How to download all emails and their attachments from Outlook

LearningDaily · May 13, 2024

I would like to download multiple years worth of Outlook emails and their respective attachments before closing the email account permanently.

How do I export all emails (and their attachments) so that their respective attachments remain mapped (to the relevant emails) in the event I later need to access them outside of the Outlook OS environment?

idgat · May 13, 2024

outlook emails export at DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.

duckduckgo.com

Despite the above suggestions, I've never had much success with accurate exports (mail & attachments) from MS Outlook (which is what I assume you're talking about, and not one of the umpteen other iterations of this program ??)

So much so, that I use Thunderbird and/or eMClient which do an excellent job of creating .eml files which contain the email and the attachments.

antspants · May 13, 2024

Hi, LearningDaily, welcome to the ElevenForums

It could possibly help members if they knew:
- What email program you are using.
- What type of email address is it? e.x. Outlook/Gmail/Yahoo/Private Domain

jimbo45 · May 13, 2024

LearningDaily said:
I would like to download multiple years worth of Outlook emails and their respective attachments before closing the email account permanently.

How do I export all emails (and their attachments) so that their respective attachments remain mapped (to the relevant emails) in the event I later need to access them outside of the Outlook OS environment?

The easiest way (IMO) is simply to open a .pst file within outlook (or create a new one and open it) -- then simply copy (or move) the relevant folders to the .pst file -- you can create several if you think the files are getting too big, plus you can create folders within the .pst file.

Cheers
jimbo

antspants · May 13, 2024

jimbo45 said:
The easiest way (IMO) is simply to open a .pst file within outlook (or create a new one and open it) -- then simply copy (or move) the relevant folders to the .pst file -- you can create several if you think the files are getting too big, plus you can create folders within the .pst file.

Cheers
jimbo

I have a faint memory that archiving will create a pst file and it will hold everything pertaining to the email?

Go to Outlook, Options, Advanced, Auto Archive
Mark all folders to be archived.
Give it a day (at least) to archive everything.

Don’t hold me to that, it’s been a couple of years and the specifics elude me.

antspants · May 13, 2024

jimbo45 said:
The easiest way (IMO) is simply to open a .pst file within outlook (or create a new one and open it) -- then simply copy (or move) the relevant folders to the .pst file

I should of added, that this ^ is how I did it for my wife's laptop. But it depends on the email client. If it is Outlook but not “Classic Outlook” (2021/M365) I don’t believe that it’s possible.

idgat · May 13, 2024

Problem with anything Outlook is that the result is likely to be very Outlook-centric ... i.e it will only be able to be used in/with Outlook in the future

As asked above by @antspants
- type of current email account - domain-based (@domainname.com), web-mail based (@gmail.com/@outlook.com/etc)

Little bit of work might be required, no quick fixes with anything "o/Outlook"

antspants · May 13, 2024

You can open any PST file in any version of outlook that supports PST. But no, I am not aware of any other “eMail” programs that are currently able to utilise a PST file. I believe there are PST readers though. “eM Client” might.

P.S. There are 3rd party tools like:

PST Viewer - Free tool to open and view content of PST files without MS Outlook

Kernel PST Viewer is a free tool to browse through your PST files without using MS Outlook.

www.nucleustechnologies.com

And probably 100 others. A lot of them say free but are ofted limited unless you buy a license.

There are scripts you can find around the net, like at Superuser, that can apparently save attachments to a folder. I have never tried them and you may possibly need to be proficient to a certain degree.

antspants · May 13, 2024

As Edwin recently reminded me, you can save IMAP mail (.eml / .mbox?) to a folder on your PC but I am unaware if the end result houses the attachments associated with the email.

Edwin · May 13, 2024

antspants said:
... but I am unaware if the end result houses the attachments associated with the email.

Yes, it does.

antspants · May 13, 2024

I was looking at my ”Must Try List”
I saved a link to software by Systools that apparently enables you to download all email, attachments, folder structures etc etc from “Outlook.com”
A single license will cost you $39.00 so I suspect it depends on how important it all is to you.

Have a read and see if it is something you might be interested in. I have not tried it as of yet, so I cannot speak for it.

Outlook.com Backup Tool For Mac & Windows to Archive Email Accounts

SysTools Outlook.com Backup Software can backup all email data from Outlook Web App into popular file formats. Download the tool for Mac machines and Windows OS.

www.systoolsgroup.com

Email Messages	Archives Outlook.com email messages from Inbox, Outbox, Sent Items, Deleted Items, Drafts and Junk Email folders with complete meta-data properties.
Mail Attachment Data	Backups all types of attachments, including cloud attachments whether in the form of documents or images in the original format.
Category	Ensures that Category is applied on emails consistently after the Outlook.com backup
Structure of Mail Folder	The hierarchy of Email folders remains constant
Date Filter	Filter emails of a particular Date Range on the specified location
Retention Period	Infinite
Backup Date In	PST, PDF, EML, MSG, MBOX

Contacts	Information such as Email ID, Contact Number, Home Address, Work Address, place are extracted
Retention Time	Infinite
Backup Contacts in	PST, VCF

Calendar	Business Appointments, Meetings are protected on offline platform along with Start Date, End Date, Subject, Location, Category
Store Calendar In	PST, PDF, ICS

Task	Provided support to all Planned, Assigned, Important, & Daily Tasks
Save Task In	PST, PDF, MSG

Notes	Provided support to take backup of Notes into selected file format.
Backup Notes In	PST, PDF, MSG

Documents

Save all Outlook.com documents in the original formats.

Edwin · May 13, 2024

Never understood the pst file thing! Always downloaded .msg files as needed.

antspants · May 13, 2024

Edwin said:
Never understood the pst file thing! Always downloaded .msg files as needed.

Archiving.

I understand you can save IMAP/OST files. PST is like a filing cabinet. Retaining structure when wanting to view any old PST file that may have been saved is important.

There are many advantages really. There is also software that you can get to sync across devices so that you’re setup like with the benefits of IMAP/OST.
I don’t like my mail sitting on a server, mail servers get hacked too often. I want my mail on my PC not a server.

I’d list the reasons but I just woke up so I am bound to start typing things like Bacon, Pancakes, Fruit and Yogurt etc etc. I’m already hungry