MBOX Guides: Open, Convert and Export MBOX Files

Get your email out

Which file holds your mail, why it's one giant .mbox, and how to open and search it.

Export the mailbox before the account goes, and read it any time later, privately.

One row per email: date, from, to, subject, attachments and optionally the message text.

A printable archive with a cover sheet, one message per page and page numbers.

Every attachment across thousands of emails in one ZIP, filtered by type if you like.

Find the relevant messages and hand them over as a CSV log, a PDF or original EML files.

Why big Takeout files crash other apps, and how to open one without importing anything.

Why Outlook can't do it, and the two ways around it: read it in a browser, or move it in as EML.

Apple Mail exports are folders, where Mac mail apps keep their mailboxes, and how to read them.

Windows and Outlook can't, so here's what can, with no installer and no upload.

The six usual reasons, from "still in the zip" to "too big for the app", and the fix for each.

File not showing up, wrong folder, frozen on a big Takeout file: the fixes.

An honest side-by-side, including when Thunderbird is the better pick.

Ready? Your file stays on your computer.