01 / Fast steps
- Drop or select the winmail.dat file.
- The container is opened and everything inside it is packed into one PDF.
- Download the PDF. The result message says how each attachment was included.
winmail.dat to PDF
Someone sent you an email whose only attachment is a file called winmail.dat, and nothing opens it. Drop it here and get back a single PDF: the message text laid out to read and print, the photos that came with it as pages, any PDF attachment appended page for page, and every other file stored inside the same document. One file to archive, not a folder to keep together.
drop your files anywhere in this area
Your files never leave your device.
DAT
02 / Best for
- Archive a message and its attachments as one document, in a system that accepts one file per record.
- Read a message from a supplier or a public office whose mail server turned it into winmail.dat.
- Send on a complete message to someone who cannot open winmail.dat, without a folder of loose files.
- Keep an invoice or a contract together with the email that delivered it.
03 / Why here
- One file out, nothing to keep together: this is the whole point of the tool. If you want the attachments as separate files instead, the winmail.dat opener does exactly that.
- Photos become pages you can see, and a PDF attachment is appended page for page, so a signed invoice stays the same signed invoice inside the archive.
- Files that no PDF page can show, like spreadsheets or archives, are embedded whole: the bytes are preserved and can be saved back out.
- Links in the text stay clickable, carried over as real PDF link annotations.
- Page numbers cover the whole document, attachments included, so citing "page 7" of an archived message means something.
- Runs entirely in your browser, with no upload: these messages routinely carry invoices and contracts.
04 / Keep in mind
- This is deliberately a non-standard, lossy packaging. A PDF is not an email and not an archive format: file names, dates and folder structure of the attachments are recorded as text on the page rather than as file metadata, and an attachment appended as pages is a rendering of a document, not the document. If you need the files as files, use the winmail.dat opener.
- Embedded files are shown by Acrobat and Firefox but not by Chrome or most phone viewers. They are inside the PDF either way, but a reader that ignores them makes them look absent.
- A password-protected or damaged PDF attachment cannot be appended as pages; it is embedded whole instead, and the result says so, so its bytes are never lost.
- The container records no recipients and no send date, so the PDF prints the subject and the text, not a full envelope. The original email, not this file, is where those live.
- Pages drawn by this tool are images, to keep emoji and every alphabet faithful, so their text is not selectable. Pages copied from a PDF attachment keep their own text.
Tool connections
Related tools
01Open winmail.datExtract the real attachments trapped inside a winmail.dat file, entirely in your browser.02EML to PDFTurn an EML email into a dated PDF you can file, print or attach, without the message ever leaving your browser.03MSG to PDFTurn an Outlook MSG email into a dated PDF you can file, print or attach, without Outlook and without uploading anything.04EML ViewerOpen an EML email file without a mail client: read the message, see the headers and get the attachments back.05Merge PDFCombine multiple PDF files into a single document, in the order you upload them.06Compress PDFReduce PDF file size for email, upload limits and long-term storage.
Good to know
Questions & answers
01What is winmail.dat and why did I receive it?
It is a Microsoft TNEF container. When Outlook sends a message in Rich Text format, it packs the formatted body and every attachment into one proprietary file, and mail systems that do not understand it pass that file along under the name winmail.dat. Your mail client shows a single unopenable attachment, while the actual text and the actual files are inside it. Nothing on the receiving side is broken: the sender chose a format only Outlook fully understands.
02Why does a PDF make sense for a winmail.dat?
Because the container is not something you can keep. Once it is opened, the message has to live somewhere readable, and a PDF is the form that any archive, case management system or colleague will accept. Packing the attachments into that same PDF means the record stays in one piece: a message filed as one document cannot lose the invoice that came with it three folders later.
03How do the attachments end up inside a single PDF?
Three different ways, because a PDF page can only show some things. Photos are added as pages, each labelled with its file name. A PDF attachment has its pages copied into this document, so it stays exactly the document it was. Anything else, a spreadsheet or an archive for instance, is stored inside the PDF as an embedded file: the bytes are preserved whole and a reader that supports attachments can save them back out. The result message tells you which of the three happened to each file, and the PDF itself lists them.
04Why would I use this instead of the winmail.dat opener?
Because you want one file. The opener gives you the message text and every attachment as separate downloads, which is the right choice when you need the files as files. This tool exists for the opposite case: filing the message in a system that takes one document per record, or forwarding a complete message to someone without a folder of loose pieces. If you are not sure, the opener is the more faithful of the two.
05Is anything lost by packing everything into one PDF?
Yes, and it is worth being clear about it. A PDF is not an email and not an archive: the file names, sizes and dates of the attachments become text printed on a page instead of real file metadata, and an attachment shown as pages is a picture of a document rather than the document. Embedded files keep their bytes exactly, but readers that ignore embedded files make them look as though they are not there. That is the trade for a single file, which is why the opener still exists next to this tool.
06Can I ask the sender to stop sending winmail.dat?
Yes, and it is worth doing. In Outlook the sender can change the message format from Rich Text to HTML or plain text, either for one message or as the default for all outgoing mail, and for a specific contact the setting lives in that contact record. Once they do, everything arrives as normal attachments for everybody, not just for people using Outlook.
07Is the file uploaded to convert it?
No. The container is parsed and the PDF is drawn by JavaScript running in your browser tab, and everything is written straight to your disk. These messages routinely carry invoices, contracts and internal documents, which is exactly why the tool has no upload step.
08Is winmail.dat to PDF free?
Yes, completely free, with no sign-up, no watermark and no limits. It runs in your browser, so your files never leave your device.