Convert MSG to Text — Extract Readable Content from Outlook Emails

• Extracts sender, date, subject, body, CC, and BCC — you pick which fields to include
• Converts one file or thousands in a single batch run
• Merges all emails into one text file or saves each separately
• Names output files by date, sender, subject, or custom template
• Works without Outlook, MAPI, or any Microsoft Office component
• Includes command-line interface for scripting and scheduled tasks

Download Total Mail Converter and extract readable text from your MSG files today.

MSG vs Plain Text: What Is the Difference?

MSG is Microsoft Outlook's native email format. Each .msg file is an OLE Compound Document — a binary container that stores the sender, recipients, subject, date, message body (in RTF or HTML), embedded images, file attachments, and Outlook-specific properties like flags and categories. Opening an MSG file requires Outlook or a compatible MAPI client. The binary structure makes MSG files unreadable in plain text editors.

TXT is the simplest document format. A .txt file contains only human-readable characters and line breaks — no markup, no formatting codes, no binary data. Text files open instantly in Notepad, VS Code, terminal editors, or any viewer on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Converting MSG to text strips the OLE structure, HTML/RTF formatting, and binary attachments, leaving clean readable content: who sent the email, when, the subject line, and the message body. The result is compact, universally accessible, and easy to search with standard tools.

How to Convert MSG to Text

• Step 1. Launch Total Mail Converter. Navigate to the folder containing your MSG files using the folder tree on the left. The file list displays all emails found in the selected directory.
• Step 2. Select the messages you want to convert. Use Check All to process every file in the folder, or tick individual emails.
• Step 3. Click the TXT button in the format toolbar. The settings 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, and choose whether to create a separate file for each email or merge all into one.
• Step 6. Press Start. The converter reads each MSG file and writes the selected fields as plain text to the destination folder.

The output files contain clean, human-readable text. Attachments from the original MSG files are saved separately to a subfolder — they are not embedded in the text output.

Command-Line Conversion

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

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

Parameters: source path with wildcards, -sTXT sets the target format, and the last argument is the destination folder. Save this in a .bat file and schedule it with Windows Task Scheduler to run nightly exports. The command-line mode supports all the same options as the GUI — field selection, merge mode, and file-naming templates.

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. Skip transport headers and Outlook metadata to keep the text file clean and focused on the content that matters.

Merge or separate. Save each email as its own .txt file for individual access, or merge an entire folder of messages into one continuous text document. The merge option is useful for full-text search across thousands of emails.

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

Batch processing. Convert thousands of MSG files in one session. Point the converter at a folder tree and it processes every .msg file it finds. No file-count limit, no memory issues.

Attachment extraction. Attachments from MSG files are saved as separate files in a subfolder. Documents, images, and archives remain intact and accessible alongside the converted text.

Multiple output formats. Besides TXT, Total Mail Converter converts MSG files to PDF, DOC, PST, HTML, EML, RTF, and TIFF. One license covers every email conversion task.

Manual Copy-Paste vs Total Mail Converter

(includes 30 day FREE trial)

(only $59.90)

Total Mail Converter Customer Reviews 2026

"We receive thousands of MSG files from Outlook exports and need the body text for NLP processing. Total Mail Converter extracts just the fields we need — subject and body — into clean UTF-8 text files. Our Python scripts ingest the output directly without any preprocessing. The batch mode handles 20,000 emails in under 15 minutes. It replaced a custom MAPI script that broke every time Outlook updated."

Priya Venkatesh Data Analyst, Market Intelligence Group

"Compliance requires us to keep email records in a non-proprietary format. We export departing employees' MSG files to plain text for long-term archival. Total Mail Converter includes all the header fields auditors ask for — sender, recipient, date, subject — and the file-naming templates make it easy to organize output by date and sender. No Outlook installation needed on the archive server."

Gerald Whitmore Records Manager, Apex Financial Services

"I convert old project emails to text so I can search them with Windows Search instead of scrolling through Outlook folders. Total Mail Converter handles folders of 500+ MSG files without slowing down, and the merge option gives me one searchable file per project. My only wish is a built-in date range filter so I could skip emails older than a certain year during conversion."

Laura Brennan Administrative Assistant, Collins & Reid Associates

MSG to Text Conversion: FAQ ▼