Save email as an HTML file

Why convert email to HTML

Most email already is HTML, but you cannot simply copy it out of a mail client. The markup lives inside a MIME message, images point at the sender's servers, and some of it only renders in an email client. Save the raw .eml and most people do not know how to open it; take a screenshot and the links stop working.

A standalone HTML file sits in between. Anyone can open it by double-clicking, the layout and links are intact, and it can be published, attached to a ticket, dropped into a wiki or kept in an archive that a browser can read in twenty years.

What the HTML file contains

• A header block with From, To, Date and Subject, so the file makes sense on its own.
• The body as it displays in the MXcatch inbox — the same layout, colours and links.
• Embedded images. Remote images are fetched once when the file is created and embedded in it, so the file still shows them after the sender's CDN has changed or the campaign has expired.
• No scripts. Any script in the email is removed. The file is safe to open and safe to host.

Because the images are embedded, opening the file later does not load the sender's tracking pixels either.

Convert every incoming email to HTML

Any action that stores or sends the message has an Also save as option. Tick HTML and the file is created for each email that arrives at the alias:

• Save to S3 writes message.html next to message.eml, under prefix/YYYY/MM/DD/<id>/. Handy if you want to serve an archive of emails from a bucket.
• Save to Dropbox and Save to Google Drive put it in the email's own folder.
• Forward attaches the .html file to the forwarded email.
• Discord can attach it to the post as well.

Set it up via Domains → your domain → the alias → + Add action, then tick HTML under Also save as.

Download a single email as HTML

For a one-off, open the message in the MXcatch inbox and use the Download menu. HTML sits next to PDF, JPG, Text and Original (.eml).

Who uses it

• Newsletter writers and marketers keeping a browsable archive of every campaign they and their competitors send — subscribe with an alias and save each issue as HTML.
• Support and QA teams attaching the exact rendered email to a bug report, instead of a screenshot that loses the links.
• Developers collecting real-world transactional emails as HTML fixtures for testing templates.
• Records keepers who want an archive format that opens without a mail client.

Other formats

HTML keeps the layout and the links. For a fixed document to print, file or send to a bookkeeper, use PDF. For a picture of the email to post or preview, use JPG. For just the words, use plain text. One action can save several formats at once.