Guide

Get the delivered test out of Outlook as a .eml file

Outlook on the web saves the received test — final links, tracking and all — as a single .eml file. Here is the web path, plus where the same action lives in New and Classic Outlook for Windows.

Last verified: 2026-08-24 Applies to: Outlook on the web; New and Classic Outlook for Windows noted below

Prerequisites

  • Your Outlook mailbox open in a browser, or one of the Windows apps covered below.
  • The delivered test email in the inbox: an actual send from your sending platform to your own address — a draft will not do.
  • An account that allows message download — some work and school accounts switch it off (see troubleshooting).

Steps

  1. Open the test message

    In Outlook on the web, open the received copy of your test email.

  2. Open "More actions"

    On the message, open the More actions menu.

  3. Choose "Download"

    Your browser saves the message as a .eml file.

  4. Check the saved file

    Confirm the name ends in .eml and the file is under 2 MB — the upload accepts only the .eml extension and messages up to 2 MB.

New Outlook for Windows

Open the message, then More actions → Save as. Confirm the saved file ends in .eml.

Classic Outlook for Windows

Double-click the message so it opens in its own window, then File → Save As. Check the saved file's extension before uploading — it must be .eml.

If your menu looks different: Microsoft moves these menus between versions. When the exact labels above are missing, look for a Download or Save as action on the open message — and trust the saved file's extension over the menu wording.

What you should end up with

One .eml filethe received test exactly as it arrived in the inbox
.eml extensionthe only extension the upload accepts
Under 2 MBthe accepted maximum — larger messages are rejected with an explicit error

Different mailbox? See the Gmail and Apple Mail guides. Upload steps live on the help page.

Troubleshooting

Download is missing or disabled

Some work and school accounts disable message download by policy. That is an account setting, not something SendProofs can change. If you're in a Windows app and the option is missing, open the same mailbox in the browser and try the Download step above; if the option is gone in the browser too, it is disabled by account policy — ask your IT admin.

The saved file doesn't end in .eml

The upload accepts only the .eml extension. Outlook on the web's Download produces one directly; if a Windows app saved a different format, re-save from the web path rather than renaming — a renamed file in another format is still the wrong format inside.

You exported a draft

A draft never went through your sending platform, so its links were never rewritten — it is not the delivered email SendProofs inspects. Send a real test to your own address, wait for it to arrive, and download the received copy.

Privacy: the file this guide produces is a test email you sent to yourself — no recipient data is involved. After upload, the message is parsed transiently and SendProofs does not retain the raw message body after parsing; what a report keeps is listed under data handling.

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