When it comes to opening .eml email files, MessageViewer Lite is hard to beat. This inexpensive viewer accurately renders and prints individual .eml and .msg formatted email messages created by Outlook, Windows Live Mail, Thunderbird, Lotus and other email clients.
MessageViewer Lite has a limited set of features and is by design very easy to use. This has made it a popular tool for system administrators to deploy to their users. After installation on a Windows device, any .eml or Outlook .msg file can be opened by clicking on it. The message will open up on your screen. Now you can print the email, or extract file attachments and save them to your hard drive.
File attachments can be dragged from the email and dropped on to the desktop. Double clicking on a file attachment, such as a pdf file, will cause it to open in the appropriate software program on your computer.
 |
| MessageViewer Lite main menu |
MessageViewer Lite supports having multiple windows open, each showing a different email message. Content can also be copied and pasted directly from the email window. MessageViewer Lite can be deployed to user desktops. It can also be used with hosted applications, such as a CRM app, so that users will always have the ability to open email messages attached to client records.
MessageViewer Lite has just three menu items File, View and Help.
The File menu gives access to the Print function which will send the email to your printer.
Check File Associations will let you set MessageViewer Lite as your default Windows application for .eml or .msg files.
 |
| File Menu |
From the File Menu, you can also set file associations for MessageViewer Lite. Set it as the default application for .msg or .eml files.
The View menu has just one option that toggles the viewer between html and text mode. If you set it to text mode, then MessageViewer Lite will always display.eml and .msg files as text files, rather than html files.
The Help menu contains several useful options.
 |
| Help Menu |
About provides the version number for your copy of MessageVeiwer Lite.
If the software is in trial mode, then Buy Now will open a browser window to allow you to purchase an activation code for the software.
Registration is where you can enter your activation code.
Start Logging is a function that you should only use if asked by the MessageViewer Lite support team. It’s used to help troubleshoot issues.
Check Update Now will tell MessageViewer Lite to see if a newer version of the software is available.
Configure Update allows you to tell MessageViewer Lite to automatically check for software updates.
MessageViewer Lite is the little brother to EML Viewer Pro, which is a more complete .eml and .msg file viewer that can export email messages to different formats.
You can try MessageViewer Lite free for 15 days. The price to buy is just $24.99, with progressive discounts for multiple copies.
To see how MessageViewer Lite’s features compare to EML Viewer Pro, click here to compare .eml viewers.