How to Open MSG Files

This article provides instructions on how to view Outlook email files (MSG) on your computer without using Outlook. You can use various online file conversion tools to view and download MSG files in PDF format, including their attached data.

Know when to use Zamzar. If you wish to download a PDF version of your email along with attachments that do not exceed Outlook's 20MB limit, Zamzar will help you achieve this.

• Zamzar requires an email address so they can send you the download link for the email and attachments you need. If you prefer not to share your email, you can try using Encryptomatic.

Open Zamzar. Go to https://www.zamzar.com/convert/msg-to-pdf using your browser on your computer.

Click on Choose Files… (Choose File…). This option is located in the "Step 1" section in the middle of the page. Clicking this will open the File Explorer on Windows or Finder on Mac.

Select the MSG file. Navigate to the folder where the MSG file is saved and click on the file to select it.

Click on Open (Open). This option is located at the bottom-right corner of the window. The MSG file will be uploaded to Zamzar.

Click on the "Convert files to" dropdown in the "Step 2" section. This will display a list of available conversion options.

Click on pdf. This option appears under the "Documents" section in the selection list.

Enter your email address. Type in your work email address in the input field provided under "Step 3".

Click on Convert (Convert). This is the gray button in "Step 4". Zamzar will begin converting your MSG file into PDF format.

Open the page for the converted MSG file. Once the conversion is complete, Zamzar will send you a confirmation email. Here’s where you can find the download link for your MSG file:

• Check your email inbox.
• Open the "Converted file from Zamzar" email.
• If you don't find the email within 5 minutes, check your Spam folder (and the Updates folder if available).
• Click the long link near the end of the email.

Download the converted PDF file. Click the green Download Now button on the right side of the PDF file. The file name will be the same as the email subject (e.g., "hello") with a .pdf extension.

Download the attached data. If your email contains attachments, you can download them by clicking the Download Now button next to the ZIP folder labeled "Attachments". This will download the ZIP folder containing the attached files to your computer.

• You will need to extract the contents of the ZIP folder before you can view or read the attached files.

Know when to use Encryptomatic. If you simply want to view an email without downloading it, Encryptomatic allows you to do so for emails up to 8MB in size (including attachments). If the email has attachments, you can download them directly from the viewer page.

• The main downside of Encryptomatic is the size limitation. If you need to download multiple attachments from an MSG file, it is better to use Zamzar.

Open Encryptomatic. Visit https://www.encryptomatic.com/viewer/ in your computer's web browser.

Click on Choose file (Choose File). This is the gray button located near the top left corner of the page. Clicking this will open a File Explorer window (on Windows) or Finder (on Mac).

Select the MSG file. To do this, navigate to the folder where the MSG file is stored, then click on the file to select it.

Click on Open. This option is located in the lower-right corner of the window. Your MSG file will be uploaded to Encryptomatic.

• If you see the message "File is too large" next to the Choose file button, you won’t be able to open the MSG file in Encryptomatic. Instead, you can use Zamzar.

Click on View. This is the button located to the right of the Choose file button. Clicking this will direct you to the view page.

View the email. To do this, scroll to the bottom of the page. You will be able to see the email’s content along with any images or formatting within this window.

Download the attachments. If your email has attachments, you will see the attachment names listed under the "Attachments:" heading in the middle of the page. Clicking on the attachment names will download the files to your computer, allowing you to open them as usual.

• If your computer has Outlook installed, you can easily open any MSG file within Outlook by double-clicking on it.

• Some images or the original formatting of the MSG file might be lost if you download data from Zamzar.