eml format, linux

Dave97 · 08-08-2009, 10:02 PM

Hello, Newbie attempting to view EML files unsuccessfully, with Linux.
I can view the file from Thunderbird,but after I save the ".eml file" it becomes unreadable or generally will not open at all.
Any assistance from you to help me along the way will be greatly appreciated.

pixellany · 08-10-2009, 07:07 AM

I see .eml files only within e-mail operations---eg forwarding a message. I'm not sure why you would ever need to open one directly.

If you save the file, can you open it from within Thunderbird? (File--->Open Saved Message)

<<Edit: yes you can---I just tried it.....>>

3dMaster · 08-10-2009, 07:25 AM

Did you try to open it with a text viewer?
The .eml file is plain text message, so you will have no preblem opening with vi, emacs, o whatever program you like

jschiwal · 08-10-2009, 07:35 AM

You can load a text email from the thunderbird program just file. An html email won't be displayed properly.

You could extract the html body and view the results in a web browser:
cat ~/bin/eml2html

Code:

email="$1"
sed -n '/<html>/,${$!p}' "$email" >/tmp/temp.html
firefox "file:///tmp/temp.html"
rm /tmp/temp.html

I tested this out on an html email I saved using Thunderbird. Copy it to your ~/bin/ directory and run "chmod +x ~/bin/eml2html".

I don't know if this would work on all emails however, but it is worth a try.