Convert an MBOX file to PDF

Turn an .mbox mailbox (Gmail, Thunderbird, Apple Mail) into one PDF per email with attachments and an index.csv. Runs in your browser, nothing is uploaded.

Open the converter Free for up to 25 emails per export · no sign-up

An .mbox file is a whole mailbox in one text file: every message is stored one after another, separated by a line that starts with From . Gmail (via Google Takeout), Thunderbird, Apple Mail and most Unix mail tools use it. Mail apps can open it, but to hand emails to a lawyer, an accountant or an archive you usually want one PDF per email.

How to do it

Open the converter in Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari. Nothing is installed and nothing is uploaded.
Drop the .mbox file onto the page (or click Choose files). Several .mbox files at once are fine; each becomes its own folder. Large files are read in 8 MB chunks, so a 10 GB mailbox works without loading it into memory.
Check the list: search by sender, subject or recipient, filter by folder, date range or “has attachments”, and untick anything you do not need. Click an email to preview it.
Pick the outputs: one PDF per email (on by default), an attachments folder, optionally one merged PDF, .eml copies and .mbox per folder. Click Export and choose where to save the ZIP.

What ends up in the PDF

Each PDF starts with a header block (subject, from, to, cc, date, folder and the attachment list), followed by the message body. HTML emails are converted to clean text layout with headings, lists, quotes, tables as rows and the embedded (inline) images. Remote images and tracking pixels are never downloaded. Plain-text emails keep their line breaks. The attachments themselves are saved next to the PDF under attachments/, using their original file names.

MBOX variants we read

mboxrd / mboxo (Gmail, Thunderbird, Apple Mail, Postfix, Dovecot): >From escaping is undone.
Gmail labels (X-Gmail-Labels) are used as folders.
Thunderbird folders without an extension (Inbox, Sent) and .sbd subfolders: pick the whole Local Folders folder.
Apple Mail exports (Name.mbox/mbox).
Character sets such as UTF-8, ISO-8859-x, Windows-125x, KOI8-R, Shift_JIS and ISO-2022-JP.

Mailbox formats that don't use mbox (Maildir, Apple's .emlx) are not read directly; export them to mbox first.

What you get

One PDF per email with a header block (subject, from, to, cc, date, folder, attachment list) and the body, including embedded images. Searchable text, not screenshots.
Your folder structure mirrored in the ZIP, and file names that sort by date: Inbox/2024-03-05_0912 Jane Doe - Invoice March.pdf.
Attachments as original files under attachments/.
index.csv (date, from, to, cc, subject, folder, file names, attachment count, Message-ID, pages) and errors.csv for anything that couldn't be converted.
Optional: one merged PDF, .eml per email, .mbox per folder. Pro adds Bates numbering, page numbers, SHA-256 hashes and bookmarks.

Private by design

The conversion runs inside your browser tab with Web Workers. Your archive is never uploaded, and there is no server that could see it. You can even disconnect from the internet after the page loads. The only network call is the optional license-key check, which sends the key and a random device ID.

Questions

Is there a size limit?

No fixed limit. The mbox is streamed in chunks. The list keeps a small record per email (roughly 300 bytes each), so a few hundred thousand emails fit comfortably. Use Chrome or Edge with “Save straight to disk” for exports of several GB.

Can I get a single PDF instead?

Yes. Tick “One merged PDF”. With Pro, the merged PDF has bookmarks per folder and per email. Very large exports are split into volumes of 1,000 emails.

What does it cost?

Free for up to 25 emails per export. Standard ($29 one-time) removes the limit; Pro ($69 one-time) adds Bates numbering, page numbers, hashes and bookmarked merged PDFs. See pricing.