How to export emails from Apple Mail on a Mac, and iPhone

Apple Mail on a Mac can export at two sizes. A whole mailbox comes out as an .mbox file that other mail apps can import. A single message comes out as an .eml file or a PDF. On iPhone and iPad there is no export at all, only print.

How do you export emails from Apple Mail?

On a Mac, open Mail, select one or more mailboxes in the sidebar, then choose Mailbox, then Export Mailbox. Pick a folder and click Choose. Mail saves each mailbox as an .mbox package. For a single message, choose File, then Save As, and pick Raw Message Source to get an .eml file.

Which export do you need?

You want	Do this in Mail on a Mac	You get
A whole folder of mail, to move or back up	Mailbox, then Export Mailbox	One .mbox per mailbox
One message, as a real email file	File, then Save As, then Raw Message Source	One .eml file
Many messages, as email files	Select them and drag to the desktop	One .eml file per message
A copy to read, print or send to someone	File, then Export as PDF	A PDF
Text to paste into a document	File, then Save As, then Rich Text Format or Plain Text	A text file

If the mail is going to another mail service, you want the first three rows. MBOX and EML are the formats importers understand. PDF and text files are for people, not for mail apps.

Export whole mailboxes as .mbox

These steps are from Apple's Mail guide on importing and exporting mailboxes:

Open Mail on your Mac.
In the sidebar, select the mailbox you want. To export several, hold Command and click each one.
Choose Mailbox, then Export Mailbox.
Choose a folder, or create a new one, then click Choose.

Mail writes one .mbox package per mailbox you selected. It works the same for any account in Mail: Gmail, Outlook, a work address, iCloud, or an old account that only exists on this Mac.

Exporting everything, not just the inbox

The inbox is one mailbox among many. Sent, Archive, Drafts and every folder you made are separate, and each needs selecting. Apple does not say whether exporting a mailbox also takes the mailboxes nested inside it, so expand each account in the sidebar and select the sub-mailboxes too. Then compare the list of .mbox files with your sidebar before you rely on the export.

If you have several accounts in Mail, do one account at a time. You end up with a tidy folder per account instead of a pile of files all called "Inbox.mbox".

Let Mail finish downloading first

Mail can only export messages it has on the Mac. If you just added an account, or you have not opened Mail in a while, give it time to finish syncing before you export, and spot-check that older messages open.

Save a single message as .eml

Apple's page on saving emails as files or PDFs gives two ways:

Save As. Select the message, choose File, then Save As, and pick Raw Message Source from the format menu. Apple says this "saves a single message in .eml format." That file is the message in its raw form, which is what you want for evidence, a support ticket or moving one important email.

Drag it out. Drag one or more messages from the message list onto your desktop. Each one becomes an .eml file. Apple notes that if you drag a conversation, the messages in it are saved as separate files. This is the quickest way to pull out a dozen receipts or a whole thread.

The other two Save As formats, Rich Text Format and Plain Text, are for using the text in other apps. Apple's note is that rich text keeps bold and italics and plain text does not. Neither is an email file, so a mail importer will not treat them as messages.

Save emails as PDFs

Select one or more messages or conversations, then choose File, then Export as PDF. This is the right choice when a person, not a program, will read the result: an accountant, a landlord, a court clerk. A PDF looks like the email on screen but cannot be imported back into a mailbox.

Printing works from the same place. Choose File, then Print. Apple's print page says that if you select several messages, each one prints separately.

Where are the exported files?

Exactly where you told Mail to put them in the export dialog. Mail does not keep a separate export folder. If you lost track, open Finder and search for ".mbox".

Two details from Apple's guide help here:

Nothing is overwritten. Export the same mailbox twice and Mail creates a new file with a number, such as "My Mailbox 3.mbox", instead of replacing the old one. Check the date before you upload, so you send the newest copy.
Mail's own storage is in your Library folder. Apple's import instructions refer to the ~/Library/Mail folder. To open it, click the desktop, hold Option, and choose Go, then Library, then open Mail. That folder is Mail's working storage, not an export. Use Export Mailbox for anything you plan to move.

Before you remove an account from Mail

This is the step that costs people mail. Apple's page on removing email accounts says that when you remove an account, its messages are removed from your Mac. Copies stay on the mail server, so for most modern accounts nothing is lost.

The exception is mail that lives only on the Mac. Mailboxes under On My Mac in the sidebar are local, and so can be mail from older accounts that were set up to remove messages from the server after downloading them. Apple's advice, if you are not sure what is still on the server, is to move or copy anything you want to keep into an On My Mac mailbox before removing the account. Better still, export those mailboxes as .mbox first. A file on an external drive survives a new Mac, a reinstall and a mistake.

Can you export emails from Mail on iPhone or iPad?

No. Apple's iPhone guide has a page for printing an email and nothing for exporting a mailbox or saving a message as a file. The same goes for removing an account: Apple's iPhone account page says deleting an account from the phone does not cancel it, because the mail lives with your provider, not on the phone.

So the export has to happen somewhere else. Either use a Mac with Mail, or use your provider's own tools. For an @icloud.com address, Apple has a data request you can start from the iPhone and download on a computer, covered in our guide to exporting iCloud Mail. Gmail and Yahoo have download tools on the web, and Outlook.com mail can be exported with desktop Outlook.

Importing the export somewhere else

Apple Mail can read an .mbox back through File, then Import Mailboxes, which is also how you restore a backup on a new Mac.

If the mail is moving to Secria, go to Settings, then Import & export, then Bring mail in. There is a guided Apple Mail import, and it accepts MBOX, EML, PST and .zip files on every plan, including the free one. Each message is read and encrypted in your browser before upload, and keeps its original date. Your mailbox is protected with post-quantum encryption (ML-KEM-1024 with X25519) and zero-access storage. Secria shows no ads and never mines your mail.

Frequently asked questions

Does exporting a mailbox delete it from Mail? No. Export Mailbox makes a copy. The mailbox and its messages stay in Mail and on the server.

What file format does Apple Mail export? Whole mailboxes export as .mbox packages. Single messages save as .eml through Save As with Raw Message Source, or by dragging them to the desktop. You can also export messages as PDF.

Can Apple Mail export to .pst for Outlook? Apple Mail has no .pst option. Its mailbox export is .mbox, and its message export is .eml.

How do I export all my emails at once? Select every mailbox you want in the sidebar, holding Command as you click, then choose Mailbox, then Export Mailbox. Mail writes one .mbox per mailbox into the folder you choose.

Why is my export missing messages? Usually because Mail had not finished downloading them, or because a folder was not selected. Let Mail finish syncing, then export the missing mailboxes.

An export only counts once you have opened it somewhere and seen your mail. If you want the next copy to live in an encrypted mailbox, Secria Mail takes the .mbox as it is, and sign-up asks for no phone number and no card.