EML is the file format which is used to save an email message in Thunderbird, Outlook Express & other email client applications. EML files are saved according to the MIME RFC 822 standard format. These files have ASCII Text for their header content and in the body, the main message can have attachments and hyperlinks. The forthcoming section is a discussion about the popular EML file format and the various ways to read EML files without Thunderbird client installation.
There have been several users who have requested to view EML files without making use of Thunderbird or any other email client apps. An example of such a query is stated as follows-
I want to open EML file that I have stored on my hard disk but I do not have the Thunderbird application installed. Can anyone suggest any solution about how to read EML files without using any EML compatible email client?
As we said above, this type of user query has been put forward by a majority people on different user forums. We have discussed both the manual as well as automated solutions available for carrying out this task.
Quick Fix: If you wish to read EML file in the absence of a supportable mail client then go for the EML Viewer Software to view EML file without any issues.
Read EML Files Without Thunderbird – Manual Solution
EML files that have been stored locally and are not under use by an email client application such as Thunderbird can be accessed manually. The stepwise process to view EML files has been defined as follows:
- First, copy all the EML files into a New folder. After opening this Folder, Click on the “Tools” button present in the menu on the top and select the “Folder Options”.
- Click on tab view and then scroll down to the option “Hide file extensions for known file types”. Ensure that the box next to it is unchecked by you.
- Click on the button “Apply”. If its active, Then click on “OK”.
- Now open the folder in which you saved the EML files. Its extension will be visible to you.
- Do a right-click on the EML files that are viewable and select the option “Rename”. Erase and modify the file extension to “.mht”.
- Now Click on “Next” button given on the confirmation prompt. The process will get completed, and you can view EML files conveniently.
- You only need to double-click on the EML files and now they can be directly accessed through the web browser.
The given manual process describes how to perform conversion of EML files to a viewable MHT file format.MHT is a type of Web page archive format. It easily includes images, applets, flash animations into HTML docs.
Above mentioned steps can be followed to easily convert EML files and for accessing them in other file formats. The process is simple to implement, but a major drawback is that it leads to the corruption of the EML files. Therefore, it is highly advised to opt for a third party software solution to avoid corruption of data.
Automated Solution to Read EML Files
For avoiding corruption issues, it is recommended to avail the services of a third party Tool to view EML files without any mail client installation. One such excellent software is known by the name of EML Viewer. It possesses the following group of features which make it a preferred choice:
- Get Preview of all the EML files along with their attachments.
- Export EML to Adobe PDF documents for portability of data.
- Perform Quick scan and automatically load EML files for generating a preview.
- GUI style based on Windows Explorer to view EML files by easily finding folders inside them
EML Viewer software can be used in order to read EML files without any risk of corruption to data. The software is highly specialized and dedicated at performing its tasks. It is the best alternative to be considered when the manual method is not able to open EML file.
Final Words
In the article, we have defined the nature of the EML file format. We have also discussed two methods i.e. the manual and automated solutions to read EML files. Users can very easily get access to the EML file contents as well as their attachments without requiring to install the Thunderbird email client application.
He is a data recovery expert who works as freelancer technical blogger. He has been in the Data recovery industry for 10+years and specialized in data recovery solutions & data management techniques. He researched on various email client issues & now willing to share information among people through the Web.
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