how to open .msg files from PC Outlook?

[acme]

I have a bunch of emails from a project I did recently..emails from a PC on which we used Outlook..I saved the mailboxes..exported them..as individual messages. many of them end in .msg

in the finder, it says they're a "unix executable file" and they have an icon that looks like a grey glass business card that says "exec" in green letters at its top left.

long story short: I can't open these little guys..any suggestions on what can?

thank you!

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[Makoto]

Have you tried opening them in TextEdit, or another text editor? If I remember correctly (someone will correct me if I'm wrong, I'm sure ), .msg files are plain text (or maybe RTF) copies of the messages.

OS X will default to showing most files as 'Unix Executables' with the glossy black 'exec' icon, if it doesn't know what to do with the file type, I believe.

Edit: If not, you can try a couple of options I found on MacUpdate:

Download MailRaider for Mac - Read Outlook .msg files on your Mac. MacUpdate.com
Download Klammer for Mac - Open MSG and Winmail.dat files. MacUpdate.com

There are probably others - I just did a quick search.

[acme]

yeah, tried that..mostly gibberish is the result. Finder offers the Terminal and no other app for these, but when I pick Other..and select Text Edit it's mostly gibberish with a little intelligible text in there..

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[Makoto]

Well, MailRaider does look like it might do it. Haven't checked the homepage for the other one I'd linked above, though.

I don't have any .msg files around to test, unfortunately. :|

[NaOH]

As with all such issues, I would guess TextWrangler can open them. Yes, there's probably some junk at the top and bottom of the file when you open it, but the content is usually clearly visible. I've done this many times with old Word files, never .msg files, but I'd be surprised if TextWrangler can't handle them in some way for you.

[acme]

yeah, text wrangler can...with junk...but content can be picked out. thank you

MailRaider doesn't seem to do anything after it launches. if I control click open with Mailraider, it only launches. if I do Open from Mail Raider, it can't even draw the folder hierarchy in the resulting window.

weird...




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[Makoto]

Quote: As with all such issues, I would guess TextWrangler can open them. Yes, there's probably some junk at the top and bottom of the file when you open it, but the content is usually clearly visible. I've done this many times with old Word files, never .msg files, but I'd be surprised if TextWrangler can't handle them in some way for you.

Probably not - it's described as an 'encapsulated' format. Don't know if it's a sort of compressed archive like (IIRC) winmail.dat files are, but if you're at all interested in the file format, here's a couple of links I found on a search:

Outlook MSG file format
[MS-OXMSG]: Outlook Item (.msg) File Format

...as opposed to the .eml file I generated from one of the messages on a PC in the house, under Windows Live Mail. That was just a plain-text file with some MIME encoding here and there.

(...and maybe now, I'll get back on-topic. )

Edit: Which version of MailRaider did you use? The 0.7.0 version? If you're using Lion, the previous version doesn't seem to have Lion support listed. Also, have you tried more than one .msg file with it?

[NaOH]

Quote: Originally Posted by acme yeah, text wrangler can...with junk...but content can be picked out. thank you

If you end up using TextWrangler to salvage the content, knowing the following keyboard tip may be of use. So you open a .msg file, there are lines of junk you don't want, then the content you want, then more junk. If you have the cursor inserted at the beginning of your content, Command-Shift-Up Arrow will select the junk above, thus simplifying deletion of that stuff. Of course, from the bottom of your content you'd use Command-Shift-Down Arrow.

Personally, I find methods like this much easier and faster than loads of mousing around. You may not agree, but I figured I'd make certain you know this method so you can choose.

[acme]

good to know..thanks, NaOH

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