So you’ve got an EML file and you need it as a PDF. Maybe to print it, to keep a copy of something important, or to send it on to someone who needs to read it.
EML files are emails saved as files. You’ll usually end up with one after downloading an email from Gmail, Yahoo or Outlook.com, or because somebody sent you one as an attachment.
Search for a way to turn one into a PDF and you’ll find a wall of converter websites, all wanting you to either pay them or upload your email to their servers.
You don’t need any of them. Your computer can already do this, for free, without anything leaving your machine. It takes about thirty seconds once you know where to click.
I’ll show you how. But first, one thing worth two minutes of your time.
Before You Open It, Is This EML File Safe?
If you saved this email yourself, skip ahead. You know where it came from.
If somebody sent it to you out of the blue, stop for a second.
Sending a .eml file as an attachment is a trick scammers actively use. The reason is simple enough. Spam filters are good at reading the email in front of them, but an EML file is an email hidden inside another email, and a lot of filters don’t look that deeply. The dodgy bit sits in the attachment where nothing scans it.
The version doing the rounds at the moment looks like a Microsoft Teams meeting invite. Click “Join Meeting” and you get bounced through a couple of redirects, past a fake security check, and onto a Microsoft sign in page that isn’t Microsoft’s. Type your password in there and it’s gone.
None of which means EML files are dangerous. They’re just email. But an unexpected one deserves a look before you double-click it, in exactly the same way you’d treat any other phishing email.
How to Look Inside an EML File Without Opening It
Here’s the useful thing about EML files. Underneath, they’re just plain text. You can read one in Notepad without your computer loading a single image, running anything, or telling the sender you’ve opened it.
Right-click the file, choose Open with, then pick Notepad.
It’ll look a mess. That’s fine, you’re not reading it for pleasure. You’re looking for two things.
Who it’s really from. Near the top you’ll see a line starting From: and another starting Return-Path:. If the email claims to be from your bank and the return path is some address at a domain you’ve never heard of, you have your answer.
Where the links actually go. Use Ctrl+F and search for http. You’ll see the real web addresses behind every button and link in that email, spelled out in full. A “Join Meeting” button pointing at something that isn’t Microsoft tells you everything.
Still Not Sure?
There’s a way to open a suspect email where nothing it does can touch your computer. Windows Sandbox gives you a clean, throwaway Windows that vanishes when you close it. Open the email in there, have a look, shut the window, and whatever was in it goes with it.
How to Convert an EML File to PDF
Happy the file’s genuine? Good. The whole job is two steps.
Open the email, then print it to PDF. That’s it. Windows has had a built in PDF printer since Windows 10, and it turns anything you can print into a PDF file. No converter, no upload, no sign up.
Step 1. Open the EML File
Right-click your EML file, hover over Open with, and choose Outlook (new).
Outlook is already on every Windows 11 computer, so there’s nothing to download. The email opens looking exactly as it did when it was sent, with its formatting, images and layout intact.
If Outlook isn’t in the list, open Outlook first, then drag the EML file from File Explorer and drop it onto the reading pane. Same result.
If Double-Clicking Does Nothing
You might be wondering why you can’t just double-click the thing. Fair question, and there’s a reason.
Windows Mail, which used to handle EML files, was retired on 31 December 2024. It’s gone. On a lot of computers nothing took over the job properly, so double-clicking an EML file either does nothing at all or opens Outlook on its home screen with your email nowhere in sight.
You can fix it permanently. Right-click the EML file, choose Open with, then Choose another app. Pick Outlook (new) and tick Always use this app to open .eml files.
From then on, double-clicking works the way you expected it to in the first place.
Step 2. Print It to PDF
With the email open in Outlook, press Ctrl+P, or find Print on the menu.
In the printer list, choose Microsoft Print to PDF. Not your actual printer.
Click Print. Windows will ask you where to save it and what to call it, exactly as though you were saving any other file. Give it a sensible name, pick a folder you’ll find again, and click Save.
That’s your PDF. Open it and check it looks right.
Nothing Left Your Computer
Worth saying plainly, because it’s the whole point. Every step above happened on your own machine. The email wasn’t sent anywhere, nothing was uploaded, and no company you’ve never heard of has a copy of it.
If the email has your address, your bank details or anything medical in it, that matters.
No Email Program Set Up? Two More Free Ways
Outlook needs an email account signed into it before it’ll do much. If you’ve never set that up, it’s a five minute job and worth doing anyway, and I’ve covered it here: How to Setup Your Email Accounts in Outlook for Windows.
If you’d rather not, here are two other ways that cost nothing.
Use Thunderbird, the Free EML Viewer
Thunderbird is a free email program from the people who make Firefox. It’s been around for twenty years and it opens EML files properly, on a double-click, with the best formatting of anything I’ve tried.
It’ll nag you to set up an email account when it first starts. You can skip that and still open EML files.
Once the email’s open, it’s Ctrl+P and Microsoft Print to PDF, same as before.
If you’ve got a folder full of EML files to get through, this is the one I’d use.
Send It to Yourself
Sounds daft. Works perfectly.
Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook.com all open EML attachments without any fuss, because opening emails is what they do all day. Start a new email to yourself, attach the EML file, and send it.
Open the email when it arrives, click the attachment, and there’s your message.
From there you can print it to PDF straight out of your browser. I’ve gone through that in detail here: How to Print Emails in Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Outlook.com.
This Isn’t the Same as Uploading It
Sending the file to your own mailbox is not the same thing as handing it to a converter website. It’s going to your own inbox, with your own provider, who already holds every other email you’ve ever received.
No new stranger gets a copy. That’s the difference that matters.
Why Not Just Use an Online EML to PDF Converter?
Search for a way to do this and you’ll find dozens of them. Drag your file onto the page, wait a moment, download your PDF. They work.
But think about what you’ve just done. You’ve taken a private email and handed a complete copy of it to a company you’d never heard of ten minutes ago.
You don’t know where their servers are. You don’t know how long they keep your file. You don’t know who works there.
For a takeaway menu, who cares. For anything with your home address on it, a bank statement, a letter from your doctor, an invoice with your account number, a message from your solicitor, I wouldn’t. And a fair few people converting emails to PDF are doing it precisely because the email matters, keeping a record of something that went wrong or might end up in front of somebody official.
Those are exactly the emails not to upload.
The method further up this page takes about the same amount of time and nothing leaves your computer. I’d use that one.
The .mht Trick, and Why You Get a Blank Page
There’s an old trick that gets passed around for this. Rename the file from .eml to .mht and a web browser will open it.
It used to work nicely. These days, most people who try it get a completely blank page and no explanation.
I’ll show you the trick, then I’ll show you why it fails and how to fix it, because the fix takes two clicks and nobody ever mentions it.
Changing the File Extension
The file extension is the bit after the dot in a file name. It’s how Windows knows what kind of file it’s looking at, and by default Windows hides it.
In File Explorer, click View on the toolbar, then Show, then tick File name extensions.
Now rename the file, changing the .eml on the end to .mht. Windows will warn you that changing a file extension might make the file unusable. Click Yes. Nothing is being damaged, and you can always change it back.
Double-click it, and it should open in Edge or Chrome. The formatting is rough and ready, but the message is readable, and you can press Ctrl+P and save it as a PDF from there.
Why You Get a Blank Page, and the Two Click Fix
Here’s the bit that catches everybody out.
When you download a file, Windows quietly marks it as having come from the internet. That mark follows the file around, and it stays put even when you rename it.
Since Edge version 114, Edge refuses to display a marked .mht file. It doesn’t warn you or explain. It just shows you a blank white page.
And of course your EML file came from the internet. That’s how you got it. So the very people following this trick are the ones it fails for.
To clear the mark, right-click the file and choose Properties. At the bottom of the General tab there’s an Unblock tick box. Tick it, click OK, then open the file again. It’ll open.
Only Unblock Files You Trust
That mark is there for a reason. It’s Windows being careful about files from outside.
Unblocking an email you saved yourself is fine. Unblocking something a stranger sent you, before you’ve had a look at it in Notepad, is not a habit worth picking up.
Troubleshooting
Microsoft Print to PDF Isn’t in the Printer List
It can get switched off, and some computers arrive with it off.
Press the Windows key, type Windows features, and open Turn Windows features on or off. Scroll down the list to Microsoft Print to PDF and tick it. Click OK and give it a minute.
If you prefer typing, this opens the same window:
optionalfeatures.exeThe Attachments Aren’t in My PDF
They won’t be, and that’s normal. Printing an email prints the message, not the things clipped to it.
If you need the attachments too, save them out of the email first, then print each one to PDF separately. Here’s how to save email attachments.
The PDF Looks Squashed or Cut Off
Wide emails, usually the ones with big picture headers, don’t always fit an A4 page.
In the print window, look for More settings. Switching the layout to Landscape fixes most of it. Setting Scale to Fit to page sorts out nearly all the rest.
The Images Are Missing
Most email programs block pictures in an email until you tell them it’s safe. If the pictures aren’t showing on screen, they won’t be in the PDF either.
Look for a bar across the top of the message offering to download the pictures, click it, and then print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is an EML file?
A. An EML file is a single email saved as a file on your computer. It holds the message, who sent it, when it was sent, and any pictures or attachments that came with it. You normally end up with one after downloading an email from Gmail, Yahoo or Outlook.com.
Q. Do I need Microsoft 365 to open an EML file?
A. No. Outlook needs a Microsoft 365 subscription to open .msg and .oft files, but not .eml files. Those open in the free version.
Q. Can I open an EML file without Outlook?
A. Yes. Thunderbird is free and opens them on a double-click. You can also attach the file to an email and send it to yourself, then open it in Gmail, Yahoo or Outlook.com. Or rename it to .mht and open it in your web browser.
Q. Is it safe to open an EML file?
A. An EML file you saved yourself is perfectly safe. One that arrived unexpectedly deserves a check first, because scammers do send them to slip past spam filters. Open it in Notepad and look at who it’s really from and where its links really go before you open it properly.
Q. Why does nothing happen when I double-click an EML file?
A. Windows Mail used to handle EML files and it was retired at the end of 2024. On many computers nothing took its place. Right-click the file, choose Open with, then Choose another app, pick Outlook (new) and tick “Always use this app”.
Q. Can I convert several EML files to PDF at once?
A. Not with the built in Windows tools, which handle one at a time. For a big batch, open them in Thunderbird, which lets you move through a folder of emails quickly. Printing each one is still a separate step.
Q. Will the PDF include the attachments?
A. No. Printing an email prints the message only. Save the attachments out of the email separately and print each one to PDF on its own.
Summary
Converting an EML file to a PDF is a two step job, and both steps use things already sitting on your computer.
Open the email, usually by right-clicking it and choosing Open with, then Outlook (new). Then press Ctrl+P and pick Microsoft Print to PDF instead of your printer. Save it where you’ll find it again.
No software to buy, no website to upload to, and the email never leaves your machine.
The only bit I’d really press on is the first one. If that EML file turned up unexpectedly, spend two minutes looking at it in Notepad before you open it properly. It costs you nothing and it’s saved a lot of people a lot of grief.
Now you’ve got your PDF, you might want to edit it, or trim it down before you send it on.
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You can find this and other related step by step guides in – At Home Computer Email Guides