If you want to save an email locally on your computer or send an email as an attachment, Gmail offers the option to download your messages. This does not work for the mobile version of Gmail, but it does if you use the mail service on your desktop or laptop. Downloading emails then works as follows.
The emails you download are saved as EML format. You cannot open such a file via Gmail, but you can open it via a mail client such as Outlook or Windows Mail. You can always add an EML file as an attachment to an email.
That’s how it works
To download emails, go to Gmail.com in your browser. Log in to your email account and click on an email to open it. Click in the mail on the three vertical dots and in the submenu that appears you will find the option Download message† The message will be downloaded immediately as soon as you click on it. The name of the saved file corresponds to the subject of the email concerned.
Open EML file
If you work on a Windows PC, you probably have the Windows Mail app installed. In this case, the EML file is opened directly via Microsoft’s default mail app. By right-clicking on the file, you can also choose to open your offline e-mail in another client, for example Outlook, Thunderbird or eM Client.
In the saved file you will not only find the message itself, but also when and from whom you received the mail.
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You can of course also send the offline e-mail as an attachment. This works in your favorite mail client as well as in Gmail itself. Make sure that your recipient has a client to open the file.
Gmail’s mail download option allows you to keep offline copies of important messages. You will then always have access to these emails, even if you do not have an internet connection.
Download emails in Outlook
Gmail differs in this respect from Outlook.com, which in principle does not offer a direct option to download mails. However, it can be done in a roundabout way. For example, you can click on the three horizontal dots within an email in Outlook.com and choose the option Print† Then choose Print again.
Here you will find next Destination the option Save as PDF† Then when you click Save click, the email will be saved as a PDF file on your PC or laptop.
