File Association: EML Files (XP SP2; Outlook Express V6)

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(Edited by HansV to make URL clickable – see Help 19)

Here is my exact question: http://help.lockergnome.com/windows2/shell…pict218554.html%5B/url%5D

The question in the above post was never answered…I can’t find anything in Google or Microsoft’s site. I can’t believe that this is impossible: To create a print command through the eml file association to be used to print an eml file. I would like to be able to print an eml file directly from windows explorer.

Does anyone know what is the print command [DDE script] to be used for an eml file to open Outlook Express, print and then close Outlook Express? When I right click on an eml file in windows explorer, I can select open and Outlook Express opens the eml file…but I need to print about 300 eml files and would like to be able to right click and select print–just like one can for other MS office files {doc, xls and ppt}. After four hours of research, it looks like this is impossible….please help…thanks!!

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There are several newsgroup threads about this subject. The Outlook Express MVPs state that OE simply doesn’t provide this capability.

There are commercial and shareware programs that do, however – if you search Google for print eml files, you’ll find lots of them.

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Hans,
Thanks for the reply…I have actually been beta testing 3 different “eml printing programs” ….they all select the eml files via searching through a directory, but none will “automatically” print them. Two of the three programs tell me to create a “print” file association with the eml file to permit their software to “print” the files….Wow, I am at a total loss now about how to accomplish this task…as always, your expertise is appreciated. Take care. Thank you.

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I don’t have any experience with this (I don’t use Outlook Express), but have you tried Batch & Print Pro – EML Addon or Avantstar :: Solutions :: Quick View Plus? (Neither is free, but you can download a trial version)

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Hans,
Thanks…Perhaps a bit more information will give you a flavor of what I am dealing with. I have a CD that was produced for legal discovery. On this CD are a 1,500 imaged e-mails that are in the form of an eml file. What I was hoping to avoid is to open each eml file individually in Outlook Express and then print it. Each emf file in the CD is located in its own folder on the CD which makes the process even more cumbersome.

I have two questions….Can a macro be written that would search the CD and copy each eml file into one directory on my hard drive? Then I could open this folder in Outlook express–all of the eml files would be in this folder—at least this would save some time if I have to open each eml file individually. My next question, is whether or not a macro can be created in Outlook Express to open each eml file in the folder, print it, close it and then open the next eml file…continue to process until the macro reaches the last file in the folder?

After a whole day of struggling…I don’t even know if Outlook XP can open an eml file. I would guess that the macro capabilities are much better in Outlook versus Outlook express. But the improved macro capability does not matter if I can’t get Outlook to open a eml file….which in my tests have proved impossible. Am I way off base in an approach? Any and all suggestions are welcome…thank you.

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Either of the programs I mentioned in my previous reply claim to have “Batch printing” capabilities for .eml files.

Outlook Express itself has no macro capabilities at all. Outlook does, but I don’t think it can handle .eml files (I could be wrong, though).

You could modify and run the following macro from any Office application (Word, Excel, …) to copy all files in subfolders of the CD to a single folder on hard disk (or on a network drive)

Sub CopyEML()
Const strSource = “E:”
Const strTarget = “C:TempFolder”
Dim fso As Object
Dim drv As Object
Dim fld As Object
Dim fil As Object
Set fso = CreateObject(“Scripting.FileSystemObject”)
Set drv = fso.GetDrive(strSource)
For Each fld In drv.RootFolder.SubFolders
For Each fil In fld.Files
fil.Copy strTarget & fil.Name
Next fil
Next fld
Set fld = Nothing
Set drv = Nothing
Set fso = Nothing
End Sub

Make sure to edit the source drive and target path.

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Hans,
Thanks for the code. I believe you are correct that Outlook will not handle eml files…I have tried everything I could find on the internet and it seems only Outlook Express can open an eml file. I have examined your software recommendations..and there are two down sides…first, I can’t seem to make the “batch” mode work correctly on either software demo [i.e. I have e-mailed support for help] and the second issue is that neither print them out in the form of an e-mail [i.e., if you print the eml file in Outlook Express…it looks like an e-mail printout—when you print the eml file using the other software—one at a time—since I can’t get the batch mode to function [perhaps it is disabled until you buy the full version??] it is in the form of a text memo—doesn’t really look like an e-mail printout. I need to check with the attorney I am working with to discern if this acceptable—or if I need to print them so that it takes the standard look of a printed e-mail. Hope this makes sense…thanks again for your insight, advice and demo code. Take care.

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I’m afraid I can’t offer more help – I don’t use either of the programs involved. I hope you’ll get a reply to your support requests.

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