How to Save or Download Emails from Outlook (One Message, a Folder, or the Whole Mailbox)

"Save my Outlook emails" means different things to different people, and the tools don't overlap much. Someone whose student account gets deleted tomorrow needs a whole-mailbox export. Someone who wants a signed contract on file needs one PDF. Someone in accounts payable needs every invoice email, every week, saved somewhere without thinking about it.

Four routes cover all of that. Here's which one fits which job, then the steps for each, in every version of Outlook Microsoft currently ships.

Which Outlook are you in?

The steps differ, so check first:

• New Outlook for Windows. "New Outlook" toggle at the top right, no File menu.
• Classic Outlook for Windows. Has a File menu.
• Outlook for Mac. File menu in the Mac menu bar.
• Outlook on the web. outlook.com or outlook.office.com in a browser.

Route 1: Save one email as a file

This gives you the email itself, headers and attachments included, as a file that any mail program can open.

New Outlook for Windows and Outlook for Mac. Open the message, click the three dots at the top right, choose Save as. You get an .eml file. Or skip the menu: drag the message from the list onto your desktop or into a folder.

Classic Outlook for Windows. Open the message, File > Save As, and pick Outlook Message Format (.msg). Dragging a message from the list into a File Explorer folder does the same thing. The .msg format is Outlook-only; if the file needs to open in another mail program later, .html or .mht from the same dialog is more portable, though those lose the attachments.

Outlook on the web. Open the message, three dots, Download. Outlook.com saves an .eml.

The catch with .eml and .msg: they're mail files, not documents. Double-click one and it opens in Outlook or Apple Mail, not in a PDF viewer. Fine for archiving, awkward for sending to a client or a lawyer. For that, you want the next route.

Route 2: Save an email as a PDF

Every version of Outlook does this through the print dialog: open the message, print, and pick Microsoft Print to PDF (Windows) or Save as PDF (Mac and browsers) instead of a printer. The Outlook to PDF guide has the exact clicks for each version, plus how to do a batch.

Two things to know before you rely on it. The PDF doesn't include the attachments, so those get saved separately and reunited by hand. And blocked remote images print as blank boxes unless you click to download pictures first.

Route 3: Export a folder or your whole mailbox

This is the "my account is closing" and "I want a backup on my own disk" route. Outlook exports to a .pst file, which is a container for the whole mailbox: messages, attachments, folder structure, and depending on what you tick, contacts and calendar.

Classic Outlook for Windows.

1. File > Open & Export > Import/Export.
2. Choose Export to a file, then Outlook Data File (.pst).
3. Select the folder to export. Pick the top of the mailbox and tick Include subfolders for everything, or a single folder for just that.
4. Choose where to save the .pst and click Finish. You can add a password; most people shouldn't, because forgetting it means losing the archive.

Large mailboxes take a while. Let it run.

New Outlook for Windows. There's no Import/Export wizard. Open Settings (gear icon), find Export (it's under Files in current builds), click Get started and follow the wizard. Microsoft builds the file on their side and sends you a download link. If Export isn't there, your account type doesn't support it in the new Outlook, and the workaround is to open the mailbox in classic Outlook and export from there.

Outlook on the web. For personal outlook.com accounts and many work accounts: Settings > General > Privacy and data > Export mailbox. It's the same server-side export: Microsoft assembles a .pst and emails you a link. It can take hours, and for big mailboxes a couple of days.

Outlook for Mac. File > Export, choose what to include, and you get an .olm archive rather than a .pst. Outlook for Mac can import .olm; Windows Outlook can't, so if the archive might need to move between platforms, export from Windows instead.

What you can do with a PST. Open it in Outlook (File > Open & Export > Open Outlook Data File), and it appears as a separate mailbox in the sidebar. Search works. Attachments are there. What you can't do is read it without Outlook, hand it to someone who doesn't have Outlook, or search it from Google Drive or Finder. It's a backup, not a filing system.

If you're leaving a job. Ask before you export. Work email is the employer's data, and plenty of Microsoft 365 tenants block PST export and external forwarding precisely so people can't walk out with it. Get written permission for the folders you want to keep, and if the answer is no, that's the answer. Reddit is full of people who found out the hard way that "I just wanted my own emails" doesn't hold up.

Route 4: Keep new emails saving themselves

Everything above is a one-time action. It doesn't help with the invoice that arrives next Tuesday, or the client thread that's still going. For emails that keep coming, you want a rule.

Outlook rules can forward emails that match a condition. Quicktion gives you an address to forward to, and files whatever arrives into the tool you pick.

Into Google Drive, as PDFs. Each email becomes a subfolder in a Drive folder of your choosing, holding the message rendered to PDF, the original HTML, and the attachments under their original names:

Supplier invoices/
  2026-08-26_Invoice 4471 from Acme/
    email.pdf
    email.html
    invoice-4471.pdf

Images are downloaded and embedded, so the PDF still renders in ten years. Folder names follow a pattern you control.

Into a spreadsheet or database, as rows. If you'd rather search and filter than browse folders, the same rule can point at a Google Sheets, Notion, Airtable, Linear or Trello destination instead. Each email becomes a row or record with sender, date, subject and body mapped to columns, attachments linked. That's the setup for "which invoices from this supplier are unpaid" rather than "show me the March emails".

To set it up:

1. In Quicktion, create a destination (Drive folder, sheet, database) and copy the forwarding address.
2. In Outlook, create a rule: on the web, Settings > Mail > Rules; in classic Outlook, Home > Rules > Manage Rules & Alerts. Condition: from a sender, subject contains, has attachment. Action: forward to the Quicktion address.
3. Send a matching test email and check the destination.

Step-by-step for each Outlook version is in forward emails from Outlook. If your company blocks auto-forwarding, the same article covers Quick Steps, which make forwarding a single click without breaking a manual-review policy.

The limits, stated plainly: it saves from the moment the rule exists, so old emails still need a PST export or a batch print. Drive destinations use My Drive folders, not Shared Drives. The free plan covers 25 emails a month with a small "Saved with Quicktion" line on PDFs; Pro is $12/month for 1,000.

Picking one

• One email, as a file you'll reopen in a mail program: Save as (.eml / .msg).
• One email, as a document to send or read anywhere: print to PDF.
• A folder or the whole mailbox, as a backup: PST export, with permission if it's a work account.
• Emails that keep arriving and need to end up somewhere findable: an Outlook rule into Quicktion, into Drive as PDFs or into a sheet as rows.

Most people who ask this question need two of these: a PST for what's already there, and a rule for what's coming.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a way to save all emails from Outlook?

Yes. In classic Outlook for Windows, go to File, Open & Export, Import/Export, and export to an Outlook Data File (.pst), ticking Include subfolders. In the new Outlook and Outlook on the web, the export lives in Settings (Files, or General then Privacy and data, depending on the account) and Microsoft emails you a download link when the file is ready, which can take hours or a day or two.

Can I download Outlook emails to my computer?

One at a time: open the message and use Save as (new Outlook, Mac) or File then Save As (classic Outlook), which gives you an .eml or .msg file. Or drag the message from the list straight into a folder on your desktop. For many emails, export a PST instead.

How do I download an Outlook email as a PDF?

Open the email, open the print dialog (three dots then Print in the new Outlook and on the web, File then Print in classic Outlook and on Mac) and choose Microsoft Print to PDF or Save as PDF as the printer. Attachments aren't included in the PDF; save those separately.

How do I save Outlook emails with their attachments?

A PST export keeps attachments inside the archive, but you need Outlook to open it. Saving a message as .msg or .eml also keeps the attachments inside the file. Print to PDF does not; the files have to be saved separately. Forwarding to Quicktion saves the email as a PDF and the attachments in the same Google Drive folder.

How do I save Outlook emails when leaving a job?

Ask first. Work email belongs to the employer, and many Microsoft 365 tenants block PST export and external forwarding for exactly this reason. With written permission, a PST export of the folders you're allowed to keep is the cleanest route. Without it, don't; it can be treated as data theft.

How do I save an email in Outlook forever?

Get it out of the mailbox. Mailboxes get retention policies, quotas and account closures. A PDF in a Google Drive folder, with the attachments next to it, survives all of those. Quicktion does that automatically for any email you forward or that an Outlook rule forwards for you.

Next steps

Backing up what's there: export a PST using the steps for your version above.

Filing what's coming: set up a Google Drive destination or an Outlook to Google Sheets one, point a rule at it, and forward a test email. Free for 25 emails a month.

Gmail user? The Gmail version of this guide covers Takeout, downloads and the automatic setup there.