# Save every email as a file

Every email as a Markdown file you can open without Mail, in the folders you choose.

## Steps

1. Press "Connect" beside Mail on Exporter's home (under "More Apps" until you connect it), then "Open Mail Folder", and select `~/Library/Mail` itself.
2. Choose where the files go, like `~/Documents/mail`, and press "Use This Folder".
3. Pick the emails. An email syncs when both tabs tick it: on Kinds, Updates and Promotions start unticked; on Accounts, Drafts and Trash do.
4. Choose the folders with Organize in "Options…" on the card: By Date, By Account or By Kind.
5. Press "Sync Now". While Exporter runs, new mail becomes files on its own.

## What you get

```text
~/Documents/mail/
  2026/09/
    2026-09-28 Your order has shipped 491560.md
```

One file per email, named by its day, its subject and a number. The front matter carries `from`, `to`, the mailbox, `read`, `flagged`, the account and Mail's own kind, with a link that opens the email in Mail. Then the subject and the body as Markdown, with its headings, lists, tables and links.

For dated copies, install the command line from its card, grant a folder like `~/Backups` under "Export Destinations", and run `exporter export --source mail --dest ~/Backups/mail-$(date +%F)`.

## Pitfalls

- Attachments stay in Mail. The file holds the email's text.
- Deleted mail, Spam and Junk never sync. An email whose body Mail never downloaded says so in its file: open it in Mail once and the next sync writes the body.
- Your newest 1,000 emails are free. "Unlock Mail" syncs the rest of what is ticked.

Every field is in [the Mail docs](https://exporter.dev/docs/mail).

## Related

- [Mail](https://exporter.dev/docs/mail): Kinds, accounts, folders and fixes
- [Apple Mail in Claude](https://exporter.dev/guides/mail/email-in-claude): Claude reads your email, on your Mac
- [Mail](https://exporter.dev/mail): Every email as a Markdown file

---

human version: https://exporter.dev/guides/mail/save-emails-as-files
every page: https://exporter.dev/llms.txt