Email to PDF
Turn a plain-text .eml email into a PDF in your browser. Multipart emails, attachments and Outlook .msg files are not yet handled reliably; see the limits.
Upload Email File
About This Tool
Email to PDF lays out a saved email file as PDF pages, with the subject, sender, recipients and date above the message. At present it works well only for simple plain-text .eml messages. Emails with formatting or attachments, and Outlook .msg files, are not converted reliably, so check every result or print from your email program instead.
Most emails are sent in several parts, for example a plain and a formatted version of the text plus any attachments. The current parser does not read the headers of those parts, so attachments are not found or embedded, and the body can come out as raw message code or encoded text. Subjects and names containing accented or non-Latin characters may also appear garbled. Outlook .msg files are read by picking out readable text, so the date is missing, attachments are not included, formatting is lost and characters outside basic English are dropped.
The options are page size (A4, Letter or Legal), whether to show CC and BCC lines, whether to list and embed attachments, and a time zone for the date, filled in from your browser as a name such as Europe/Dublin. The date is written in your browser's language format. Conversion runs in your browser with a copy of the PyMuPDF engine served from this site, and the email is not uploaded.
For emails you need to keep as records, the dependable route for now is to open the message in Outlook or your usual email program and print it to PDF, then attach the original files with Add Attachments or add them as pages with Merge PDF. Compare any converted email with the original before you file it.
How to Use
Add the email file
Drop one .eml or .msg file on the upload area or click to browse. Its name and size appear with a Clear button.
Choose options
Pick A4, Letter or Legal, decide whether to show CC and BCC and the attachment list, and check the time zone name.
Convert
Click Convert to PDF. The first conversion loads the PDF engine into your browser, which can take a moment.
Check before you rely on it
Download the PDF, named after the email file, and compare it with the original message, particularly the body text and any attachments.
Use Cases
Plain-text notifications
Save a plain-text alert or automated notice, saved from your mail program as .eml, as a PDF to file next to the record it concerns.
Reading an .eml without a mail program
Lay out a simple plain-text .eml file on A4 or Letter pages when no email program is installed to open it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which email files convert correctly?
Plain-text .eml messages that are not split into parts. Emails with formatting or attachments are sent in several parts, and the current parser does not read those correctly. Outlook .msg files are read only in part.
Are attachments embedded in the PDF?
Not at present. The code can embed files, but the parser does not find attachments in standard multipart emails and never reads them from .msg files. Print the email to PDF from your email program, then attach the files with the Add Attachments tool.
Why does my PDF show code or odd characters instead of the message?
That is the parsing problem described above: the raw text of one part of the message, sometimes still encoded, is printed instead of the formatted email. Print the message to PDF from your email program instead.
What happens with Outlook .msg files?
The tool picks readable text out of the file and guesses which strings are the subject, sender and recipient. The date is not shown, attachments and formatting are lost, and characters outside basic English are dropped. Printing from Outlook gives a faithful PDF.
Why did the conversion fail after I edited the time zone?
The box expects a name from the standard time zone list, such as Europe/Dublin or America/New_York. An unrecognised or empty name stops the conversion, so put back a valid name and try again.
Is my email uploaded?
No. Parsing and conversion run in your browser tab. The PDF engine files are loaded from this site the first time you convert, and the email stays on your device.