How to Open MBOX File in Windows and Mac System?
September 24th, 2021 ~ Email Tips ~ 5 Minutes Reading
If you are looking for a way to open MBOX file, this article will surely help you.
MBOX file is not native format of Windows or Mac OS. Therefore, there is no direct way to manually view MBOX files. You need to use other automated techniques.
Below we have listed several email client applications that support MBOX files and save their email messages in the MBOX file format. Each archived file will have a different file extension created based on the respective email client application. This blog will explain how to easily access MBOX files in simple steps.
Let’s try to understand what an MBOX file is.
MBOX files, also known as mailboxes, are a mail archiving format used to archive previously sent and received email messages. You may want to open supported MBOX files from your Gmail account to protect your precious data and avoid data loss. If your Gmail account inbox becomes inaccessible, hacked, or damaged, it can also help you avoid a mental breakdown. Consider all the important information stored in your Gmail account. Do you want to risk losing this information?
Also Read: How to Convert MBOX to PST File?
Know More About MBOX File
MBOX file is a common file format that can store a large number of emails in one file. It is a text file that contains emails in plain text format, divided by title, which is located in different folders. According to the seller, MBOX files store email attachments and their content (if the file is directly encoded).
Many email programs offer the ability to export a collection of documents or emails as an MBOX file. It is very effective for backing up emails or transferring them between computers. You can easily export MBOX files from any email application and move it in the same way that users usually transfer large MBOX files. For the stronger ones, of your choice, you can use USB memory sticks and cloud storage applications.
Open MBOX File – Windows or MAC
You can easily read MBOX files with a text editor program, such as TextEdit on Mac and Notepad ++ on Windows, or use any Unix command line, text editor. Importing the emails contained in the file can be a time-consuming method and will help you if you need a quick search. All emails are saved with the .mbox file extension.
The Windows / Mac search tool can easily index files, but it can be useful if you need to find emails in MBOX files stored on a USB drive.
View MBOX File Online
To open an MBOX file, users can use any browser (such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Opera, or Safari). However, the online view will not be saved. You don’t know where your data has gone; someone may have copied them. The fact that you can read MBOX files online does not guarantee that it will work.
Many Email Applications supported by MBOX file:
- Mozilla Thunderbird
- IncrediMail
- Spicebird
- Opera Mail
- Mac/Apple Mail
- Sylpheed
- Entourage
- Opera Mail
All mail files in the mailbox are saved as long plain text files in the encoder mail chain. The beginning of the message is marked with the characters from and a blank character, and the end of the message is indicated by an empty link. There are some variants of MBOX files, explained as follows:
Mboxrd: This version is an extended form of the Mboxo file, where the starting point of the message is explained in both the message header and the body of the message.
Mboxo: differs from the original mailbox file in that it uses a long string, such as “??? @ ???” in the part containing the sender’s email address.
Mboxcl: This type of file is part of the Unix “System V” operating system.
MBOXcl2: Last but not least, MBOXcl2 is an additional feature of Mboxcl files, it is the latest type of MBOX. When it recognizes e-mail separators, it will not find lines starting with the word “from”. Content-Length is the quality contained in the header part of each Mboxcl2.
Mailbox File Location
MBOX file is an email file format that can be created by various email applications running on various platforms. Therefore, the specific location of the MBOX file cannot be found. Therefore, users can receive MBOX files on their computers based on their current email application and platform.
File Location on Mac
Follow the steps in the following list to determine the open MBOX file on Mac Operating System Mail Edition 1:
- Open Finder on your Apple device and then select Go >> from the menu bar. Select Folder… from the drop-down menu list.
- Type /Library/Mail/V2 for Mac OS X Mail 5-8 or /Library/Mail/V3 for Mail, depending on which version you’re using.
In Windows – MBOX File Location
To locate Thunderbird data files, follow these steps:
- Firstly, Launch the Run window on your computer and type in % APPDATA %.
- Secondly, Select Thunderbird from the present menu list and then on the Profiles folder.
- Then, For every folder that appears within the profiles, the folder represents a different profile of your system.
There are a lot of Notable Issues to Open MBOX File
Some errors can occur when opening the MBOX files, causing delays. These are some errors:
- Emails won’t open
- .mbox data repair
- MBOX file too big
- Emails won’t load
- MBOX file Mailbox isn’t valid