How do I convert an Outlook .msg file to Markdown?

Drag the .msg file straight out of Outlook onto the converter above, or upload it. You get the headers, the message body and a list of attachments as Markdown. No signup needed for your first 5 conversions a day.

Are attachments converted too?

They are listed by name but not converted. Save an attachment from Outlook and convert it on its own if you need its contents.

Can Claude or ChatGPT read .msg files directly?

Not reliably, because .msg is a binary Outlook format. Convert it to Markdown first and paste the result, or connect file2markdown to Claude through MCP and convert emails inside the conversation.

What about .eml files?

Those work too. .eml is the standard email format used by Outlook on the web, Apple Mail, Thunderbird and Gmail exports.

Convert Outlook MSG to Markdown

Turn Outlook .msg emails into clean Markdown: subject, sender, recipients and date at the top, the message body as readable text, and a list of attachments. Ready to paste into Claude, ChatGPT or a RAG pipeline.

Open the converter to upload your .msg file

Free, no account required. Get clean Markdown in seconds.

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Why convert Outlook MSG to Markdown?

Give Claude or ChatGPT an Outlook email without copy-pasting
Archive important threads as searchable Markdown notes
Feed email archives into RAG pipelines for search and analysis

What you get from an Outlook .msg file

An Outlook .msg file is a small container holding the email in several forms at once, plus metadata and attachments. The converter reads the headers first (subject, From, To, Cc and the send date) and puts them at the top of the Markdown. Then it picks the best body available: the HTML version when there is one, so links, bold text and lists survive, and otherwise the plain-text or rich-text version.

Reply history stays in the body as text, so an LLM can follow the conversation. Tracking pixels and inline images are dropped, because they add nothing a model can read.

Attachments

Attachments are listed by name at the end of the Markdown so nothing is silently missing, but they are not converted. To include an attached PDF or Word file, save it from Outlook and convert it separately.

Example: what the Markdown output looks like

A short Outlook email converts to:

# Q3 budget review

**From:** Ana Souza <ana@example.com>
**To:** Robin; Finance team
**Date:** 2026-09-14 09:31 UTC

---

Hi all, the revised numbers are in the attached sheet. Marketing is **up 12%**.

## Attachments

- Q3-budget.xlsx

Convert Outlook MSG to Markdown

Why convert Outlook MSG to Markdown?

What you get from an Outlook .msg file

Attachments

Example: what the Markdown output looks like

Frequently asked questions

Other formats you can convert

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