Convert .msg to PDF online (Outlook message files)

To convert .msg to PDF, drop the Outlook message file on this page and press Save as PDF; you do not need Outlook installed. The message renders with its headers, inline images and attachments, and the PDF text stays searchable. The .msg file is parsed in your browser tab and is not uploaded.

Why .msg files only open in Outlook

A .msg file is Outlook's own container for one message: an OLE compound file, the same binary structure old Office documents used, with the subject, body, recipients and attachments stored as named streams. That is why double-clicking one on a Mac or on a PC without Outlook gives nothing, and why Gmail will not preview it.

The page here reads that structure directly. For the format details see the MSG file explainer; for every way to view one without converting it, see how to open an MSG file.

Getting the .msg out of Outlook

If you still have Outlook for Windows, each message can be saved as its own file in two ways. Drag the message from the list to your desktop or a folder, and Outlook writes a .msg named after the subject. Or open the message and use File → Save As, where Outlook Message Format is the default. Select several messages and drag them together to get one .msg per message. Outlook names each file after the subject line, so a folder per client or case keeps a hundred files findable later.

Outlook for Mac drags out .eml, not .msg; that works just as well on this page. The full walk-through is on saving an Outlook email as a file.

How to convert .msg to PDF

1. Drop the .msg file on this page or click the box to choose it.
2. Check the preview. The header block, body and attachment list appear below. Tick Compact if you want quoted replies and the signature hidden.
3. Press Save as PDF. Your browser's print dialog opens; choose Save as PDF, pick paper size and margins, and save.
4. Download the attachments from the list under the message, individually or as a ZIP.

Press Open another file for the next message. The page keeps nothing from the previous one.

What the PDF keeps from an Outlook message

From, To, Cc, Date, Subject and Message-ID are printed at the top. The body is rendered as sanitized HTML, or as plain text when the message has no HTML part; inline images referenced from the body are placed where Outlook showed them. Attachments are listed with names and sizes rather than flattened into pages, so a spreadsheet stays a spreadsheet.

The PDF has a text layer because it is printed from a rendered page: search works and text can be copied. Page size, orientation and margins come from the print dialog, so they are not decided until you choose them.

How to convert MSG to PDF in Outlook, and when to prefer it

Outlook can do it alone: open the .msg (double-click), then File → Print and pick Microsoft Print to PDF on Windows or the PDF button on a Mac. The result has no attachments and the header layout follows Outlook's print style. Here is how the two routes compare.

Use Outlook's print when you are already inside Outlook and the attachments do not matter. Use this page when Outlook is not installed, when you need the attachments, or when the mail must not leave the device.

Limits: batch conversion, large attachments, encryption

• One message is rendered at a time. "Batch convert msg to pdf" is drop, save, Open another file, repeated; a merged PDF of several messages is not offered yet.
• An .msg with a very large attachment is slow to unpack, because the whole file sits in browser memory.
• Encrypted or signed-and-encrypted messages are displayed as encrypted, not decrypted.
• MSG to DOC: there is no Word output, but Download HTML gives a file that Word opens directly.

For a whole Outlook mailbox (a .pst file) the browser cannot help; the PST to PDF guide explains the working routes.

Frequently asked questions