Open a .msg File on Mac

The Short Answer

A .msg file is one Outlook email saved as a file, in a Microsoft format. None of the apps that come with macOS are made to read it, so double-clicking it usually gets you nowhere.

You don't need Outlook to read one. Open it in your browser: you get the sender, date, subject, message and every attachment, and nothing is uploaded.

Open It in Your Browser

1. Open the Email File Opener in Safari, Chrome or Firefox.
2. Click Choose File and pick the .msg file.
3. Read the From, To, Date and Subject at the top, and the message below the attachment list.
4. Click Download next to an attachment to save it, or Download all (.zip) to save them together. They go to your browser's download folder, usually Downloads.

For example, a sample .msg from the Apache POI project's test files opens to show the subject test pièce jointe 1, the sender, and two attachments, test-unicode.doc and pj1.txt, which download byte for byte as they were stored.

If the .msg has another email attached, it is listed as its own .msg file with an Open button, so you can read it without leaving the page.

If You Have Outlook for Mac

Microsoft's release notes say Outlook for Mac version 16.108, released April 14, 2026, "now supports opening and importing Outlook .msg files". Older versions can't open them. Update Outlook first (if you installed it from microsoft.com, Microsoft's steps are Help → Check for Updates), then open the file with Outlook from Finder: Control-click it, choose Open With, then Microsoft Outlook.

We haven't tested every Outlook for Mac version and account type. If it still won't open, use the browser method above.

If You Use Outlook on the Web

Microsoft says you can drag a .msg file onto the reading pane in Outlook on the web to open it. The catch: opening .msg files there needs a qualifying Microsoft 365 subscription, and it doesn't say which ones qualify. If yours doesn't, the browser method works with no account.

Things That Trip People Up

• The sender shows a name but no address. Messages from inside a company on Exchange can store the sender as an internal directory path rather than an email address. The opener shows the name only in that case.
• The formatting is gone. A .msg saved in rich text format is shown as plain text. HTML messages keep their layout, but pictures loaded from the web are blocked for privacy.
• It won't open at all. Old-style Word and Excel files (.doc, .xls) use the same container as .msg, so a mislabelled one gets a clear error instead. The tool doesn't decrypt encrypted or rights-protected messages.
• You have a winmail.dat, not a .msg. That's a different Outlook package. See winmail.dat instead of the attachment; the same tool opens it.

On Windows and iPhone

On Windows, Microsoft says the new Outlook for Windows opens .msg files by drag and drop or Open with, with the same Microsoft 365 requirement as Outlook on the web. The browser method works on Windows too.

On iPhone or iPad, save the .msg to the Files app first (in Mail, touch and hold the attachment and choose Save to Files), then choose it in the Email File Opener in Safari. For .eml files there's a separate guide: open an EML file on iPhone.