Convert EML to Text — Export Email Messages as Plain Text Files

EML files store email messages in RFC 5322 format — MIME headers, HTML bodies, Base64-encoded attachments, and transport metadata all packed into one file. Extracting readable content from this structure by hand is slow and error-prone. Total Mail Converter strips the encoding and markup, saving each email as a clean plain-text file you can search, archive, and process on any system.

• Converts EML files to TXT individually or in batch — thousands at once
• Lets you pick which fields appear in the output: sender, date, subject, body, CC, BCC
• Merges all messages into one text file or saves each as a separate .txt
• Names output files by date, sender, or subject using templates
• Saves attachments separately — not embedded in the text output
• Runs from the GUI or the command line for automated workflows

Download Total Mail Converter and convert your EML files to plain text today.

 

Quick answer: To convert EML to text, install Total Mail Converter, click Add files or Add folder to load your .eml files, select them, click the TXT button, pick which fields to include and a destination folder, then press Start. The whole batch converts to clean plain text offline, with no Outlook and no file-count limit.

EML vs Plain Text: What Is the Difference?

EML is the standard email file format defined by RFC 5322. Each .eml file contains MIME headers (From, To, Date, Subject, Content-Type), an HTML or plain-text body, and any attachments encoded in Base64. Email clients like Thunderbird, Windows Mail, and many others read and write EML natively. The format is designed for mail transport, not for human browsing — open an EML in a text editor and you see encoded binary blocks, MIME boundaries, and HTML tags mixed with the actual message.

Plain text (TXT) is the simplest document format. A .txt file holds only characters and line breaks. It opens instantly in Notepad, VS Code, terminal editors, or any viewer on Windows, macOS, and Linux. There is no markup, no encoding, no binary data. Text files are the default input for search indexers, databases, data-analysis scripts, and NLP pipelines.

Converting EML to TXT strips MIME encoding, HTML tags, and transport headers. What remains is clean content: the sender, date, subject, and message body in readable form. The output is compact, universally accessible, and easy to search with grep, Windows Search, or any text-processing tool.

How to Convert EML to Text

• Step 1. Launch Total Mail Converter. Click Add files to select individual .eml files, or click Add folder to load an entire directory of emails at once.
• Step 2. Select the emails you want to convert. Click Check All to process everything, or tick individual messages in the file list.
• Step 3. Click the TXT button in the format toolbar at the top of the window. The conversion wizard opens.
• Step 4. Choose a destination folder for the output text files.
• Step 5. Configure the output: select which email fields to include (sender, date, subject, body, CC, BCC), set the file-naming template (date, sender, subject), and choose whether to save each email as a separate file or merge all into one.
• Step 6. Press Start. The converter extracts the text content from each EML file and saves it to the destination folder.

Output files contain clean, readable text. Attachments are saved separately to the same or a different folder — they are not embedded in the text output.

Command-Line Conversion

Total Mail Converter includes a command-line interface for scripting and automation:

MailConverter.exe "C:\Emails\*.eml" -sTXT "C:\Output\Text\"

Specify the source path (wildcards supported), the target format, and the destination folder. Wrap this in a .bat file and schedule it with Windows Task Scheduler for unattended nightly exports. The command-line version accepts all wizard options as parameters — field selection, file naming, merge mode, and attachment handling.

Why Use Total Mail Converter?

Selective field export. Choose exactly which email fields appear in the output: sender, recipient, date, subject, body, CC, BCC, or any combination. Exclude unnecessary headers to keep the text clean.

Merge or split. Save each email as a separate .txt file for individual access, or merge an entire folder into one long text file — useful for full-text search across thousands of messages.

Customizable file naming. Name output files using date, sender, subject, or message index. A template like [Date]-[Subject].txt produces filenames that sort chronologically and are easy to find in a file manager.

Batch processing. Convert thousands of EML files in one session. Point Total Mail Converter at a folder of .eml files and process everything at once — no file-count limit.

Attachment handling. Attachments are saved to a separate folder alongside the text output. Documents, images, and archives remain intact and accessible without being mixed into the text content.

Multiple output formats. Besides TXT, Total Mail Converter exports EML to PDF, DOC, HTML, TIFF, PST, XLS, and more from the same interface.

Manual Method vs Total Mail Converter

Feature	Manual Copy-Paste	Total Mail Converter
Batch export	One email at a time	Entire folders at once
Field selection	Copy everything or nothing	Choose specific fields
File naming	Manual renaming	Automatic templates (date, sender, subject)
Merge option	Manual concatenation	Built-in merge to one file
Speed (10,000 emails)	Days of manual work	Minutes
Command-line automation	Not possible	Full CLI + .bat scripting
Privacy	N/A	100% offline — files stay on your PC
Pricing	Free but impractical	One-time $59.90

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