://www.freeviewer.org/eml/.

Access the folder containing the EML file.
Double-click the folder. The EML files have been sorted in order. You can now click on any EML file to view the contents.
You can also view any email attachments.

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View files as plain text. If you cannot open the file in the mail browser or cannot convert it to open in Internet Explorer, you can view the file as plain text. The text will have some strange characters, but you will still be able to see the main body of the text along with the links. However, you cannot view images or attachments.

Right click on the EML file and select “Open with”.
Select Notepad in the list of programs.
Find the <html> and <body> tags. This is the mark that identifies the beginning of the email body. You can view the body of the email in this section, but you may have to omit some of the HTML code.
Look for the <a href= tag to see the path. You can copy and paste the URL shown here into your web browser to access the path mentioned in the EML file.

On Mac

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Open the EML file in Apple Mail. This is a program that comes pre-installed on OS X operating system, allowing you to open and view the full contents of EML files. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Right-click (or Ctrl -click) the EML file and select “Open With…”.
Select “Mail” in the program list. The EML file will open in Apple Mail. You can do this even if you don’t have an email account set up in the Mail program.

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Use Microsoft Entourage or Outlook for Macintosh. If you have Office 2008 or 2011, you can install the Microsoft mail browser to open EML files. Office 2008 software has Entourage, and Office 2011 replaces Entourage with Outlook for Macintosh. You probably didn’t choose to install the mail browser when you installed the Office software.

Once the installation is complete, you will right-click (or Ctrl -click) the EML file and select “Open With…”. Select Entourage or Outlook in the list of currently displayed programs.

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Unzip the file using Stufft Expander. This is a free decompression program for OS X and you can use it to decompress information in EML files. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Download and install StuffIt Expander at my.smithmicro.com/stuffit-expander-mac.html or the Mac App Store.
Drag the EML file into the Stufflt window. You can decompress multiple EML files at once by dragging all the files into the window at once.
Open a new folder created specifically for each EML file. You will see attachments and images converted into individual files, next to a text file containing the body of the email.

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View EML files as plain text. If you do not have a mail browser and cannot install Stufflt Expander, you can open the EML file in TextEdit. This way, you can still see the content and link of the email. However, you cannot view images and open attachments.

Right-click (or Ctrl -click) the EML file and select “Open With…”.
Select “TextEdit” in the application list. You may have to browse to find this program.
Find the HTML <body> tag. This is how you can identify the body of the email. Paths will have an <a href= tag.

On iPad

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Download and install the Klammer app. This is an application available on the App Store for $ 0.99 (equivalent to VND 23,000). You will be allowed to open and view the contents of EML files using this application. Currently, this is the only way to view EML files without prior conversion on another platform. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

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Open the Mail application (or whatever application contains the EML file you want to open). You can use Klammer to open an EML file attached to an email, in Dropbox or another cloud storage service, or any program that supports the file.

If you’re using Mail, you’ll need to tap the attachment to download the content to your iPad. You also need to download files to your iPad when using Dropbox or Google Drive.
If you can’t download the attachment, try forwarding the email to yourself and re-download it.

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Tap the downloaded file. You will be asked to choose an application to open the file.

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Tap “Open in Klammer”. The EML file will be downloaded to the Klammer application and the content will be displayed in a standard format.

On Android

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Download the FREE EML Reader app. By default, Android does not support EML format. The only way to open EML files on Android devices is to install additional apps. ^{[6] X Research Source}

The EML Reader FREE app is rated higher among the EML readers available, but you can still choose another app if you like. You just need to search by keyword “eml reader” in Google Play Store.

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Open the EML file. How you open the EML file will depend on how you received it.

If you received the EML file as an attachment, open the email containing the file in the Gmail or Mail app and then tap the EML attachment.
If you downloaded the EML file from a website, use the File Manager application to open the Downloads folder, or open the EML Reader FREE app to view the file.

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Select EML Reader FREE in the application list. When opening the EML file, you will be asked to select an application. The EML Reader Free application will show up in this list. Select “Always” to associate the EML file with the new supporting application.

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View EML files. EML Reader FREE application will split EML file into different parts, including From/To (Sender/Receiver), Date (Date), Subject (Title), Text (Text body), HTML and Attachments.

The “Text” section contains the contents of the EML file.
The “HTML” section displays the email in its native format.

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Press and hold the attachment to open it. You’ll see a list of attachments at the bottom of the display. These are all images used in the creation of the HTML email and the files attached to the email.

When you press and hold the attachment, a new menu will appear here. Select “Open” and select an application that can read this file type. You can also select “Save” to extract the file from the EML file and save it to the same folder.