The .eml file
How to convert .eml files to PDF on Mac and Windows — one, or a folder
For one .eml file the free route is genuinely good, and this guide says so. It also says exactly where it runs out.
The free routes — and for one file, use them
An .eml file is a plain email message in the standard internet format. Every mail client reads it.
Mac: Apple Mail — Export as PDF, or Print → Save as PDF
Double-click the .eml to open it in Mail, then File → Export as PDF, or File → Print and the PDF button. You get the message body with a header block.
You get: a perfectly good PDF of the message. Not in it: the attachments, which you save separately.
Windows: Mail or Outlook — Print → Microsoft Print to PDF
Open the file, Print, choose Microsoft Print to PDF as the printer.
You get: the same — body plus header block. Not in it: the attachments.
Drag it into a browser to read it
Most browsers will show an .eml as text if you drop it on a tab — handy for a quick look at the headers and body.
You get: a readable view of the raw message. Not: a document you would hand to anyone.
If one of those is all you need, stop reading and do that. We would rather you kept your money than paid for something a menu already does.
Where it stops
- Attachments. The printed PDF is the message body. Attachments are saved separately, by hand, and named by you.
- Volume. One message at a time. A folder of a hundred
.emlfiles from a helpdesk export, a mailing-list archive or a departing colleague's account is a hundred print dialogs. - Consistency. Filenames, header layout and date formats vary with whichever mail client opened the file, which matters when the PDFs are going into one bundle.
- Encodings. Older
.emlfiles in East Asian or Cyrillic code pages sometimes print as symbols.
Where Foldavo fits
Foldavo reads .eml files directly — no mail client involved — on Mac and on Windows, and writes one PDF per message, named from the sender, subject and date, with the header block at the top and the attachments embedded inside the same PDF. It reads .msg files from the same folder in the same run, so a mixed export is one job. The free trial converts one complete message so you can check the PDF against the original first; a licence (£59, one-time) unlocks the folder run and the binder — chosen messages, in the order you choose, as one PDF. Nothing is uploaded. Checkout by Lemon Squeezy.
Being straight with you: Foldavo handles .eml and .msg. A single .mbox mailbox file — the format Thunderbird and Apple Mail use for whole folders — is not supported. Export to .eml files. Attachments are embedded inside the same PDF and listed in the PDF's attachment panel — they are never opened or executed. Inline JPEG and PNG images are drawn on the page as well; every other attachment stays the file it was, one click away inside the PDF. Text in Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Korean scripts is rendered; Thai, Indic scripts and emoji are shown as a question mark. HTML emails are converted to their text and structure, not reproduced pixel-for-pixel.