Import an email from a file

An .eml file holds one email, and Mail can read it back. That works whether the file came out of Eigen or out of another mail program, so you can bring an archived message across or keep a copy someone sent you.

Import a file

1. Put the file in Drive, or find it as an attachment on a message, a chat message, or a card.
2. In Drive, right-click the file or click its ⋮ button. For an attachment, right-click the chip, or press and hold it on a phone.
3. Choose Import to Mail.

The message lands in your inbox as an unread message, with its original sender, date, subject, and attachments. It is a copy, so importing the same file twice gives you the message twice.

To read the file before you import it, select it and press Space, or choose Quick preview from the same menu. The preview shows the message as it was sent, and the bar at the bottom has the same Import to Mail button. See Preview a file.

Limits

A file can be up to 25 MB. A bigger one is refused, and nothing is added to your mailbox. Mail shares one storage allowance with Contacts and Calendar, so an import also stops if you have run out of room.

An invitation inside an imported message does not reach your calendar. Eigen can't tell who really sent a file, so an imported message never changes an event. To import the invitation itself, save its .ics attachment and see Import events from a calendar file.

Going the other way

To save a message from Mail as a file, see Download an email.