Document formats

What is the MSG format?

MSG — Outlook Mail Message

MSG is a single e-mail saved from Microsoft Outlook, with its header, message and attachments, opened only by Outlook itself.

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About the MSG format

When a message is dragged out of Outlook or saved with Save As, Outlook writes an MSG file. It is a Microsoft compound file that stores the sender, recipients, date, subject, the text or HTML body and the attachments.

Without Outlook, MSG files are hard to open, especially on a Mac or phone. Converting to PDF or Word gives a document with the header, the message and the pictures pasted into it, and a list of the attachment names; the attachments themselves are not included, and images loaded from the internet are left out.

Programs that open MSG

  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Outlook on the web (via attachment)
  • MsgViewer
  • Any text editor (partly)

What MSG is used for

  • E-mails saved from Outlook
  • Mail kept as evidence or records
  • Messages forwarded as attachments

Popular Document formats

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