Tag: search .eml

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How to Convert .EML Files to PDF

EML Viewer Pro is an file viewer for managing email messages stored as .eml files (RFC-822 format). It also opens Outlook .pst and .msg files. One of EML Viewer’s useful features is it’s ability to convert .eml files into .PDF files.  This short tutorial covers the process, step by step, of how to convert email to .PDF using EML Viewer Pro.

The first step is to acquire a free trial of EML Viewer Pro (which is also marketed as Pst Viewer Pro) and then start the application.

Next, using the folder tree on the left of the main software screen, find the folder where your .eml files are located. Once you select this folder, EML Viewer Pro will read in all of your .eml files and present them in the mail list.

Search your files to locate just the .eml files that you need. Here’s an article we wrote earlier that explains how to use EML Viewer Pro’s email search function.

When the email messages that you want to convert to .PDF files are displayed in the mail list, click on one of the messages,  then type CONTROL-A on your computer to select ALL messages. Now, all email messages you want to export to .pdf will all be highlighted in blue.

Select emails to convert to .pdf from the .eml mail list.
Selected email messages are highlighted in EML Viewer Pro’s Mail List window.

Now that the messages are selected, locate the Export Icon in the main toolbar and click on it.

Location of the Email Export button.
Email Export icon in the main toolbar

Clicking on the Email Export Icon will open the Export Manager screen.

Using the drop down box in the Export Manager, select the appropriate export profile. For our purposes, we will choose “PDF-attachments converted/included.”

Location of the "PDF Attachments - converted" email export profile.
Email Export Manager. Select the Export Profile you want.
The “PDF – Attachments converted/included” export profile will attempt to convert the email files as part of the .PDF image. If EML Viewer Pro is not able to convert any email file attachments to PDF, then the file attachment will be embedded as a separate file within the PDF. Click “START” to begin the process.

 

File tree selection of export folder.
Select a folder where EML Viewer Pro will copy PDF files it creates.

EML Viewer Pro will ask you where you want it to place the PDF files it is creating.   Just select a target folder and click OK, and the export operation will proceed.

When the operation is finished,  the .pdf files will be in the target folder you selected earlier. Below is an image of a .pdf file that EML Viewer Pro created, as it is displayed in Adobe PDF Reader. The top of the PDF file includes the From, Sent, Date, To  and Subject fields from the .eml file, followed by the email body in either HTML or Text format.

A PDF file containing the output of the converted .eml html email messages.
A .PDF file created from a html-formatted .EML file by EML Viewer Pro

In our next article, we will look at configuring EML Viewer Pro’s PDF Export profile so that you can have more control over the formatting  of the PDF’s that it creates. For example, you may want to export to European standard page formats. Until then, download and enjoy your free trial of EMLViewer Pro.

We’d love to hear your comments or questions, Please post them below in the comment field.

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How to Search .EML Email Files Quickly

The EmlViewer Pro software team has been working on the upcoming Version 7 release. We’re excited about this update because it has some some new features that we think you’ll be able to put into use right away.

One of the improvements we’ve made is to make it easier to quickly filter and discover email from within a large set of .eml email messages.  As users of EmlViewer Pro (also known as PstViewer Pro) understand, there are two basic ways to identify important email messages:  searching, and filtering.

How to search .eml files

Searching prepares a set of .eml emails.  For example, you may have a folder of 1,000 .eml files. Searching may return, say, 500 .eml files.

Image shows the advanced search window for EmlViewer Pro, which is used to search .eml emails.
Search window in EmlViewer Pro locates .eml files.

Use filtering to to quckly refine those .eml messages.  Filters can be as complex or simple as you need them to be. You can save filters, and then apply them against differerent sets of messages.

Although filtering has been available in previous version of EmlViewer Pro, in version 8 filtering was been repositioned in the UI to make it more prominent and easier to use.

Filtering is now easily easily accessible on the left-hand margin. Simply click “Filter Editor” and begin building a filter to apply to the .eml files in the list.

Image shows the filter editor in EmlViewer Pro, which lets users create complex filters to discover .eml emails that are important.
.Eml File Filtering

The filters you create can be saved and then applied against later searches. The Filter Editor contains numerous boolean criteria that you may combine in powerful ways.

Image shows the filtering options for EmlViewer Pro, which include: And, Or, Not And, Not Or.
Filtering .Eml Files.

The logic of the filter may be applied against different fields within the .eml file, including:
subject, submit time, To, From, whether the email has attachments, and many other bits of data residing within in the .eml file.

Screen shot of a filtering criteria from .eml email fields.
Eml filter criteria.

Using the filter tool, you can create powerful filters that contain a fix of And/Or conditional statements, such as “Find email from Bob or John,” and then layer on additional criteria, such as a date range or whether or not the email contains files, or has a specific word in the body.

While Search and Filtering can give you similar results in the end, here is why you should consider using the Filterin option more often that search.

First, .eml file filtering is faster.  A search operation has to re-scan each individual .eml file, which can be slow depending on how many .eml files you are working with. Filtering does not rescan emails, but uses the data that has been included in the search set.

Second, filters can be re-used and applied later against different search sets.

Third you can apply multiple filters against a single data set.

Download a free trial of EmlViewer Pro and start experimenting with filtering your .eml files. Learn more at the EmlViewer Pro home page.