Summary: Outlook archives emails in PST format by default. However, you can also choose to archive your Outlook mail items in various other formats, such as HTML, MSG, TXT, EML, PDF, or RTF. The advantage of archiving Outlook emails in these formats is that you can open and access them using common applications on your computer or smartphone, such as web browser, MS Word, MS Excel, etc.
Archiving Outlook emails is important as it helps keep the mailbox clean, reduces the Outlook data file size (PST) without permanently deleting the mail items, and boosts the Outlook performance. In Outlook, you can manually archive the emails or enable Auto-Archive to let Outlook archive your old mail items automatically. This prevents the PST file from growing large or oversizing which could result in PST corruption or data loss situation.
However, if you don’t want to archive the Outlook emails to PST format and prefer other file formats, you can do so with the help of Outlook options and a third-party tool.
In this blog, you will learn the methods to archive Outlook emails in different formats, such as MSG, HTML, CSV, PDF, RTF, or EML.
Methods to Archive Outlook Emails without PST
Here are some methods to archive Outlook emails without PST or in other file formats.
1. Archive Outlook Emails to CSV Format
You can archive your Outlook emails to Comma Separated Values or CSV files, which you can access in the Excel application. The steps are as follows:
- Open Outlook and go to File > Open & Export > Import/Export.
- Select Export to a file and click Next.
- Select Comma Separated Values and click Next.
- Choose the mail folder you want to archive emails from and click Next.
- Click Browse and select a location where you want to save the CSV file and click Next.
- Click Map Custom Fields….
- In the Map Custom Fields, select the fields in From section and then drag them to the To: section.
- Click OK and then click Finish.
2. Archive Outlook Emails to MSG or HTML Format
To archive Outlook emails to MSG format, all you have to do is sort the emails based on date and then select all the old emails. Then, drag them to a folder on your Desktop. This creates an MSG file for each email you dropped in the folder.
You may also select an email you want to save as MSG. To do so, follow these steps:
- Click on File > Save As.
- Choose a location and select .msg or HTML format from Save as type: dropdown.
- Click Save.
The advantage of archiving Outlook emails to MSG is that they can be opened individually in Outlook. You may also import them into any of your mail folders just by dragging and dropping the MSG files.
3. Archive Outlook Emails to TEXT Format
You can also select all the old messages by applying a filter in Outlook and save them or archive them in TEXT file format. For this,
- Open Outlook and sort emails from oldest to newest.
- Select all the old emails you want to archive and click File > Save As.
- Select a location where you want to save the archive and click Save.
4. Archive Outlook Emails to HTML, EML, MSG, RTF, or PDF Format
The methods explained above to archive Outlook emails without PST have many caveats and require manual efforts. Besides, you cannot select and archive multiple emails to HTML, EML, PDF, and RTF formats. Also, you don’t have an option to filter emails based on date range or email ID.
To avoid such hassles, you can use Outlook repair software, such as Stellar Repair for Outlook. By using this software, you can scan or repair your PST mailbox and archive the mail items to multiple file formats, such as HTML, EML, MSG, RTF, or PDF, in a few clicks.
In addition, you get advance filter options to include exclude emails from the archive based on date range or email ID. You can also choose which mail items to archive manually and archive them individually. You also get an option to export the mail items from any PST file directly to Office 365 or live Exchange Server.
To Wrap Up
To keep the PST file size under the recommended limit and avoid corruption, inconsistencies, or damage due to oversizing or large size, you should archive Outlook emails regularly. It’s more important and often required if you send or receive several emails every day with attachments. Microsoft recommends that you keep the PST file size under 10 GB for optimum Outlook performance and avoid PST file-related errors or corruption. In this blog, we explained some methods to archive Outlook emails without PST or in other formats, such as EML, MSG, HTML, PDF, RTF, and CSV.
The advantage of archiving Outlook emails in other formats is that these file formats are accessible from common applications on your computer or smartphone, such as web browser, MS Word, MS Excel, etc. You may archive your Outlook emails to these formats manually or use an Outlook recovery software, such as Stellar Repair for Outlook, to scan and export the mail items from your Outlook PST file to EML, MSG, HTML, PDF, and RTF file formats.
