Exporting a message as .eml and importing it again
In webmail, you can save an email as a file: an .eml file. It contains the entire message as it is stored on the server: all the headers, the text and the attachments. You can keep a file like this, give it to someone or put it back in a mailbox later. In this article, you'll read how to do that and what to keep in mind.
What do you use an .eml file for?
- Keeping evidence. You can keep an invoice, an appointment or a threatening email in full, with the date, the sender and the route it took through the mail servers.
- Passing it on to support or a helpdesk. Anyone who wants to find out where an email really came from needs the headers, such as Received, Return-Path and Authentication-Results. A screenshot or copied text doesn't show them.
- Forwarding a message as an attachment. The recipient then gets the original message as an .eml file, with all the headers included.
- Setting mail aside. If you want to keep a message but don't need it in your mailbox, save it on your own computer. You can open it again later in almost any email program.
Exporting one or more messages
- Click the message in the message list, or open it.
- Click More and choose Export....
- Your browser saves the message as an .eml file.
If you first select several messages and then choose More > Export..., you'll get a zip file containing all the messages as .eml files.
Just taking a quick look: Show source and Headers
Do you only want to see the headers, without saving a file? Then click Headers above an opened message. A window opens with all the headers. With More > Show source, webmail opens the entire message as text in a new tab: first the headers, then a blank line, and then the content and the attachments. That's exactly what an .eml file contains as well. How to read those headers is explained in Viewing and reading the headers of an email.
Forwarding a message with all its headers
If a helpdesk asks for a suspicious email, don't just forward it normally, but send it as an attachment:
- Open the message.
- Click the arrow next to Forward and choose Forward as attachment.
- Enter the address and send the message.
With a normal forward, the old message appears as a quote below your text, and most of the headers are lost. As an attachment, the whole message comes along. If you want to add a message to a ticket in the Support Center and the .eml file isn't accepted, pack it into a zip file.
Importing an .eml file again
- In webmail, open the folder the message should go into, for example Inbox or an Archive folder.
- In the message list, click More and choose Import.
- Choose the file and click Import.
The message is placed in the folder that was open. You can import a single .eml file, an mbox file (several messages in one file, as some email programs export them) or a zip file containing several files. An imported message is stored on the server again and therefore counts towards your mailbox storage.
More about reading a message and the buttons that go with it can be found in the Roundcube manual under Reading a message and Replying and forwarding. Want to keep mail to free up space in your mailbox? Then read Saving mail locally to save space.