How do I get Outlook 2007 to read .eml files and attachments?

Anonymous
2010-03-11T22:35:16+00:00

I am a web developer working from home.  A lot of my clients talk to me via chat programs like Yahoo Messenger and Skype.  Often times, they send mail messages from a end-users to me over yahoo or skype that are .eml files.  These files describe bugs or other errors that end-users experienced.

I can't understand why I can't read "eml" files in Outlook 2007.  Right now, windows 2007 wants to use windows live mail to open these files.

Is there a third-party add-on that will give Outlook 2007 this functionality?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Apps

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Anonymous
2010-03-12T01:11:33+00:00

I solved the problem for Windows 7 64 bit users and Vista 64 bit users

  1. Open up regedit.exe (The windows registry editor)
  2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Microsoft Internet Mail Message WLMail\shell\open\command
  3. Change "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Mail\wlmail.exe" /eml:%1 to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\OUTLOOK.EXE" /eml "%1"   (do not forget the double quotes!)
  4. Restart your computer

This way, windows thinks that "Windows Live Mail" is still the default program for opening .eml files.  However, we changed the registry so that instead of opening Windows Live Mail, we are opening OUTLOOK.EXE.  What I mean is that if you opened the control panel, clicked on Default Programs and associated .eml files with Windows Live Mail, we've tricked out the registry so that it will open outlook instead--even though Windows still says it is associated with Windows Live.  Confusing, I know.

The best analogy are those old commercials where "We've secretly changed Lisa's favorite detergent with new all temperature Cheer!"  In this case we secretly changed Windows Live Mail with Outlook when it comes to opening .eml attachments.

Anyhow, this trick worked for me.  I can open .eml files just by double-clicking on them.  You can always change things back if you decide to switch to Windows Live.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-12-04T11:20:09+00:00

    This blog is great and gave lot of useful info on opening eml files.

    I have a similar issue - Not able to open .eml files from outlook 2007 win 7 32 bit

    In my machine i have outlook 2007 SP3 and i followed the instructions given in the below link:

    http://www.msoutlook.info/question/354

    I ran the registry exe corresponding for Outlook 2007 win 7 32 bit.

    Whereas my colleague is not in Outlook 2007 SP3, he does not have SP installed. I ran the above reg key exe on his machine as welll, but I later realized that above solution will work only for 2007 sp2 & above.

    Now my colleague is getting the below error when trying to open eml file ( He had set outlook as the default app to open eml):

    "The command line argument is not valid. Verify the switch you are using"

    Also in his machine I cant find the folder "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT-->eml_autofile...." So i created the complete folder structure "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT-->eml_autofile-->shell--->open-->command" and set the default value to " c:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\outlook.exe" /eml "%1"

    Then i started the machine, but still getting the same error.

    Can anyone please help me with a solution.

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  2. Diane Poremsky MVP 17,541 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2013-12-04T12:59:44+00:00

    If you remove the keys you added, does the error go away? Outlook 2007 SP2 and above do not need to use any tricks to open eml files, its enabled by default - the easiest fix is to remove the keys and install SP2 or SP3.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-12-30T16:45:21+00:00

    I just bought a new computer with Windows 8. I installed Outlook 2007 and installed SP3. From what I have read, that should allow me to view .eml files from Outlook Express in Outlook. I can drag and drop the .eml files into an Outlook folder, but Outlook still won't open them. Any ideas?

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-01-06T10:27:17+00:00

    You can simply do it by converting your eml files in PST, so that you can read those files in your Outlook 2007 environment.

    Download the tool from here http://download.cnet.com/Birdie-EML-to-PST-Converter/3000-2369_4-75275300.html?tag=mncol;7

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