How to Save a message as a file

Outlook gives you several options for saving an email message. A message that you receive, for example, can be saved as a file on your computer. A message you're composing can be saved as a draft and finished later.

TIP: Do you want to save an email message as a PDF file? In Windows 10, use the Print command to print your message to a PDF. For more instructions or for other versions of Windows, choose your version of Outlook below.

Save a message as a file

1. Open the message you want to save, and on the File tab, click Save As
   
   

2. In the Save as dialog box, in the Folder pane, choose a folder, and then the location in that selected folder where you want to save the file.

3. In the File name box, type a name for the file.

4. In the Save as type list, accept the default type, or choose another file type in the list

What would you like to do?

1. Save a message as a PDF file

   Outlook doesn't include PDF as one of the default Save as types. The Microsoft Print To PDF utility included in Windows 10 allows you to print any email message directly to a PDF. If you don't have Windows 10, you can save your email message as an HTML file, open that file in Word, and then use the Save As feature in Word to save the email as a PDF file.

Save as (or Print to) a PDF in Windows 10

1. Open the message you want to save, and on the File tab, click Print.
2. From the Printer drop-down, choose Microsoft Print to PDF.

4. Choose Print.

5. In the Save Print Output As box, choose a folder for your PDF and enter a file name. Then choose Save.

Save as a PDF in other versions of Windows

1. Open the message you want to save, and on the File tab, click Save As.
2. In the Save as dialog box, in the Folder pane, choose a folder, and then the location in that selected folder where you want to save the file.
3. In the File name box, type a name for the file.
4. In the Save as type list, choose HTML and then choose Save.
5. Open Word and choose File > Open.
6. Select the HTML file you saved in step 4.
7. Choose File > Save As, and then choose PDF (*.pdf) from the file type drop-down before choosing Save.

2. Save a message as a Word document

Outlook can’t save a message directly as a Word document file. You can, however, save the message as an HTML file, then open that file in Word. Saving your email message as an HTML file preserves all formatting, images, and links, as well as includes the header information, which includes the From, To, Cc, and Subject information.

1. Open the message you want to save, and on the File tab, click Save As.

2. In the Save as dialog box, in the Folder pane, choose a folder, and then the location in that selected folder where you want to save the file.

3. In the File name box, type a name for the file.

4. In the Save as type list, choose HTML and then choose Save.

5. Open Word and choose File > Open.

6. Select the HTML file you saved in step 4.

7. Choose File > Save As, and then choose Word Document (*.docx) from the file type drop-down before choosing Save.

3. Save a message as a template

Use email templates to send messages that include information that doesn't change from message to message. You can create and save a message as a template, and then use that template. Add any new information before you send the template as a message.

1. On the Home tab, click New Email.

2. In the message body, enter the content that you want.

3. In the message window, click the File tab, and then click Save As.

4. In the Save As box, in the Save as type list, click Outlook Template.

5. In the File name box, enter a name for your template, and then click Save.

4. Change the default file format for saving messages

Outlook supports Unicode, a character encoding standard that enables most of the written languages in the world to be represented by using a single character set. If you work in a multinational organization or share messages and items with people who use Outlook on computers that run in other languages, you can take advantage of Unicode support in Outlook.

To save your messages in a Unicode encoding by default

1. On the File tab. choose Options > Mail.

2. Under Save messages, select the Use Unicode Format check box.

5. Save a draft of a message that you want to finish later

Any message that you create, but don’t send, is saved automatically to the Drafts folder. You can return to Outlook later and find the unsent message.

To manually save a draft of a message

• Do one of the following:

  • On the Quick Access Toolbar, click Save.

  • On the File tab, click Save.

To return to a saved draft of a message

• In Mail, in the Folder pane, click Drafts, and then double-click the message.

6. Change the time interval or location for saving drafts

By default, unfinished messages are saved to your Drafts folder every three minutes. You can change this time interval or location.

1. On the File tab, click Options > Mail.

2. Under Save messages, do one or more of the following:

   • To change where drafts are saved, in the Save to this folder list, choose Drafts, Inbox, Sent Mail, or Outbox.  

3. To change how frequently draft are saved, in the Automatically save items that have not been sent after this many minutes box, type a number from 1 to 99.