Email archiving appeared to be a simple task for the operations manager of a small consulting company – until the company found out that its archive contained almost 12,000 Outlook MSG files, accumulated over several years.
These emails included client correspondence, invoices, project approvals, meeting discussions, quotes and attachments. Most of them had been individually saved in msg format. The company wanted to make PDF copies that were easy to access, share and save for future use. The initial plan was to convert the file manually. This method soon became unworkable.
The 420-Hour Email Archiving Challenge for Small Businesses
The company had about 12,000 MSG files spread across several folders. On average each email was rather small, but the collection as a whole represented years of business communications.
The team wanted the PDF archive to maintain the important email information like sender, recipient, subject, date, formatting and attachments.
The MSG files also could not be changed as they were the company’s source archive and therefore had to remain as they were. The team figured it would take minutes to open each message, select a PDF-printing option, name the file and put it into the correct folder. Using a conservative estimate of 2 minutes per email, the processing of 12,000 messages would take:
12,000 x 2 minutes = 24,000 min
That’s around 400 hours of manual labor.
There were hundreds of working hours wasted on repetitive email conversion that just weren’t realistic for a small business.
Exploring Manual Methods for MSG to PDF Conversion
The team looked at several different approaches before going for a dedicated converter.
Manually Opening and Saving Individual MSG Files
The first method was easy – just open an MSG file in Outlook, print or save as PDF, repeat.
It worked for a few messages, but almost at once the process became tedious.
The team also had to track where each PDF fit in with thousands of files and ensure no attachments were missed.
Using Outlook’s Native Printing Workflow
They also looked at Outlook's printing features to print PDF versions.
This was okay for individual emails, but not practical for handling an archive of thousands of MSG files. All messages would still have to be handled manually.
Attempting Small Batch Conversions
The staff tried to break the messages into smaller groups and work through them one by one.
This relieved the immediate burden, but did not resolve the underlying problem. There were still thousands of individual files to be processed manually.
After trying these approaches the team decided that folder based conversion would be more appropriate.
Selecting the Right MSG to PDF Converter
They wanted a solution that could process multiple MSG files at the same time, preserve the email data, manage attachments, and not change the source files.
For the conversion test, the team picked WholeClear MSG to PDF Converter.
According to the official product info, the application offers the following features:
• Bulk conversion in folder mode
• Selective MSG conversion
• Retain email metadata & formatting
• Extract attachments to a separate folder
You don’t need Adobe software to do the conversion either. These capabilities were more in line with the company’s needs than its manual process.
Step-by-Step Guide to Batch Converting MSG Files
First the team created a working copy of the MSG archive. This was an added safety net as the original email files were left intact.
The conversion was a short workflow itself.
The team then opened the application and chose a directory of the MSG files. The folder mode allowed the collection to be processed as a whole rather than adding 12,000 emails one by one.
Then the team decided to export the file to a PDF and specified a separate folder for the output documents. Conversion was initiated after verifying the selected source and destination.
The official instructions describe the process in four basic steps: launch the application, add MSG files, choose a location for the PDF output, and start the conversion.
This was very different to the manual way, as the employees did not have to open and convert each message individually.
Ensuring Data Integrity: Metadata, Attachments, and Formatting
One of the biggest fears for the company was keeping the information inside the messages.
According to the product documentation, email components such as To, CC, BCC, From, Sent and Subject are preserved, along with formatting elements such as hyperlinks, font size and font color. It also states that attachments are exported to another folder.
That way the business could build the resulting archive around readable PDF documents, but still have access to the attachments related to them. Folder structure also mattered, since employees were accustomed to finding emails by project and client folders. On the product page, it is written that the tool preserves the folder structure during conversion.
Case Study Results: Saving Time and Streamlining Archives
The biggest improvement was less hands-on effort.
Instead of opening 12,000 messages one at a time, the team could process folders of MSG files. This changed the nature of the task from a repetitive file-by-file job to a more manageable batch job.
The project delivered a range of tangible benefits:
• 12,000 MSG files identified for archive.
• The manual process was estimated at approximately 400 hours based on an assumption of 2 minutes per e-mail.
• Processing by folder reduced the need for manual handling of emails.
• Email metadata and formatting preserved as per product documentation.
• Attachments exported separately.
• The source archive was still available as the original MSG files.
• PDF files were a more convenient format to share and review email records.
• The company can build a specific archive structure for the generated documents.
The team also appreciated that the application works with MSG files from different Outlook versions and is available on Windows, macOS, and Linux, according to the official product page.
Key Takeaways for Effective Email Archiving
The project made a very good point about email archiving. The challenge is not necessarily to convert one email. The real problem, it seems, comes when the number climbs into the thousands.
Converting 12,000 messages manually can take a lot of employee time for a small business. Therefore if a large collection is to be archived a batch-oriented approach is preferable.
The team also learned that conversion quality is just as important as speed. All that PDF archiving is good for if you can still pull out important information like who it came from, when, the subject, formatting, and attachments.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it possible to convert multiple MSG files to PDF in batch?
Yes. The product documentation says that it has a folder mode to convert multiple MSG files to PDF in batch.
Are email attachments kept?
Attachments are exported to a separate folder when converted, according to the official product page.
Does the conversion preserve email metadata?
The product says that “details such as sender, recipient, CC, BCC, subject, sent information, and formatting are maintained.”
Do I need Adobe Acrobat to convert?
No. The official FAQ says you don’t have to install Adobe to do the conversion. You can then view the resulting PDF files in Adobe Reader.
Is there a free trial period?
Yes. The product page says the trial version is limited to converting 25 mailbox items, and the licensed edition is unlimited as per the listed terms.
Final Thought
The 12,000-email archive explains why manual MSG-to-PDF conversion gets difficult at scale. Opening, converting, naming and filing thousands of individual messages can turn a simple task into hundreds of hours of repetitive work.
The archiving project was much easier to manage for this small business when they moved to a folder-based conversion workflow. More importantly, the company was able to create PDF copies and retain important email information and attachments for future reference.
Companies with a similar archive should first have a rough idea of how many MSG files they have, what email elements they need preserved and whether they need to be converted individually or in bulk.