How to Export Office 365 to MSG? Ultimate Guide

Published By Mohit Jha

Approved By Nimisha Ramesh

Published On October 7th, 2026

Reading Time 6 Minutes Reading

Summary: This guide covers the section where you will be seeing different ways to export Office 365 to MSG. Further, you can also take the help of our professional solution to securely save Microsoft 365 emails in bulk.

Talking about Microsoft 365, it is often used to manage business level emails. But, sometimes storing those data in the cloud may not be enough. This is where users may have to download individual Office 365 emails locally into their system. It is basically done in order to take backups, store legal records at a safe place, share, archive important messages, or transfer them to another format for further use.

About MSG Files

It is basically used to save a single email and its related data. Whereas in PST, it can keep the contents of the whole mailbox or various folders. An MSG file generally depicts a single email message item. We have mentioned all forms of data which are stored inside MSG files.

Information about senders and receivers
Subject and body content of email
Cc and Bcc details
Date and time of email
Email attachments
Message data
Data stored in Folders

This tells that MSG is useful in scenarios where you want to keep specific emails for future reference or sharing purposes.

Table of Contents:

Why to Migrate Office 365 Emails to MSG?

There are various reasons to export Office 365 to MSG format. Let’s go through the below points:

It is important to save each email in a separate MSG file
This helps in keeping an email along with its documents, PDFs, and other attachments
To export selective data rather than the full mailbox
You can move specific emails within a certain period
In order to save emails from particular folders in your Outlook application
Download essential emails on your system for future purposes
Users can keep all important emails for your future reference

Also Read: How to Export Office 365 Archive Mailbox to PST?

Manual Ways to Export Office 365 to MSG Files

Now, let’s explore multiple methods to migrate office 365 data. Because MSG stores every email separately, as it helps users to access the data faster.

#1. Save Office 365 Emails as MSG Using Outlook

This is the method which will help users export Office 365 to MSG, if their Office 365 account is configured through Classic Outlook. Follow these quick steps:

Firstly, open Microsoft Outlook on your respective system
Next, confirm that your Office 365 mailbox is configured
Then, choose the mail folder where you have stored all your emails
In the mail folder, select the email you wish to export
After opening it, go to File > Save As option
Now, set the final location to locate the messages
Select Outlook Message Format (.msg) from the file type list
At last, type your filename and click on Save button

After following the above steps, your emails will be saved in an MSG file on your PC. As per Microsoft, the Save As option can be used in Classic Outlook to download.

When to Use:

This method is suitable when the emails you want to save are limited in number. For example, if you are only saving 20 messages manually, then it is not a problem.

#2. Export Office 365 to MSG Through Outlook Drag & Drop

Classic Outlook also gives you the option to simply drag your messages out of your mailbox and drop into your desired folder.

Start by launch Classic Outlook
Next, access your mailbox
Go to the folder that you want to move from
Select one or more messages of your choice
Make a destination folder on your computer
Now, drag the emails from Classic Outlook into your folder
Lastly, go and see whether the files have been saved correctly with the .msg extension

This might be faster than opting for Save As separately for each email.

But it is essential not to confuse this method with New Outlook. Importantly, Microsoft has explained that dragging emails from New Outlook to File Explorer saves in .eml messages and not in .msg. Therefore, you can say that the .msg process is different compared to Classic Outlook.

#3. Save Email from Outlook on the Web

In case you are using Outlook on the web, then you might notice a Download or similar feature.

Log in to your Microsoft 365 account
Over there, launch Outlook
Find and open the email you wish to save
Go to More actions
Find an option for Download or save
Select any available format
Specify a folder as destination

The above options may differ depending on Outlook’s version or interface.

Limitations of Using Manual Steps

The above methods are good for a small set of emails, and usually not preferred for larger mailboxes.

It takes time to export large number of emails and consume more time
The Save As option is mainly used for separate emails
There are some techniques that require Classic Outlook
With New Outlook, emails are saved in the format of EML instead of MSG
It can be hard to manage numerous saved emails
Using manual techniques, your original folder hierarchy might change

Export Office 365 to MSG Format Using Automated Solution

The above manual steps are not suitable for large emails, and it has various drawbacks too. If you want to export multiple files, you can use the FreeViewer Office 365 Export Tool. It allows you to directly export Microsoft 365 mailbox data to MSG and other formats like PST, EML, MBOX, and PDF.

Download Now Purchase Now

You can even select your particular emails or in bulk. The software migrates emails along with attachments while keeping the original folder structure. Also, the option of filtering emails based on date which is useful if you don’t want to export an entire mailbox.

End Note

You can follow manual methods to save a few Office 365 emails, as it has very limited options and has several drawbacks. However, if you are looking to export Office 365 to MSG in bulk, then opt for our professional solution. This tool allows you to export emails including attachments, folders, and other data directly from Office 365. It is very helpful in large exports and saves users time.