Restore an email
Today, restoring a message means downloading it as a standard file that any mail client can open. Restoring straight into the mailbox is in development.
Download a message
Open the message in the backup and click Download. You get an .eml file: the message exactly as the server delivered it, with all its headers and nothing changed.
This matters if you need the message as evidence, in a dispute for example. A reformatted message can lose its signature, its routing headers and often the boundaries between its attachments.
Open it in a mail client
Double-click an .eml file to open it in Thunderbird, Outlook or Apple Mail. In webmail, use the import function if there is one.
You can then forward the message, print it, or move it back into a folder by hand.
| Client | How to open it |
|---|---|
| Thunderbird | Double-click, or File, Open, Saved message |
| Outlook | Double-click; the message opens in its own window |
| Apple Mail | Double-click, or File, Import mailboxes for a batch |
| Webmail | With the import function, if there is one |
Attachments
Attachments are inside the message, as they were when it arrived. They are not stored separately or removed: you download the complete message.
Restoring into the mailbox
Putting a message back into its original mailbox, without downloading it first, is the next feature we are building. It is not available yet.
Until then, download the message and import it into your mail client. You get the full content back, attachments included.