MessageViewer Lite is a simple .eml viewer with excellent email rendering abilities. MessageViewer Lite is capable of opening .eml files, Outlook .msg files and winmail.dat files.
First, a bit of background.
Outlook Express (OE) is an email client that Microsoft distributed with its popular Microsoft Windows XP operating system. With XP still commanding about 40% of the desktop operating system market, Outlook Express remains an important email client for millions of people
Saving individual emails from Outlook Express produces a file with the .EML extension. .EML files are an open email format specified in RFC-822 and RFC-2822. In a single file, they can contain the email message (text and html formatting), the message header, message path information, time/date information, file attachments, and other bits and bobs of information.
When someone wants to share an email message and its attachments from OE they may save it as a .eml file and then attach it to another email message. Sometimes, .eml files are attached to a customer record in customer relationship software to remain part of the contact history. If an email client capable of opening .eml files is not present on the computer when someone tries to open the .eml file, then the user may see an error message. Being unable to open a .eml file at the moment its needed can be frustrating and unproductive.
A .eml file viewer can make it easy to open .eml files, even if Outlook Express or another capable email client is not installed on the computer. EML file viewers can be very light, with a small software footprint, unlike a full email client package.
A closer look at MessageViewer Lite
Installing and using the MessageViewer Lite .EML Viewer
MessageViewer Lite can be set as a the Windows system default software for handling .eml and .msg files, allowing the user to open email files simply by clicking on them. MesageViewer Lite allows you to have multiple windows open at once, a nice convenience if you need to capture bits of information from several emails.
MessageViewer Lite was designed to be simple to use, and therefor has few advanced features. With MessageViewer Lite, you can copy the text of an email, print the message, or save it as a text file. Files attached to the email can be saved to disk simply by dragging the file out of the email and dropping it to your desktop.
MessageViewer Lite is available for installation from an .MSI file, which is good news for system administrators who want to do a silient installation. A 15 day trial can be downloaded free of charge from the MessageViewer Lite website. This is an overview of the installation process. When you start MessageViewer Lite Setup, a welcome screen starts to begin guiding you through the installation process.
Notice that as you install MessageViewer Lite, there is no advertising or special offers, or attempts to install software on your computer other than MessageViewer Lite. This is an advantage of using a commercial .eml viewer like MessageViewer Lite; they have no financial incentive to install unwanted ads or tracking software on your computer. Their only goal is to provide you with a good experience so that you’ll pay a few dollars and buy the software.
MessageViewer Lite installation welcome screen
Click next to continue
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| Ready to install. |
MessageViewer Lite will quickly assess your computer and if everything is ok, it offers to continue the installation. The next step would be the acceptance of the End-User License Agreement, a standard requirement these days. Click “I accept” and then “Continue” to start the process.
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| MessageViewer Lite EULA. |
The Installation Process begins. A status bar shows you the progress as MessageViewer Lite installs.
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| Installing MessageViewer Lite. |
When the installation process concludes, MessageViewer Lite will open with a welcome message.
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| Welcome Message. |
Let’s take a look at the options in the File menu drop down list.
Open lets you select and open an email file.
Close will close out MessageViewer Lite.
Print will allow you to print the email message.
Check file associations will allow you to reset MessageViewer Lite as .msg, or .eml Windows default.
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| File Menu. |
The “View” drop down list has only one option. It allows you to toggle between Text and HTML/Rich Text email viewing. If you want MessageViewer Lite to always open emails in Texxt mode, the select this option. Below is a before/after snippet showing MessageViewer Lite in HTML mode, and the next image shows it in Text mode.
MessageViewer Lite in HTML/Rich Text viewing mode
MessageViewer Lite in Plain text viewing mode
Let’s look at MessageViewer Lite’s Help drop down menu next.
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| Help Drop Down Menu. |
About – This will provide the version number of your software. It’s always helpful to know this if you ever need to contact the support team for help viewing .eml files.
Buy Now! – If you haven’t purchased a license for MessageViewer Lite, selecting this option will take you directly to the product purchase page.
Registration – Enter your product activation code here after purchasing.
Start Logging – This is included as a support function. If you should even run into any difficult, you can create a Log File that you can share with the support team. The log file will help them understand the issue.
Check update now – See if there is a newer version of MessageViewer Lite available.
Configure Update – Tells MessageViewer Lite how often to check for software updates.
Registering MessageViewer Lite
To register MessageViewer Lite, first obtain a product activation code. Next, go to Help>Registration and enter the code, then click Activate.
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| Software activation screen. |
After MessageViewer Lite is activated, you will see an option here to “Release License.” This allows you to uninstall the software, and then move it to a different computer, a helpful feature that allows you to keep using MessageViewer Lite even if you upgrade to a different computer.
MessageViewer Lite EML Viewer
MessageViewer Lite is a very easy to use and capable email viewer for .EML and Outlook .MSG files. We hope you have found this overview of the product to be useful. Download a free trial of MessageViewer Lite and try it out yourself!
If you are looking for a fully featured .eml viewer/extractor/converter with search capabilities, then look at PstViewer Pro.
