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Convert MBOX to CSV

Get a spreadsheet of every email in a mailbox: date, sender, recipients, subject, attachment names and more. Open it in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets.

Drop an .eml, .msg, or .mbox file here, or use Open a file above.

Free preview of the first 20 rows · Full CSV with Pro from $6.99/month · Nothing is uploaded

A spreadsheet view of any mailbox

Sometimes you don't need to read every email. You need an overview: who wrote, when, about what, and with which attachments. A CSV index gives you exactly that, in a format every spreadsheet app understands. Sort by date, filter by sender, count messages by month, or hand a list to a colleague who needs to decide what to review.

InboxVue builds the CSV from your MBOX file in the browser, so the mailbox stays on your computer. It works for Gmail Takeout exports, Thunderbird folders, Apple Mail exports and server archives.

What's in the file

Each row is one message. The columns are number, bates_begin, bates_end, date_iso, from, to, cc, bcc, subject, message_id, attachment_count, attachment_names, source_file, source_folder, output_file and pages. The Bates and output columns are filled when you export PDFs in the same run; otherwise they're empty. Multiple recipients and attachment names are separated by semicolons inside the field.

Dates are written in ISO 8601 with the original time zone offset, such as 2024-03-12T14:32:00+01:00, so they sort correctly and Excel can convert them.

Getting a clean CSV

Troubleshooting

Accents look wrong in Excel. Make sure you opened the exported file directly. If you import it through Excel's Data → From Text/CSV, choose 65001: Unicode (UTF-8) as the file origin.

Everything is in one column. Your system may use semicolons as the list separator, which is common in European locales. Use Data → From Text/CSV and choose Comma as the delimiter.

Dates show as text. Excel doesn't always recognise ISO dates with offsets. Use a formula like =DATEVALUE(LEFT(D2,10)) for the date part, or import the column as text and convert it.

Some subjects are blank. Those emails had no subject line. The CSV keeps the field empty rather than inventing one.

MBOX to CSV options

Method Columns File size limit Privacy
InboxVue 16 standard columns, plus Bates and output when exporting None Local
Thunderbird + ImportExportTools NG Basic list None Local, after importing the mailbox
Scripts (for example Python's mailbox module) Whatever you code None Local, needs programming
Online converters Varies Often capped File uploaded

Want to browse before exporting? Open the mailbox in the MBOX viewer. Plan details are on the pricing page.

FAQ

What columns does the CSV include?
One row per message with number, date (ISO 8601), from, to, cc, bcc, subject, Message-ID, attachment count, attachment names, source file and source folder or label. When you export PDFs at the same time, it also lists the output file, page count and, with InboxVue Pro, the Bates range.
Does the CSV include the email body?
No. The CSV is an index, which keeps it small and easy to sort and filter. To keep the content, export the same messages to PDF or EML as well; the index then tells you which file holds each email.
Will Excel open it correctly?
Yes. The file follows the standard CSV rules (RFC 4180), with quotes around fields that contain commas or line breaks, and starts with a UTF-8 byte order mark so Excel detects the encoding. Google Sheets and Numbers open it directly.
Is there a row limit?
InboxVue has no limit. Excel shows up to 1,048,576 rows per sheet and Google Sheets allows 10 million cells per spreadsheet, so a very large mailbox may need to be split by year using filters before exporting.
What can I use an email CSV for?
Common uses are building a contact list of everyone you've corresponded with, counting messages by sender or month, preparing a privilege or production log, checking what an archive contains before converting it, and finding emails with attachments.