Where does Mail 10 store emails & in what file format (it's not .eml!)

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  1. Posts : 4
    Windows 10
       #1

    Where does Mail 10 store emails & in what file format (it's not .eml!)


    Hi Everyone,

    I am using Windows 10 (Home - v1803) and the Mail 10 app for my emails.

    I want to migrate from 'Mail 10' to Outlook 2016.

    I don't know where Mail 10 stores emails (I don't even know what file format 'Mail 10' stores emails in!).

    I have searched my hard drive (using the Windows Explorer search facilities) for files with the .emil file extension with no results returned!!!

    Where the f**k does Mail 10 store emails?

    Thanks

    Davo

    P.S.: Microsoft should really consider saving important files close to the Root directory. :)
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  2. Posts : 42,734
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #2

    Mail's messages are stored locally on a mail folder in the hidden AppData folder as .EML files
    See
    folder
    C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Packages\, choose microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps, and open the folder \LocalState\Indexed\LiveComm. Find the "Mail" folder and open it. You should see your .EML files
    Where the f**k does Mail 10 store emails?
    Using that sort of language will NOT help you get good replies.

    Now I've seen it, I wish I hadn't replied. See forum rules.

    Note: no-one's forcing you to use Mail.
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  3. Posts : 7,871
    Windows 11 Pro 64 bit
       #3

    Configure your email server and program to use IMAP then you can easily synchronise emails across all devices.
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  4. Posts : 68,667
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
       #4
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  5. Posts : 4
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Still looking for an answer to my OP


    Hi All,

    My apologies for the language earlier, but it is quite frustrating when something so (seemingly) simple is insanely complicated.

    BTW - there is no '\LocalState\Indexed\LiveComm' folder (see below) -

    Dropbox - No-Folder!.JPG - Simplify your life

    Once again I have also searched my hard drive (using File Explorer) for 'eml', '.eml' and '*.eml' - all with no results returned! So if Mail 10 is using .eml files then they are doing a very good job of staying hidden.

    N.B.: I have made both hidden, and operating system files visible.

    If anybody has any further suggestions can you please share.

    Kind Regards,

    Davo
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Where does Mail 10 store emails &amp; in what file format (it's not .eml!)-capture.jpg  
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  6. Posts : 1
    Windows 10
       #6

    Windows 10 Mail email file location store folder SOLVED


    If you dont want to read the whole of this email recovery post, you need to search your PC for *.DAT files, with hidden files and folders shown.

    I accidentally deleted my wifes Hotmail email account. I did it by removing it from Outlook.com, not realising it closed the Hotmail account completely, making it inaccessible. Microsoft would not help at all, and all the processes for recovering an account failed, even the day after deletion.
    However, there was one light on the horizon. The messages were still all visible in Windows 10 Mail, even without access to the server, so I knew they must be on the computer (even as an IMAP account).
    Having failed to find the store using advice from forums I decided to use my own method. The folder that was missing (and lots of people complained about it not existing), was the INDEXED folder. (You must show hidden files and folders)
    It is C:\Users\{username}\Appdata\Local\Packages\Microsoftcommunicationsapps_n\LocalState\Indexed.
    I ACTUALLY FOUND THE CORRECT FOLDER WAS:-

    C:\Users\{username}\Appdata\Local\Packages\MicrosoftcommunicationsApps_8wekyb3d8ddwe\
    LocalState\Files\SO\{n}\EFMData or ATTACHMENTS or Photos

    The files you are looking for are *.dat files, for your emails, which are opened in Microsoft WORD.
    These are the emails. I havent tried exporting them, but dont need to, as they are all the individual emails just like Word Documents, not a compressed folder. The pictures and attachments are in their own separate folders, as indicated in the file location string I printed above.

    I have copied all to an accessible folder and can view the individual emails as Word documents.
    Hope this helps somebody.
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  7. Posts : 6
    W10
       #7

    Some more salt to add to the confusion


    Its now 2022, and Microsoft seem to have moved the folders again. Welcome to 21H2

    On my C: drive (my nice clean 250GB SSD boot drive) I found I have a folder called
    C:\Users\{myname}\AppData\Local\Comms\Unistore\data\2\o\
    where I find a bunch of files named like
    e000090e0000000201b5.dat
    in the good old days .dat was an extension for dbase I think, anyway Word 365 can't interpret the files. I opened one in the Visual Studio binary editor, the file seems to be UTF-16 encoded HTML and with some Matrix- style practice I can look past the code and see the message - its an email I received in Outlook on my main account, why isn't that in the pst????

    I only use the mail app for my hotmail account - IMAP

    I set a search criterion for files later than this morning, and sent myself a mail to hotmail. I didn't see a new .Dat file in that folder.

    I also looked in my user folder on D: - where all my programs and data SHOULD be stored - but I don't have an appdata\local\comms folder there.
    "E:\Users\{myname}\AppData\Local" contains folders Microsoft and Temp - no *.dat

    another Bingle search suggests there should be some "WinMail.dat" files somewhere - there is even an app in the store to read them but files of that name don't exist on my box.

    Sigh.

    Remember when you'd install a program, it would have a chm along side? Sometimes the help was even useful. Now if you do see a "?" button it takes you on a merry chase around the interweb, playing hunt the version through all the linkrot.

    I really don't understand why MS feel the need to keep this information away from the users - do they see it as security by obscurity?

    The hunt continues
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  8. Posts : 42,734
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #8

    Mail is a limited program. Do not expect the same flexibility as you get with e.g. Thunderbird.

    It does not support exporting mail for example. It does not use .eml.

    This may be of interest:
    Carbonite Support Knowledge Base

    What is it you are trying to achieve?
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  9. Posts : 6
    W10
       #9

    I'm tech support for a family member. She has a machine with a relatively small HD, I'm trying to decide how to move forward, moving an image onto a new disc sometimes works, but if the original image is flaky, etc etc.

    I just want to find the data store for W10 Mail - your Carbonite link says the same as my investigation - C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Local\Comms\Unistore\data does contain a load of .Dat files,

    ah now that's interesting, the email I forwarded to myself has appeared in the folder as a new .dat file (after lunch)

    as I said the files appear to be utf-16 encoded HTML, the byte order mark FE FF does indeed indicate UTF-16 big endian, I'm investigating why it displays as Chinese in IE11.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 42,734
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #10

    'Cloning' to a larger drive is pretty commonplace.. Macrium Reflect e.g. if that's what you're thinking..

    As it creates an image, it also performs CRC verification, so it can detect if the source disk/file system is problematic.

    And there are other checks you can run beforehand of course.
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