What is an EML File and How Do I Open It?

An EML file is a standard email format used by many email programs to store individual email messages. You might have come across some emails stored on your system with a file extension ‘.eml’. They are EML files. While these tools are easy to access with many email clients, finding the right tool to view them can be a challenge. So, here we have suggested to you the best EML Viewer Tool to make the process easy. Read further to know details of what EML files are, how to open them, and more.

What is an EML File?

EML stands for Electronic Mail or Email. It is an email-storing file extension that allows users to save electronic mail messages and other data in them. It is a standard file format & compatible with different email clients like Outlook Express, Thunderbird, Apple Mail, Windows Mail, etc. EML Contains the content of the message along with the subject, date, sender, and recipient(s) name. Further, it also stores specific or multiple email attachments sent via mail. Users can view EML files on different operating systems and browsers without any restrictions.

What are the Features of EML Files?

EML Files are useful for both personal and professional purposes. Here is how:

  • It stores a full email message along with the subject, sender, recipient, and date/time stamps.
  • EML files can also store email attachments like images, documents, and other types of files.
  • These files use MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) encoding, supporting HTML-formatted emails, plain text, and even non-text content.
  • EML are widely compatible, thus easy to open and read EML files across different platforms like MS Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, etc.
  • It preserves the original formatting, links, and multimedia elements as original.
  • They are smaller in size, portable, and easy to share across different platforms. Also, it's a good choice to backup selective emails.

What are Different Ways to Open EML Files?

There are multiple ways to open and access EML files. So, here are some of them:

  • EML files are easy to access in various email clients like Microsoft Outlook (Windows), Apple Mail (macOS), and Mozilla Thunderbird (Platform-Independent).
  • You can also open EML with the help of different web browsers- Google Chrome (multiplatform), Microsoft Edge, and Internet Explorer. You need to change the .eml file extension to .mht to open EML files.
  • Another way to open EML is via plain text editors, such as Microsoft Notepad and Apple TextEdit. However, you must replace the extension of the EML file from .txt.
  • If none works, you can also use multiple Free Email Programs available online to open and read EML files.

Free Email Applications to Open EML File Online

These are some top-notch solutions to open and view the EML file across different OS. They are:

For Windows OS

  • Microsoft Outlook 365
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer
  • Mozilla Thunderbird
  • Mozilla SeaMonkey
  • SysInfo EML Converter

For macOS

For Linux

  • Mozilla Thunderbird
  • Mozilla SeaMonkey
  • KMail

How do I Open an EML File Online?

Here we will explore a stepwise procedure to open and read EML files in different ways. Let us begin by using an Email Client.

1. Open EML in a Mail Client

An appropriate way to open the EML file is to use email clients like Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, Windows Live Mail, etc. Follow the steps to open:

  1. Locate the EML file saved on your system.
  2. Select any one file and then right-click on it.
  3. Next, click on the ‘Open With’ option in the menu.
  4. Choose an appropriate email client to open the EML file.

2. View EMl File in a Web Browser

As MHTML files are similar to EML Files, thus by changing the extension from .eml to .mht, you can easily open the EML file in Internet Explorer. Other web browsers are compatible with the EML files but did not open them correctly. To do so, Implement the steps mentioned:

Step 1: Rename the EML File
  1. First, find EML on your system.
  2. Next, right-click on the EML file.
  3. Then select the Rename option.
  4. Change the file extension from .eml to .mht.
  5. At last, press Enter to save the change.
Step 2: Open the File in the Browser
  1. Now, open your web browser (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, etc.).
  2. Drag and drop the renamed .mht file into the browser window (or use File > Open from the browser’s menu and select the .mht file.)
  3. The email content should display in the browser, including the text, images, and any attachments if they were properly embedded.
3. View the EML Message as Plain Text

If renaming the file from .eml to .mht doesn’t work for you, or you prefer a simpler method, go for this procedure. Further, you can view any images and attachments attached to the chosen file:

  1. First of all, select the EML and right-click on it.
  2. Go through with the Open with option.
  3. Choose Notepad from the list of programs.
  4. You have to find the < html > and < body > tags.
  5. Check and select the content present in between these sections of HTML code.
  6. Find the < a href= tags to find links and copy and paste the URL shown here into a web browser.
4. Use Free EML Viewer to Open EML File

SysInfo Free EML File Viewer Tool is a safe and risk-free utility to open and read EML file messages without any data loss. Although there are many other EML viewers available on the web, this tool is secure and reliable. Here, you can read all the email information like sender, receiver, mails, etc. In addition, you can open EML files with all attachments to view and analyze them.

Follow the quick steps below to open the EML file free:

  1. Firstly, download and Run the SysInfo EML Viewer software.
  2. Click on Add Files to add EML files from the system.
  3. Here, you can view a pop-up All files added successfully. Click Ok.
  4. Assign the date range if you want to filter EML files.
  5. Click on the Save button to initiate saving EML to PDF.
  6. Finally, all files are saved successfully, click Ok.
  7. Open the saved PDF files to read email messages saved.

You can also use this efficient tool to open EML files in Windows 10, 11, or any other older version as well. It has an easy-to-use GUI for all technical and non-technical user’s convenience.

Conclusion

The blog explains the process of opening and reading the EML file on Windows 10 and all other versions. The necessary procedures are mentioned for easy understanding. Moreover, we have discussed an advanced tool to open multiple EML files at once. The suggested tool does not require the installation of any email client or other application. It lets users save EML to PDF for easy access anytime.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How do I open an EML file?

Ans. There are various ways to open and access EML files. Some of them are:
  • Using Email Clients (MS Outlook, or Thunderbird)
  • Through Web Browser
  • Via Text Editor Application (like Notepad)
  • Free EML Viewer Online (Highly Recommended)

Q2. How do I open an EML file in PDF?

Ans. To open a Windows Live Mail EML file in PDF, you need to convert and save EML to PDF format. Use the EML Viewer Tool that lets you see EMl files by converting them to PDF. Download the tool from the official website and add EML files to open them as PDF format.