Default Save As to msg in Outlook 2007 with no drag-n-drop
June 4, 2012 1:20 PM Subscribe
Is there any way to save Outlook 2007 messages in .msg format by default instead of HTML when you cannot drag-n-drop them to your local drive?
We are going to be moving thousands of Outlook email messages into external backup and need them to be in .msg format to preserve most of the original content (attachments, headers--I think I read somewhere that not everything will be identical to the original message in Outlook, but this is the closest we can get).
The problem is that due to corporate policy, emails sitting in Outlook are automatically archived after some time into shortened versions without attachments--in order to retrieve the originals off the Exchange server or wherever they reside, we must open each individual message to download from archive. Most importantly, drag-n-drop operations do not work as only the truncated emails appear as msg files on one's local drive.
So far the only procedure I can think of for these archived Outlook messages is to open each one and Save As .msg onto the local drive for upload to the external storage in its original format with attachments. It's extremely time-consuming and I'm looking for any way to condense the procedure; changing the "Save As" format every time bogs things down.
We are going to be moving thousands of Outlook email messages into external backup and need them to be in .msg format to preserve most of the original content (attachments, headers--I think I read somewhere that not everything will be identical to the original message in Outlook, but this is the closest we can get).
The problem is that due to corporate policy, emails sitting in Outlook are automatically archived after some time into shortened versions without attachments--in order to retrieve the originals off the Exchange server or wherever they reside, we must open each individual message to download from archive. Most importantly, drag-n-drop operations do not work as only the truncated emails appear as msg files on one's local drive.
So far the only procedure I can think of for these archived Outlook messages is to open each one and Save As .msg onto the local drive for upload to the external storage in its original format with attachments. It's extremely time-consuming and I'm looking for any way to condense the procedure; changing the "Save As" format every time bogs things down.
GMTA....I was just investigating just about the same thing for a project and am in the middle of evaluating a utility to do this task. The only difference is that I am not dealing with an Exchange server
I had a question about the software that I sent to the company, but they are in Australia so I probably won't receive a reply until tomorrow. However, this little util does exactly what you are talking about and I am certainly going to purchase a license if the issue with naming is just a limitation of the trial version. As it stands now, it renames every message as "1.msg", "2.msg" etc which is pretty useless. But the formatting and attachments are saved in the msg file.
In the meantime, you can try a demo version at outlook-email-extractor.com. It is limited to only two exports at a time, but if you can pick out a couple of your more difficult messages (formatting, headers, attachments), you can at least test the possible Exchange issues.
I will let you know what I find out.
posted by lampshade at 2:30 PM on June 4, 2012
I had a question about the software that I sent to the company, but they are in Australia so I probably won't receive a reply until tomorrow. However, this little util does exactly what you are talking about and I am certainly going to purchase a license if the issue with naming is just a limitation of the trial version. As it stands now, it renames every message as "1.msg", "2.msg" etc which is pretty useless. But the formatting and attachments are saved in the msg file.
In the meantime, you can try a demo version at outlook-email-extractor.com. It is limited to only two exports at a time, but if you can pick out a couple of your more difficult messages (formatting, headers, attachments), you can at least test the possible Exchange issues.
I will let you know what I find out.
posted by lampshade at 2:30 PM on June 4, 2012
Response by poster: Under corporate policy, IT actually disables the feature to export/create Personal Folders, and even if we could manage our own PSTs client-side, we'd probably run into the truncated message problem (I don't understand entirely how that works--so I have a feeling the suggested software wouldn't work either). But a back-end solution would be great, assuming that means the full archived message is living there and only the users are seeing the truncated messages--I'll have to ask. Hmm.
posted by Ky at 2:53 PM on June 4, 2012
posted by Ky at 2:53 PM on June 4, 2012
Well, that is, hmmmm, a downer? If you can't do a mass dump that will be rather sucky to say the least. Hopefully, they will bend on the policy or have a solution that works within the enterprise.
I will let you know regardless what these Aussies say, but it will be limited to standard Outlook export. If your IT Dept thinks it might work for them, then maybe they can contact that particular vendor for a that works for your company.
posted by lampshade at 6:30 PM on June 4, 2012
I will let you know regardless what these Aussies say, but it will be limited to standard Outlook export. If your IT Dept thinks it might work for them, then maybe they can contact that particular vendor for a that works for your company.
posted by lampshade at 6:30 PM on June 4, 2012
Definitely ask IT or send this up the approval chain, even if it is corporate policy. There may be room for a workaround regardless of that policy (which is likely only there to avoid confusion, lack of backups, and other issues related with .PSTs). Also ask about the back-end archival system and whether PST exports could be made. Those exports would be best for getting copies of your archived messages as they would not be the truncated (stub) versions.
posted by samsara at 1:05 PM on June 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by samsara at 1:05 PM on June 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
Just a update. I never heard back from that Aussie company. Until I do, I won't be buying anything from them even though it seemed to fit the bill.
posted by lampshade at 12:28 AM on June 6, 2012
posted by lampshade at 12:28 AM on June 6, 2012
VBA?
VBA Express : Outlook - Save Emails From Outlook To Hard Drive
posted by Boobus Tuber at 1:26 PM on June 9, 2012
VBA Express : Outlook - Save Emails From Outlook To Hard Drive
posted by Boobus Tuber at 1:26 PM on June 9, 2012
Response by poster: I'm working with our IT folks. It's possible we may be able to avoid all of this with a custom internal solution. I'm curious about the VBA, though, and may try it just to see; that's assuming IT didn't shut down scripting ability somewhere, of course.
posted by Ky at 1:41 PM on June 9, 2012
posted by Ky at 1:41 PM on June 9, 2012
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posted by samsara at 1:29 PM on June 4, 2012