Save email as PDF: convert EML, MSG or MBOX in your browser

To save email as PDF, download the message from your mail client as a file (EML, MSG or MBOX), drop it here and press Save as PDF. You get a searchable PDF with the full header block, the body, inline images and a list of attachments you can download. Nothing is uploaded: the file is parsed by JavaScript in this browser tab.

Which file to get from which email client

Every mail client can hand you the message as a file, and that file is what you convert. The table shows the shortest path for the common clients. Webmail without a download option (Yahoo, iCloud) has only its own Print → Save as PDF, or you can forward the message to a Gmail or Outlook account and download it from there.

Details for the two biggest clients are on downloading emails from Gmail and saving an Outlook email as a file. If someone already sent you an .eml or .msg attachment, skip this step: that attachment is the file.

How to save email as PDF in four steps

1. Get the file. Use the table above. One message gives one .eml or .msg; a Takeout export gives one .mbox holding all messages.
2. Drop it on this page. Or click the box and pick the file. The message renders below the box within a second or two. For an MBOX you first see the list of messages and click the one you want.
3. Press Save as PDF. Your browser's print dialog opens. Choose Save as PDF as the destination, pick paper size and margins, and save. The PDF lands wherever your browser saves downloads.
4. Download the attachments. They are listed under the message with names and sizes. Download them one by one, or press Attachments (ZIP) to get all of them in one archive.

Tick Compact before saving if you want quoted replies and signatures hidden. That turns a long back-and-forth into a short PDF with only the new text of each message.

What the PDF keeps, and what it does not

The PDF is made from a rendered HTML page, not from a screenshot, so the text stays selectable and searchable. The header block shows From, To, Cc, Date, Subject and the Message-ID. Inline images referenced from inside the message (the cid: kind) are resolved and printed in place.

Attachments are not embedded in the PDF. A Word file or a spreadsheet has no page form of its own, so the PDF lists the attachments and you download the originals next to it. Page size, orientation and margins are not fixed by SaveMail: you pick them in the print dialog, and until you do, nothing about the page geometry is decided.

Besides PDF you can press Download HTML to keep the rendered message as a single HTML file, useful when you want to open it in Word or quote from it later.

Convert email to PDF without printing from the mail client

People search for "convert email to pdf without printing" because printing from Gmail or Outlook has two problems: it handles one message at a time and it drops attachments. Converting the file instead solves the second problem (attachments are listed and downloadable) and makes the first one bearable, because you can open the next file without leaving the page.

One honest note: the final PDF is still produced by the browser's own Save as PDF, so a print dialog does appear. There is no separate "Download PDF" button. The dialog is what gives you a real text layer instead of an image, which is why the PDF remains searchable. See printing an email to PDF for the built-in routes in each client, in case you prefer them.

Limits: what this page cannot convert

• PST and OST files. Outlook mailbox files cannot be read in a browser. Open them in Outlook or export messages as MSG; the PST to PDF guide covers both.
• Encrypted messages. S/MIME or PGP mail is shown as encrypted, not decrypted.
• Many messages into one PDF. Each message becomes its own PDF. A merged multi-message PDF is not available yet.
• Editing. You cannot change the email text before saving. Compact mode hides quotes and signatures; it does not edit.
• Mail merge. "Mail merge to PDF" is a Word feature for generating letters from a list, unrelated to converting received emails.

Very large MBOX files open, but listing thousands of messages takes a few seconds, and an MSG with a huge attachment is slow to unpack. The limit is your browser's memory, not a quota.

Why a PDF made this way works as a record

A paralegal, an accountant or an HR manager needs more than the visible text: who sent it, to whom, when, and a Message-ID that ties the PDF to the original on the server. Those headers are printed at the top of every PDF. Keeping the attachments as original files, rather than flattened pictures, means an invoice PDF or a signed contract stays exactly what was received.

Because the conversion runs on your own device, there is no third-party server that has seen the correspondence. Load the page, disconnect from the network, and it still converts. For a record with attachments inside a single bundle, see saving an email with attachments.

Frequently asked questions