MacXTools EML Converter is a standalone Mac EML converter tool that batch converts EML and EMLX files on macOS. It exports messages saved by Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Windows Live Mail and Outlook Express to eight formats including PST, MBOX, PDF and MSG. No mail client has to be installed.
No registration and no upload. Conversion happens on the Mac doing the work. See the screens first.
Preserves email content, structure and properties throughout the EML conversion process.
Reads the source and writes nothing back to it. Timestamps and byte content on the source folder match after conversion, which matters where the same set has to be produced again later.
Carries Internet headers through the conversion unaltered. The routing record and the message metadata remain available for examination in the output.
Rebuilds the source directory layout at the destination through the Maintain Folder Hierarchy option. Disabling it writes a flat output for a destination that expects a single level.
Writes documents, spreadsheets and images attached to a message as individual files at the destination rather than leaving them enclosed in the message body.
Keeps images embedded in the message body in position. Pixel dimensions and quality are carried across without resampling.
Retains colour, layout and typeface through the conversion. A formatted message is written as a formatted message rather than reduced to plain text.
Loads the EMLX variant written by Apple Mail through the same filter as plain EML. A folder holding both extensions requires one pass and one tool.
Imposes no limit on the size of an individual message or on how many are converted at once. A folder holding thousands takes longer to process and nothing more.
Reads the files directly with no supporting application. Apple Mail, Thunderbird and Outlook can all be absent from the Mac.
Processes every file on local hardware. Nothing is transmitted, no account is registered and no remote service takes part.
Titles each written file by a selected pattern, from the subject alone up to a combination carrying the date and the sender. Auto increment covers a folder where the same subject repeats.
Writes a PST destination in parts rather than as one continuous file, which keeps each resulting data file to a manageable size.
Screens from the MacXTools EML Converter, covering the Add File and Add Folder routes into the load list.
Controls which messages are converted and how the output is named and written.
Two buttons fill the load list. The mode chosen decides whether messages or directories are accepted.
One filter covers both extensions, so a folder holding a mixture of the two needs no second pass.
A directory is accepted as a single row rather than as thousands of separate ones, which is what makes a large set practical.
Exports EML and EMLX to mail containers for importing, to message formats for single items and to document formats for reading without a mail client.
| Format | Opened by | The case for it |
|---|---|---|
| PST | Microsoft Outlook on Windows and on Mac | Thousands of loose messages have to become one Outlook data file |
| MBOX | Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Postbox | A directory of separate files has to become one importable mailbox |
| EMLX | Apple Mail | The destination is the Apple Mail store on a Mac rather than an import dialogue |
| MSG | Outlook and Exchange mailboxes | Individual messages stay openable in Outlook with no import step first |
| EML | Thunderbird, eM Client, most desktop clients | The messages are already EML and only the naming or the folder layout has to change |
| Preview, Acrobat, any document system | Messages become paginated documents for filing, review or printing | |
| HTML | Any web browser | The recipient reads the mail with no client installed and nothing to install |
| TXT | Any text editor | Plain text is what an indexer, a script or a search tool works with |
Every saving option here produces a file on the local disk. There is no direct upload into Gmail, Office 365, Yahoo Mail or an IMAP account. Several competing products do advertise that route, so it is a specification to confirm before purchase. Spreadsheet and word processor output are absent as well, so contacts headed for a CRM are better served by a tool built for that purpose.
What each kind of user requires from an EML converter for Mac.
Requires unattended volume. Add Folder accepts a whole directory tree without each file being selected, which makes a decommissioned mail store practical to process.
Requires mixed sources taken in one operation. A handover collected from several mail applications carries both extensions. The software accepts them together without sorting them first.
Requires the set scoped to a request window. A date filter takes a From and a To date and excludes everything falling outside it before conversion begins.
Requires the source left provably intact. The original folder is read only, so the same set hashes identically before and after and can be produced again unchanged.
Requires strict separation between clients. Output can be written one file per source folder, so no two handovers are ever combined.
Requires no configuration. The software adds a folder and converts it, with no preview stage or intermediate screen to work through first.
Ten items from every selected folder, with the output formats and the settings all available. Whether the software reads a particular set of files is therefore confirmed before any purchase.
Converts a directory of loose messages to PST, the single data file Outlook opens on Windows and on Mac. Split output keeps a large result in parts rather than in one oversized file.
Converts to MBOX for the Apple Mail import dialogue or to EMLX for the Mail store itself. Thunderbird and Postbox take the same MBOX output. The store those EMLX files belong to is documented in where Apple Mail stores emails on a Mac.
Converts to PDF or HTML for filing, review or printing. Message headers pass through unchanged, so routing detail stays readable in the archived copy.
Converts an export supplied as a directory tree into one importable container, with Maintain Folder Hierarchy rebuilding the original layout at the destination.
Add File selects messages individually. Add Folder points the software at a directory so that every supported file inside is loaded without being selected individually. Whichever route is used, the list below records what has been accepted.
Set a date window where only part of the archive is wanted. Decide whether the source folder structure is reproduced or flattened, then choose the naming pattern for the output files.
Pick one of the eight output types, name a destination folder, then start the conversion. Formats differ in whether they produce one container or a file for every message.
Hardware, operating system and the one runtime the EML converter software depends on.
Known causes and their fixes before the first EML conversion. None needs a support ticket.
The build lists Java JDK and JRE 8 among its prerequisites. Where neither is present the application reports that it cannot load the Java Runtime Environment and closes. Installing both clears it. This is the most common first launch failure on a machine that has never run a Java application.
A macOS security prompt on first launch is cleared from System Settings under Privacy & Security, where the application is approved by name. Permission is granted once and system protection stays switched on.
Two causes account for this. A date filter set to a window containing no messages completes without error and without output. The other is a directory holding something other than EML or EMLX files, since a mailbox container carrying a different extension is collected by neither add mode.
Yes. Both extensions load through the same panel and the Add File picker filters on EML/EMLX Files together. EMLX is the variant Apple Mail writes, so a mailbox pulled off a Mac needs no separate tool.
No. The Mac EML converter reads the files directly. Apple Mail, Thunderbird and Outlook can all be absent from the machine.
Ten items per selected folder. The cap applies to each selected folder rather than to the conversion as a whole, so a set spread across several folders still gives you ten from each to judge the output on.
The build lists Java JDK and JRE 8 as a prerequisite. Where neither is installed the application reports that it cannot load the Java Runtime Environment and stops. Installing JDK and JRE 8 clears it.
No cap is stated on the number of files or on their size. Pointing Add Folder at a directory gathers every EML and EMLX file inside without naming them one by one.
Yes. Maintain Folder Hierarchy reproduces the source directory structure at the destination. Leaving it unticked produces a flat result at the destination.
Yes. Both vendor sources list PST among the saving options for this build. That is the format which makes a folder of loose EML files importable into Outlook as a single data file.
No. The EML files are opened for reading. Output is written to the destination you nominate and the originals keep their bytes and their modified dates.
Yes. A date filter takes a From and a To date and skips everything outside that window, which is the usual way a long archive is reduced before conversion.
Yes. Attachments are written out as openable files and inline images stay in place with the HTML formatting around them.
Not by this software. Everything it produces lands on disk as a file, so reaching a live mailbox takes a second step you perform yourself. MBOX is the usual bridge into Gmail, Apple Mail or Thunderbird. Office 365 takes a PST through the import service Microsoft runs. Products offering a one click IMAP upload still perform both stages internally.
No. The eight saving options cover mail formats and document formats but not spreadsheet or word processor output. TXT or HTML is the closest route where the text has to land in another application.
This page covers the macOS build. A separate Windows edition of the EML converter exists as its own product with its own licence.
Ten items from each selected folder is enough to confirm that the EML converter for Mac reads the files and that the output imports where it is meant to go. No format and no setting is held back from the demo, which means what appears now is what a paid licence would write.