Step-by-Step: How to Download Hotmail Emails to Your Hard Drive

Updated On - October 23, 2024 by Nasir Khan | Reading Time: 5 minutes

Hotmail (now known as Outlook.com) is a web service that provides a platform to manage your emails with all attachments. It manages emails, contacts, calendars, documents, tasks, and notes. The incidents of hacking, virus attacks, ransomware attacks, and other issues might happen at any time with your Hotmail account, so keeping a backup copy of all your Hotmail account emails has become the necessity of the hour. If you are looking for How to backup or download Hotmail email folders to hard drive, then this article is best helpful for you to answer your questions.

Why do Users Need to backup Hotmail Emails

• A hacking incident and your email data will be lost in just fractions of seconds.
• Another prime reason to backup Hotmail email folder to hard drive is Cyber Crime.
• Need to migrate email data from Hotmail (now known as Outlook.com) to desktop email clients like Mozilla Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook, etc. also requires taking backup first and then perform the migration process.
• Data Security, protection of messages from unexpected data loss events, and Regular Backup are also some of the few other factors.

Related Blog: How to Backup Yahoo Emails to PC?

05 Best Methods to Download Hotmail emails to Local Drive

Method1: Manual Steps to Save Hotmail Emails to User System

Perform the below steps to save your Hotmail messages on local system:

1. Login into your Hotmail account.
2. Select an email message that you want to take backup in your local system.
3. Under message’s header area, find the down arrow next to Reply.
4. Select View message source. Or right-click and on the context menu that appears, select View message source.
5. Once the source code of the message opens, press Ctrl+A to highlight the entire text and then press Ctrl+C to copy the highlighted code.
6. Check if your browser provides an option to save the email source code in EML format.
7. Navigate to File > Save As in the email message source tab.
8. Rename the file followed by .eml extension.
9. Click Continue and save the email message to desired location on your local system.
10. If browser does not support saving email message in EML file format:
11. After copying the message source code, launch Notepad.
12. Create a new text document.
13. Press Ctrl+V to paste the copied content.
14. Save the text document with .eml extension on your local system.

The above discussed method works to save one Hotmail message at a time. To save multiple Hotmail messages, the above steps need to be performed repeatedly. Thus, the above approach is not suitable for multiple message backup. To backup Hotmail message in bulk, it is recommended to use a third-party professional Regain Hotmail Backup software.

Related Post: How to Backup Thunderbird Emails

Method2:  Backup Hotmail Emails as PDF file manually

1. Log in to your Hotmail account using your credentials (username and password).
2. Open a Hotmail message and go to Menu (…)
3. Select Print option from the given drop-down list.
4. Select Save as PDF option from destination option.
5. Apply Additional Settings and click on the Print

Limitations of Manual Method

• Saves a single email into PDF format from a Hotmail account. For multiple Hotmail emails, you need to follow the manual steps again and again.
• Does not allow saving attachments into PDF or individual folders, only saves email messages in PDF format or in hard copy without attachments.
• Only saves Hotmail message in PDF file format, no support for saving Hotmail messages in other file types such as PST, MBOX, MSG, etc.
• The Print feature only allows saving Hotmail email in PDF format, you cannot print or save documents or other items.
• Saving batch Hotmail emails takes lot of time and effort.

Method3: Download Hotmail mailbox to Hard Drive Using Microsoft Outlook

1. Launch Microsoft Outlook.
2. Create a folder with the Hotmail messages that you want to save.
3. In the File menu, click Open and Export.
4. On the right panel, click Import/Export.
5. In the dialog box that appears, select Export to a File > click Next > select Outlook Data File in the following box.
6. You will see the folders in your email account. Select the folder that you created earlier > click Next.
7. Choose the destination where you want to save the folder > click Finish.

The Hotmail email messages get saved in the chosen destination location.

Method4: Backup Hotmail Mailbox to User PC Using Export Mailbox Option in Outlook

1. Visit the Sign-In page of the Hotmail account.
2. Click Sign-In and enter your Hotmail ID, click Next.
3. Enter the password of your Hotmail account.
4. The welcome screen of your Hotmail (Outlook.com) account will appear. Click the Gear icon and open the link View all Outlook Settings.
5. Click on the General option from the left pane of the Settings wizard.
6. From the General setting, click Privacy and Data > click Export mailbox.

After the process gets completed, Microsoft sends a download link via mail. Click on the link to backup Hotmail emails to a computer or PC.

The limitations with the above-discussed manual method are that it is a time consuming process, no mailbox folder selection option and no email filter option.

Method5: Use Professional tool to Backup Hotmail Mailboxes

Use professional third-party Regain Hotmail Backup software to take backup of all your Hotmail emails at once to your local system. Use this utility to save Hotmail emails to hard drive in bulk without any data loss. The self-descriptive graphical user interface of the software helps users to take complete Hotmail account backup including emails, contacts, calendar items, tasks, attachments, etc. to your local system or hard drive.

Free Download100% Secure Buy NowPrice: $29

Features of Regain Hotmail Backup software that makes it different from others:

• Takes backup of all Hotmail emails (Outlook.com, Live.com, MSN.com) along with all attachments.
• Save Hotmail emails in PST, MBOX, EML, MSG, HTML, ICS, EMLX, vCal, vCard file formats.
• Supports selective backup of Hotmail data folder.
• Displays preview of all available Hotmail folders.
• Maintains formatting, email properties and folder hierarchy of Hotmail emails even after taking complete backup.
• Offers Pause and Resume options to pause the ongoing backup process and resume it later.
• Offers an easy-to-use interface that makes performing Hotmail account backup even for non-technical users.
• Compatible with all Windows operating systems.
• Available as free demo version.

Following are the Steps to perform Hotmail Backup

1. Download, install and launch Regain Hotmail backup software.
2. Enter Login Details of Hotmail account.
3. See all the available Hotmail folders in the preview pane.
4. Select Saving File format and desired destination location to save the Hotmail emails to your local system or hard drive.

Conclusion

To prevent yourself or your organization from data loss, hacking incidents, virus attacks, ransomware attacks, etc. it is always advised to take a backup copy of Hotmail emails in your local system or hard drive. This article discusses manual steps for saving single Hotmail message in your local system. To save multiple Hotmail messages, we recommend using professional Regain Hotmail Backup software. You can even download the available demo version for absolutely free before making a decision to purchase the licensed version. The free demo version will save first items per folder, to save unlimited items per folder, purchase the full licensed version of Hotmail Backup software.