Before doing anything, the three questions which always arise in our mind is What, Why and How. Here, in this article we are going to explain What is PST, EML and MSG files? Why extraction of PST email data is required and How can we extract PST to EML and MSG file? So, now without wasting the time, let's move on first query.
PST: It is the database file for Microsoft Outlook, also known as Personal Storage Table.
MSG: This format is created by MS Outlook and every individual mail item of Outlook is saved with .msg extension.
EML: It is a single mail file extension which is supported by various email clients such as Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird, Windows Live Mail, etc.
Let's see the situation when user need to extract PST to MSG & EML data files. Our second query is Why?
Nowadays, most of the technical users and organization use multiple email clients for sending/receiving emails or to deal with their clients. Also, user can easily manage their data in proper way.
If there are various emails clients, then obviously they will create various file extensions. So to access the data like emails, contacts, calendars, etc. in multiple email clients you must have all the supportable files for every email client so that you can easily open them. Let me explain with a Scenario for better understanding.
Scenario: If you are working on Microsoft Outlook and you want to move on Thunderbird email client, then you need to extract PST to EML as Thunderbird supports EML file. In other case, if you want to send few emails to your senior or colleague, not all emails of Outlook, then you need to extract PST to MSG file format.
Lets move to solve other query i.e How?
There are two tricks or method to extract EML files from PST files. See below:
With the help of Outlook Express email client you can easily extract email data from PST file to EML. But, Outlook Express and Microsoft Outlook both email clients should be installed in your machine. Otherwise, it is not possible to extract PST to EML file using the below free solution. So, in that scenario you have to move on any third party commercial tool to extract data items from PST file without Outlook.
Therefore, if Outlook PST file from which you want to extract PST emails is not configured or orphan PST file, then first you need to configure it in MS Outlook so that you can easily migrate Outlook profile to Outlook Express.
Let’s see the steps to open orphan PST file in Microsoft Outlook.
1. Steps to Open Outlook PST File:
2. Steps to Migrate Outlook profile to Outlook Express:
Now, you can easily extract PST to EML data file format using drag and drop. Make a new folder and select all emails in Outlook Express, drag them and drop to the newly created folder for the batch extraction multiple PST emails. let's move on second trick or free solution to extract PST to EML which is migration of Outlook profile to Thunderbird.
To extract PST file to EML format using Mozilla Thunderbird, first you make sure that Microsoft Outlook and Thunderbird both configured on same PC because this manual extraction process will happen only if both email clients are available. See the below steps:
Now, you have successfully transferred all Outlook PST emails into EML file format using these above free trick. You can use them as per your requirements or can take as a backup.
As we know, MSG file creates only in Microsoft Outlook for every individual emails. In case, if you want to backup of some important emails of Outlook, then you have better option to extract PST data to MSG format. The extraction of msg file from PST file is quite easy. Simple, you can use drag and drop method to extract PST to MSG.
As we discussed above free solution on how to retrieve data from Outlook PST file into EML and MSG file. As we have seen that in both case Outlook Express and Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird and Microsoft Outlook should be installed in the system.
But, what if Mozilla Thunderbird, Outlook Express and Outlook is not installed in the PC, then in that case you have two options. First one is Download Mozilla Thunderbird, Outlook Express, Outlook and then configure your email account. This process is time taken. The second solution is third party commercial tool i.e; Outlook PST Converter. This is one of the best, quick and easy method to extract PST to EML & MSG file without getting any issue. Using this tool, you can also extract PST file into multiple formats such as PDF, VCF file etc.
