MessagePane User Guide

MessagePane is a native Mac app that opens .eml and .msg email files on your Mac. Your email files are never uploaded to our servers—core viewing, converting, and printing all happen locally. Optional features such as remote image loading and remote header verification are off by default and only contact the network if you explicitly turn them on.

This guide explains what MessagePane does and how to use its main capabilities.

What you need

• macOS 13.0 or later

How to get MessagePane

Download MessagePane from the Mac App Store on your Mac.

Opening email files

MessagePane works with:

• Standard .eml files
• Outlook .msg files

You can open a message in any of these ways:

1. Double-click the file.
2. Drag and drop the file onto MessagePane.
3. Use the File menu in MessagePane.

After you open a file, MessagePane displays the email so you can review the sender, recipients, subject, date, body content, and any available attachments.

Viewing messages

MessagePane renders both HTML and plain text messages while preserving formatting, so layouts and structure look closer to how they were meant to appear.

When reading a message, you can use MessagePane as a focused viewer for email files you have saved from other systems. A typical workflow is:

1. Open the .eml or .msg file.
2. Review the message body and overall formatting.
3. Check attachments and save any files you need.
4. Open message details or headers when you need more technical information.
5. Export or print the message if you need to share or archive it.

Attachments

For messages that include attachments, MessagePane lets you:

• See attachment details
• Save attachments one at a time or save all at once
• Use a built-in preview for file types the app supports

Export and print

You can:

• Export messages to PDF, HTML, or TXT, or save the original EML
• Print messages with full headers when you need a complete record

Header Analyzer

Use the built-in header analyzer to inspect email headers—useful for understanding routing, authenticity hints, and technical details of a message.

To view headers:

1. Open the message in MessagePane.
2. Open the Tools menu.
3. Choose the option for viewing or analyzing headers.

This is helpful when you need to inspect the path an email took, review technical delivery details, or troubleshoot suspicious messages.

Detailed message information

MessagePane surfaces full metadata in one place, including participants, timestamps, and other message properties, so you can review everything about a message without hunting through raw file content.

This can be useful when you need to confirm who sent a message, when it was received, or what properties are stored in the original email file.

Recovering corrupted email files

If an .eml or .msg file is damaged or incomplete, MessagePane can restore and open the message when data can be salvaged.

Privacy and local processing

Core processing happens on your Mac:

• Your email files are never sent to our servers — we don't store, index, or process your messages remotely.
• No tracking, no analytics, and no advertising.
• Remote image loading is optional. By default, MessagePane does not load remote images. It will only contact the image URLs embedded in an email if you click the online controls or otherwise approve loading those images — and those requests go to the servers hosting those images, not to MessagePane.
• Remote header verification is an optional feature. When enabled, the app may contact external services to look up header data. This is only performed when you initiate it.

Both optional features are off by default. You remain in control of whether any network activity occurs beyond the app itself being downloaded, including whether remote images are loaded for a message.

Need help?

If you run into problems or have questions:

1. Visit the MessagePane website.
2. Open the Support section.
3. Fill out the contact form with your name, email, and message, complete the security check, and send your request.

Someone from support will get back to you using the email address you provide.

Summary

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