Convert email to plain text — EML, MSG and MBOX to TXT
The Email to TXT converter turns saved emails into readable UTF-8 text files: a short header (Subject, From, Date, To, Cc and attachments) followed by the message body. HTML-only newsletters become tidy text with paragraphs, bullet lists and quoted replies kept, and every link listed as a numbered footnote.
Plain text is the most durable format there is. It opens in any editor on any device, is easy to search with Windows Search, Spotlight or grep, shrinks a mailbox to a fraction of its size, and is exactly what you want when pasting correspondence into a report, a case file or an AI assistant.
It reads .eml (and Apple Mail .emlx) with postal-mime (MIT-0), Outlook .msg with msgreader (Apache-2.0) and .mbox mailboxes, all in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
How to convert emails to text
- Drop .eml, .msg or .mbox files on the upload area, or press Try a sample email.
- Click a message to see its text. Choose the Body: the email’s own plain-text part, or a conversion of its HTML part.
- Choose the headers, whether links become footnotes, the line length and the line endings — the preview updates as you go.
- Pick one file per email or one combined file, then press Download TXT, or Copy text for the message on screen.
Email to TXT features
Smart HTML to text
Headings, paragraphs, lists, tables and block quotes become clean text; scripts, styles and tracking pixels disappear.
Links as footnotes
Instead of long addresses in the middle of sentences, linked words get a number like [1] and the URLs are listed at the end.
Every character set to UTF-8
Messages in ISO-8859, Windows-125x, Shift_JIS, KOI8-R and other encodings are decoded and saved as UTF-8.
Headers your way
A short summary, every header exactly as sent — useful for checking where a message came from — or just the body.
Batch and ZIP
Convert a whole mailbox at once: each email becomes its own .txt file in a ZIP, or one long file with separators.
Plain-text part or converted HTML?
Most emails carry two versions of the same message: a plain-text part written by the sender’s mail program and an HTML part with the formatting. “Plain-text part when there is one” uses the sender’s own text. “Convert the HTML part” rebuilds the text from the formatted version — better for newsletters whose plain-text part is empty or only says “view in browser”.
| In the HTML | In the text file |
|---|---|
| Paragraphs, divs and line breaks | Paragraphs separated by a blank line |
| Bulleted and numbered lists | • bullets and 1. 2. 3. numbering, indented when nested |
| Quoted replies (blockquote) | Lines starting with “> ” |
| Links | Link text [1], with the URL under “Links:” at the end |
| Images | Their alt text in square brackets; tracking pixels are dropped |
| Data tables | One row per line, cells separated by “ | ” |
Line length and line endings
- Don’t wrap keeps each paragraph on one line — best for word processors and AI tools.
- 72 or 80 characters follows the traditional email convention (RFC 3676 recommends lines of at most 78 characters) and suits terminals and printing. Long URLs are never broken.
- CRLF line endings plus a byte-order mark help older versions of Windows Notepad; LF suits everything else.
Good to know
- Attachments are not converted to text. Save them from the preview, or keep them inside a PDF with Email to PDF.
- For a formatted copy use EML to PDF; to move messages into Outlook, use EML to MSG.
- Need statistics for the result? Paste it into the Word Counter.
Email to TXT FAQ
How do I convert an email to a text file?
Save the email as .eml or .msg — or export a mailbox as .mbox — drop it here and press Download TXT. Each email becomes a UTF-8 .txt file with its headers and body.
Can I convert a whole MBOX mailbox to TXT?
Yes. Every message in the mailbox is listed. Choose one file per email, downloaded as a ZIP, or one combined text file with a line of equals signs between messages.
What happens to links and images?
Links can be kept as numbered footnotes with the full URLs listed at the end. Images become their alt text in square brackets, and invisible tracking pixels are removed.
Why do I see strange characters in Notepad?
The files are saved as UTF-8. Current versions of Notepad read that correctly; for very old ones choose CRLF line endings, which also adds a byte-order mark.
Can I keep all the original headers?
Yes. Choose “All headers (as sent)” to include every header line, including Received and Authentication-Results, with encoded words decoded into readable text.
Are my emails uploaded?
No. The emails are read and converted in your browser and never leave your device.